Every family needs a portrait and not everyone wants the same traditional group photo. These days people are after a more human touch and may include fun and wacky ideas.
Location
Finding the right location can completely alter your photo. The background adds lots of contrast and will alter the mood of the photo. A photograph tells a story and you will want a location that will complement the story. Here are a few ideas to make your family photos more interesting:
Trendy: If you're in town take a walk down the city streets and look for trendy spots, such as garage fronts, brick buildings, park benches and side walks.
Grit: Visit your local junkyard and take a few shots between piles of scrap metal and written off cars stacked on top of each other.
Fewer distractions: The best natural shots do not have a lot going on in the background and appear calming and friendly. A great place is big open fields filled with tall grass. Instead of walking to the park, take a walk down a nature trail and you will find some amazing spots. Take a few shots with the family leaning on a tree or sitting on fallen trees. Surrounding rivers, lakes and water beds also adds a natural and calming touch.
Think outside the square: If you're looking for an unusual twist then take any of the locations mentioned above and add a couch or chair. A couple good examples are sitting on a red stool in the forest or on a couch at the junkyard.
Natural Shots
Some of the best photos are natural shots with a close depth of field. However if you are going to take close images you will want to be relaxed so expressions appear natural.
Activity: Working with kids can be lovely or it can turn into a disaster. If you try to force kids to stand and pose this will only cause fake smiles. Let the kids run around for natural shots and you will notice their personality coming alive. Also, getting the family down to the kid's height will lower intimidating effect of standing above them.
Dining rooms and restaurants: eating places are great places for activities as they are hardly filled with empty space. When taking photos of food and people you will need natural lighting to bring out the colours and vibrancy of the foods. Use windows for natural light and not direct sunlight as this can make the food shimmer or shine. Flash photography will also set the colour and contrast off, instead set the flash off and use a shallow depth of field.
Night: consider shooting the same image at night, as this provides depth, excitement and displays interior activity that sunlights hides.
Pets
Having the family cat or dog in the photo adds warmth to the family photos.
Natural lighting in open areas or rooms with plenty of lighting and large windows are great places for the shoot when the family pet is involved. That will help avoid the need for flash photography that may upset the pet.
Focus on the eyes: a pets eyes are the most important as they are more expressive than human eyes. Some of the best pet photography uses a sharp tack with a focus on the eyes.
Lower ground: As opposed to having the pet sit next to the family, have the family come down to his level and take the photo at their eye level or below. Having the family go to the pet will be much easier than trying to get them to stop wandering around.
posted by michaelabela.weebly.com
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