Portrait photography | Portrait Photography | Photo Forum

It all depends. Every family is different. It all depends on the size and relationships. But here are general tips.

1. Find a nice location. Maybe there is a locations which is connected to your family somehow.

2. Wardrobe. You can discuss with them beforehand, what everybody is going to wear.
I am not a huge fun of everybody wearing black t-shirt and jeans like they just come out of the incubator, but try to choose something which looks good together and fits the locations you choose.

3. If you are photographing outside, avoid the direct sun into their eye, otherwise you’ll have a shot full of squinting faces. Find the shade. Overcast is also good. It will give you even defused light. Light is also better in the morning and before sunset, rather then in the middle of the day.

4. If it is a group photo, visualize beforehand how you are going to arrange them. It all depends on the size of the group. Think about relationships between family member. Also you want to keep them as much on the same plane as possible, since people who are further from the camera will look smaller when the once which are closer. It may be necessary to have the older members of the family seated, so place them at the centre of the image with the family around them. Take your time arranging. Make sure you see everyone’s face clearly. Introduce some interaction. Maybe partners can hold hand or which arms around each other. Kids can be on somebodies lap. Think about the hight. Taller people can be on the back for example.

5. For a group photo try to find an aperture, which gets everybody in focus, but still will keep background blurry. Once again keep them as much on the same plane as you can. Take a few test shoot with different aperture, if you are not sure. Take more shots when you need, since kids might not cooperate in every picture and somebody will close their eyes on some photos for sure.
You can also have your camera on the tripod and take a few of the same shots. If somebody messed up you can always replace the head in photoshop, lol. I will make video about it one day.

6. Try to be funny to get everybody smile naturally.