10 tips for taking a good family photo

Lead: Photographers must know what a family portrait is. Don't be afraid even if you have never taken a family photo or a group photo. Be honest with them and tell them directly that you are a beginner. I think they will actively cooperate and take wonderful photos in return!

10 tips for taking a good family photo

It's fun for you and your family to make a little plan before taking pictures. Here are ten tips to help you successfully complete the shooting task!

1. Use a tripod if necessary.

"My God!" I know what you are thinking. You think the tripod is heavy and bulky, which prevents you from playing your free and easy style. In some cases, it may be better to shoot by hand (such as shooting running children or documentary photography), but things often have their own advantages and disadvantages. Let's think about it from another angle.

When taking pictures, most people are nervous, yes, nervous! Some people can be said to be very scared, and some people even avoid talking about it and just say "I hate taking pictures". Therefore, it is part of your job to appease the subjects and make them feel comfortable and relaxed.

However, if you are nervous yourself, the job will be difficult, especially when you are a novice in portrait photography. At this time, putting the camera on the tripod shows one of its great advantages, that is, it needs two.

(1) You will naturally slow down: this is a good thing. You can check the equipment, composition and exposure to make sure there is no problem. Usually, when we hold the camera in front of us, we will get carried away and miss many key details. Later, we found that either the white balance was wrong, or the sensitivity was 6400, or the JPG format with low image quality was accidentally used. Don't worry, slow down and avoid making mistakes.

(2) You can take your eyes off the camera and make eye contact with the subjects: they are all real people, and staring at the camera may be more nervous than staring at you. You can attract children's attention by some gestures or making faces. In short, interacting with the subject will be better expressed than looking at the viewfinder all the time.

This model on the grass is very suitable for families with children. Family members don't need to correct their posture, and children are more interesting when they lie on their parents.

2. Shooting in manual exposure mode

Suppose you have arranged everything, carefully chosen the time and place, and everything is under control. Once arranged, it means that exposure value cannot be easily changed.

However, if the aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode is used, the exposure value will be slightly adjusted according to different compositions due to the function of the exposure meter. You don't want this to happen! So consistency is very important.

Inconsistent exposure increases the post-processing work, and you must adjust all the pictures to be consistent. This will also lead to slight color change, increase noise (underexposure) and other adverse effects.

Maintain the consistency of exposure during the whole shooting process and use manual mode. Remember to check the exposure every time you change your posture or position. I will take a photo soon, then check the histogram, adjust it if necessary and continue.

I was making faces when I took this photo.

Lock focal length

Just as you don't want to change exposure value in every picture, you don't want to adjust the focus frequently. Suppose you have mastered the first point, that is, using a tripod, then you won't move around. Or arrange a relatively static posture for the subject, without moving, at least without moving greatly. At this time, what we care about is the distance from the camera.

Set your camera to the following settings: focus lock or manual focus. All the above methods can avoid the change of focal length when taking different photos. If you focus with the shutter, once someone moves slightly, the focus will fall on the background, and something has happened again! If you are still not sure how to use it, please ask your camera wizard for help!

Special suggestion: If your camera has video recording function, manual focusing will be more concise. Turn on live view, you will see the image on the screen, enlarge the image, so that you can clearly see what is the focus, so as to carry out the most accurate manual focusing, and then return to the standard image and turn off live view.

4. Stagger the subjects' heads.

Maybe you have never heard of this rule, and you are not even sure what it means. In fact, what you have to do is to avoid stiff straight lines in the picture, that is, horizontal or vertical heads. Slant lines can make the picture more dynamic and interesting. Use this technique in your group photography!

Imagine that there is a line between each face and another face, and position these lines to ensure that they do not cross each other or are on the same horizontal plane. Using diagonal lines instead of column structure, you can arrange some people to sit, some people to stand and some people to sit with folding chairs, so that they can pose naturally in the background environment. If you don't have props at hand, at least stagger the subjects according to their height.

5. Relax and bend some parts of your body.

This is the general rule of figure photography, and it is definitely a good method. When you pose for them, people often dress up and stand stiff, so they should be allowed to bend some parts of their bodies to look more natural. No one stands like a board in a natural state. Here are some specific suggestions:

Transfer your body weight to one foot, and lift your hips on the other side to keep a certain distance from the camera.

With one hand in the pocket, I usually suggest showing my thumb, otherwise they will put their whole hand at the bottom and look unnatural.

Hook your finger on the belt or buckle.

Sit forward and put your weight on your hips.

Stand against something with your feet crossed and your toes down.

(Male) When sitting down, tilt one leg and put your feet flat on the ground (make sure your legs can rotate freely to avoid taking pictures of your crotch).

Have you mastered the above essentials? The best way is to show them first, face them in person, pose what you want them to pose and let them imitate.

