Family Portrait Photo Tips

Photographing your family for your holiday card or other event doesn’t have to be a stressful time, with the yelling and the frazzled nerves! A few tips on how to prepare for the shoot can yield positive results. Yes, for the most awesome results you may want to hire a pro photographer! They’ve already invested in the quality camera, lighting equipment and training to get great results, and if you’re only looking for 3-5 good shots for a holiday card each year, then a pro may be your best choice. If, on the other hand, you want family photos throughout the year, every year, then improving your skills and some investments will serve you well.

(Notice the turn of the faces ¼ to the side, and eyes back to the camera. You want the camera pointing slightly down on the subject, and ask them to "lean forward from the waist". This projects their foreheads for the best angle.)

To begin with, what kind of camera should you have? I would stay away from the real inexpensive cameras, (or your phone!) with their tiny 1/2.5 sensors. They are noisy, and have to have perfect daylight conditions to get a properly exposed photo. Check out the sensor size chart and article from photoseek.com

At the low end an advanced point and shoot (fixed lens) camera can do a fine job, as long as it has at least a one inch sensor. Some good examples are the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VI ($1200), the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II ($600), the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II ($400) or the Fujifilm XF10 ($450). All these will give you a big enough sensor for some shallow depth-of-field (so that you can blur the background), and they have a good lens. PS-all the cameras I'm mentioning include a kit lens in the price.

Better than a 1" sensor is a "Four Thirds" sensor, like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 ($800), the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III ($800), or the Leica D-Lux 7 ($1200), all good choices for portraits or travel.

Stepping up the chain is an APS-C sensor, which gathers more light and has better depth-of-field qualities. Cameras like the Sony A6500 ($1500), Canon EOS Rebel T6 ($400), and Nikon D5600 ($700). These cameras are usually around 24 Megapixel sensors, are good in low light, and can get great background blur. They are also small and light enough to make great travel cameras.

We'll now ignore the huge "medium format" sensor cameras, (assuming you don't want to spend $20K for family photos), and go to the top of the food chain, the Full Frame sensor cameras. These have great low-light capability, generate terrific background blur and bokeh (the highlights behind the subject), and are priced accordingly, for the photo enthusiast or pro. Some great examples include the Canon EOS 6D Mark II ($1700), the Sony Alpha a7 III ($2200), and the Nikon Z 6 Mirrorless ($2600).

At this point you don't need to worry too much about the difference between a DSLR and a Mirrorless camera, suffice it to say that Mirrorless cameras ARE the future of photography, but DSLRs will still work well for the next 20 years! Just try cameras out in the store, and get what feels right in your hand, mind, and wallet!

Next, get a good manual (beyond the poor PDF that comes with the camera), like one of the David Busch series you can find on Amazon, covering many different models. Or perhaps there's a Lynda.com class that covers your exact model, like my first good camera the Canon T3i, where top photographer/educator Ben Long explained how to use it. This helps you not only in understanding the settings, but gives advice on the best settings to use in which situations. On Lynda.com you will also find classes on exposure, composition, portrait shooting, lighting, etc. for $25/month (cancel anytime).

 Now that you know how to use your camera really well, you could say "I don't want to use flash, (flash is scary complicated), I'm a natural light photographer", and take the Lynda.com "Learning Natural Light Portrait Photography" course, and you'd learn how to get great portraits without spending another penny, and take shots like this:

Notice that they're in diffuse but still bright light, and they're still squinting a little.

But (and it's a big but), you'd be limiting yourself to one light source, the sun, and to locations where you have a non-distracting background, AND the sun is behind your subjects. If you combine these limitations with wanting to shoot at Golden Hour (and hour before sunset for the best light), and their faces would be WAY too dark! You really need at least one artificial light source to brighten their faces, or a reflector to add "fill light" bouncing from the sun to the dark side of their face (search for "reflector" on B&H, $20 for a collapsible reflector).

Also, indoor portraits would be almost impossible without more light than most rooms have from their lamps. The shot below was taken indoors at a Christmas tree store, with a (not ideal) on-camera flash & diffuser at 1/40 sec at f/3.5 and ISO 400. Lighting could be better, but it's an acceptable shot.

The next tip for getting is a good shot is the same as the real estate saying, location, location, location! As you plan the shoot you should scout your location, or several locations beforehand, and imagine their positions, the time of day (where the sun is), are you blocking pedestrians, are poles going to be coming out of their heads? You are looking for a nice, but not distracting background, and you typically want to use a big aperture so that the background is nicely blurred, allowing your subject to stand out. Notice that f/3.5 was the aperture setting for the shots above and below.

Below is a full-body outdoor shot using a tripod,  just one (off camera) flash (on a light stand), with a "beauty dish" to soften the light. The tripod is also great, of course, if you want to join your family IN the shot (put the shutter on a 10-second delay). Notice the sun behind them giving a beautiful hair light!

:

Here the flash, a Godox AD200 (monolight), with beauty dish and "sock" to further soften it, is at 45º left of camera (which is on a tripod). Settings are 1/50 sec at f/3.5 ISO 100. This could also have been taken with just an inexpensive, $60, 3rd party flash like a Neewer or Yongnuo, with a small diffuser (search "flash diffuser" on B&H) on a portable lightstand (Impact Lightstand, $20). It is important to not use the built-in flash on the camera, or a flash on the hotshoe (unless you must), because that's how you get red-eye! Also, a bare flash is a very hard light, and gives harsh highlights and shadows, hence the need for a diffuser. A small diffuser on the flash is better than nothing, but a shoot-thru umbrella or small softbox can yield much better results. Notice that the trick to a good flash shot is to make it look like you DIDN'T USE A FLASH! Blend the available light by lowering the shutter speed, which controls the amount of ambient light, and lower the flash power (or open the aperture) until it looks naturally blended.

Flash photography is a huge subject, more than we have room for. For more information the best resource I've found is Scott Kelby's "The Flash Book", on either Google Books, the iBooks Store, or Amazon.

The most important things in getting a good family portrait is cooperation and fun! They must listen to your instructions, but you must be open to their suggestions. If you're not having fun, the camera will often pick this up too, so make it fun and they will have the right expressions on their faces! Then you will get a treasured photo that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life!