Photographing Larger Families

Effectively photographing larger families or groups is something of an uphill task, so when I had the pleasure of photographing a family six, I thought… “ well this should be fun” but the wheels in my head immediately started turning, and in this post, I will share some pointers as to what I did to make the shoot easier.

LOCATION

In many cases, the location of a picture is a great way to enhance a picture, I would say: as much as possible, scout out an interesting location before the shoot, to determine lighting, anticipate potential scenarios and compositions you could utilize during your shoot to create visual interest. For this shoot, we decided to use this beautiful faux water-fall location because it is spacious enough for everyone to roam freely and be comfortable, the character of the location also allows for a variety in backgrounds for the pictures.

COMPOSITION

This is basically the way a picture is framed, and organized that makes it interesting to the viewer, and there are many ways to do this; using the rule of thumbs is one way, manipulating the location of the subject in the frame of the picture is another way, sometimes adding a slither of something to the foreground of your picture creates a sense of depth and an added layer of interest in your pictures.

POSING

This is a very important part of group photography, or even just photography in general, in the past, the norm was to stack the members of the group according to their height, from the shortest to the tallest, but that practice is a tad out of date. Recent advancements in photography has requires that the photographer becomes creative in setting up the members of the group in more innovative ways than just stacking them. One way which has become very popular is to form triangles with the head s of the members. However, there is no rule of thumb here, since the goal is to make the results look as natural as possible: The key here is getting everyone in the group to be comfortable and have fun.

COLORS

Colors create visual interest when used appropriately, but can also be distracting if not properly managed, it is important to take not of colors in and around your shooting scene and use them to your advantage, or in case of preplanned photoshoots, ask your models/members to dress in complementing colors, that stand out from the background, because there is nothing more frustrating than a picture where you cannot differentiate between the subject and the background. Think about colors in photography like the android slogan: “be together not the same”.

Ultimately, have fun with your shoot, see it as an adventure to be savored rather than a chore that has to be completed, don’t be afraid of your accidents, even the greats make them, push yourself and celebrate your good shots… you’ve earned them.