6. Let the children be themselves

I found that many parents would tell their children "Be obedient and smile!" Before taking pictures. . This kind of performance is too stressful for children. I usually advise parents to tell their children that we will take some photos in the park, which is very fun.

Yes, it doesn't explain anything except "fun". Get ready, bring props, and let mothers bring a child's favorite toy or book. Usually bring a doll, or play bubble games with equipment.

This is a picture of children playing hide-and-seek behind a tree. That innocent smile can't be forced.

If children don't want to sit down and smile, don't force them to wait for them to play around for a while before shooting. Play with them, the more interesting the better, and let them sit with you for a few minutes.

When taking pictures of children, I often self-destruct, make strange noises and sing (I'm really not good at singing, but what does it matter? ), making faces, playing hide-and-seek behind the camera, running around the camera with a puppet, and even squatting on the ground.

In fact, children are the people who really understand life, but we adults have ruined life. Let the children be themselves! Let them have fun, and then shoot.

This photo was taken at night, and the sun just set behind their left shoulder. I used a flashlight to put a reflective umbrella on the left side of my face to avoid putting them in the shadow.

7. Help them pose for the camera.

This is the bottom line-if mothers look fat, no matter how perfect the lighting and expression are, they will not be satisfied with the photos, so do this well.

In order to understand people's perceived defects and help them overcome them, here are some suggestions:

If the subject's lower body is fat, don't let them be too far away from the lens, use a wide-angle lens.

For the double chin, shooting from a slightly higher angle is higher than the horizon of the accompanying photographer. Let them look up, stretch as much as possible, and minimize the area of chin and neck.

If the subject's face faces the same side, he will highlight his nose, observe his face and find the most suitable shooting angle.

When there is a big height gap between husband and wife, letting the man (that is, the taller one) stand with his legs apart will make him look shorter and narrow the gap.

For obese people (or people who are particularly sensitive to their own weight), you can choose to let them lie on the lawn and then let the children lie on it. This style can achieve better results every time. Hide your stomach and stretch your chin. Because you only pat the face, you let the children get close to their size.

My flash is broken, so this photo was taken directly by the camera, which is not my first choice. But we are all tired, so it is interesting to have a try. Have you noticed? Dad's face is a brand-new expression!

8. Lighting is the key-pay attention to your eyes.

Lighting can make or break a photo, and the picture is no exception. Another way of saying "photography" is "painting with light". The most important thing in figure photography is to ensure that the subject has light in his eyes. This is a big topic and there are many methods, but there are still rules to follow in order to achieve the perfect use of lighting.

Choose the best time of day! One hour before dusk is the ideal time for people to take pictures. Because the sun just fell below the horizon, there was no dazzling sunshine at noon, and the light at that time was more directional and diffuse in the case of fog.

If you don't shoot at dusk, you can find a place with shadows. Keep the subject away from the sun and ensure that the background light is not so bright, because bright background light will sneak a shot of people. Try to shoot in the shadow of large buildings or trees.

Avoid shooting on cloudy days. Although the light on cloudy days is indeed softer than that on sunny days, its directionality is poor. Direct light from overhead on cloudy days can cause black eyes, especially those with deep eye sockets.

If necessary, fill the light with a mirror or flash. It should be emphasized that this is another kind of light. Remember to use it when you need to repair your face. If the person being photographed has insufficient light in his eyes, it means that there is not enough light on his face.

As important as eye light is the direction of light. As we have emphasized, it is not recommended to use the dome light and the light directly from the camera, so the built-in flash of the camera can't provide you with good light, even if the flash is installed on the top of the camera, it can't achieve good results.

The light of the camera makes the characters monotonous, which is not what we want. It should be polished from the side, preferably at an angle of 30-45 degrees with the camera.

9. Expression is everything.

If lighting is the key, then expression determines everything! If you accidentally mess up the lighting or styling, but you can make the subject laugh, it is a great success. What exactly should I do?

Being a photographer means that you should be an excellent comedian or clown at the same time. Knowing how to make people laugh often comes from experience. Sometimes you meet difficult adults. Dad standing by the brick wall always looks like this. I have photographed this family for thirteen years. We are good friends. We can make fun of him and enliven the atmosphere.

If you have children or babies, you must get their attention. It would be better if you had an assistant. You can ask grandma or friends to help. But usually, you finally attract children's attention and make them laugh, but what are adults doing? Watch out for the baby! Oh, my God, here we go again! I often say to adults, "When I make you laugh, you must look at me and never look at the children."

The baby was laughing, and everyone else followed the instructions and looked at me. Success!

10. Have fun and increase the fun.

The last suggestion is not to take yourself too seriously, and finally take some weird shots (for example, when everyone is half tired). Let everyone squeeze together, just like squeezing flat. Just when everyone is smiling happily and preparing to leave, remember to take a snapshot Let everyone fold on the grass together, jump into the air together, or make faces (you must do it), which will help to break the tension and relax.

How to take group photos and single photos?

Top professional photographers Brett Harkness and Jeff Meyer shared some basic skills of perfect portrait photography with us.

Let's take a look at the equipment of photographer Brett first.

When shooting portraits, Brett used a Canon EOS- 1DS Mark III and Canon EF 16-35mm f/2. 8L II USM, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2. 8L USM and Canon EF 50mm f/ 1. 2L USM equal lens. In addition, he is equipped with several Lastolite reflectors, two Canon Speedlite flashlights and a belt kit for creative tanks, which can be used to install various devices of different sizes like Batman's belt.

1, break through the limit

Practical conditions such as space and light may limit our creativity in taking group photos. When taking group photos, we also need to consider everyone's tastes in composition. First, let everyone's face be clearly visible, then be creative and try to show everyone's personality.

When taking a group photo, you can divide people into several groups to show different personalities, but make sure that you have reached an agreement before doing so. If customers want some safe works, it is best not to try clever composition methods.

Before taking a group photo, try to ask everyone's opinion, their position, action and some props.

2. Snapshot when taking a group photo

Taking a group photo is a good opportunity to train the level of snapshot.

It is not easy for a large group of people to pose, especially when there are children and babies, and they will soon lose patience. To take a perfect picture, you need to be sensitive to everyone's state and get rid of them.

Brett mentioned his recent experience of taking pictures of his family at the beach. Their oldest is 85 years old and the youngest is only 7 years old.

Because the grandmother at home didn't have enough energy to stand for a long time, Brett chose to put a chair in the middle of the picture, with grandma sitting on it and other family members around her.

This attention to each theme can usually bring you some extra creative ways to take very attractive photos.

3. Humor makes people relax

Someone was twenty minutes late for the group photo. A little teasing the latecomers will make everyone more relaxed. When everyone is amused by you, staring at the latecomers and laughing, it is a good opportunity to take a snapshot. Doing so can close the distance between you and the subject, and also help you to take excellent photos.

Step 4 pay attention to composition

Some families are prosperous and have a large number of people, so it is really difficult for them to stand together and take photos without making the picture crowded.

In this case, you can try to use fences, gates, etc. As a constituent element. Let the children sit in the front and the adults stand in the back to increase the level of the picture. At the same time, these extra elements can also be used as a frame in the picture.

5. Get the role moving

Whether taking a group photo or a single photo, a creative and good way is to put the subjects in a suitable environment and let them decide what to do.

Take Brett's recent shooting as an example. There is a French door at the shooting scene. He opened the door and cleaned the things behind it. Then he put a small wooden chair in the middle of the porch and focused the camera on the chair.

He told the two little boys who were photographed secretly that they could play in the chair at will while filming. At first, two little boys wanted to sit in the chair, but later they changed their minds and wanted to sit in front of the chair. "The chair became the focus of that shoot," Brett said. "The photos look the same, but in fact, each one is different. When you look at it, it feels like looking through an animated book. "

6, the performance of the relationship between people

Photographs of subjects and puppies reflect more content than simple portrait photography.

When taking a single photo, consider how to deal with the composition if a second person appears in the picture. Taking pictures of two people means that there is a second point of interest in the picture. At this time, the focus of consideration becomes how to reflect the relationship between the two.

Photographs of subjects and puppies reflect more content than simple portrait photography. When shooting, try to make the subject more relaxed. It's a good idea to shoot close to the subject with a focal lens. At this distance, the subject can already see his own shadow reflected in the lens. Especially children, prefer this effect, which can shorten the distance. They may sit down and stare at the camera, which is a good opportunity to catch their big eyes. Such photos can better reflect the true character of the subject.

7. A little closer

8. Tell stories

The grouping of men left and women right is too simple. Think about how to arrange the characters in the picture to tell their stories. For example, as mentioned just now, if you want to highlight someone's position in the family, you can let him sit in the chair in the center of the picture and let other family members sit around him.

9. Choose the focus

Taking a group photo in bad weather is the most difficult thing. At least f/8 aperture is needed for group photo shooting to get enough depth of field. However, in winter when the lighting conditions are not ideal, if you want to shoot with such an aperture, you must improve the sensitivity setting of the camera.

If the lighting conditions make you helpless, try to arrange everyone in the same focal plane, so that you don't have to turn off the aperture so small to ensure the depth of field.

10, select the most suitable shooting angle.

When taking group photos, it is inevitable that different tall and thin people will be put together. Shooting from a lower angle can satisfy everyone, but if there are elderly people in the subject, that is another matter. When taking pictures of people of different ages, we should choose different angles and ways according to people's characteristics. For example, when shooting the elderly, the composition of the photos needs to be more stable.