PHOTOGRAPHY
Family photo poses that highlight personality.
Poses and photography tips for perfect family photos.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Poses and photography tips for perfect family photos.
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How to create natural family photo poses
Family photo sessions can be fun and dynamic when you balance planned poses with organic, in-the-moment interaction. Let personality shine, even when highlighting the entire family.
There’s more to capturing a perfect family photo than gathering family members into a room and pointing a camera in their direction. Family photography is an opportunity to capture an authentic snapshot of family members’ personalities. With a little planning, a few family photography tips and techniques, some key family portrait poses, and a couple of editing tips, you can take your portrait photography to the next level.
The trick with exploring different posing ideas is to find ways to showcase personality and relationships. You can be detail oriented and pose the families each step of the way or you can stay a little more relaxed with your sessions — sometimes the best photography ideas come from capturing an unexpected candid moment.
Here are some pose ideas that can work for families of any size:
One of the classic family photo poses is having the family stand together. “I have everybody standing together. They smile at the camera, and then they interact with each other,” explains family photographer Olivia Matia. “I like to do the first grouping with everyone looking at the camera, smiling — think of your classic Christmas card family photo.”
Babies and toddlers held against a parents’ hip opens the adult to face the camera more directly. Try positioning taller kids beside a parent, while putting the shorter kids directly in front, highlighting the physical dynamic without creating too much distance between family members.
Posing ideas involving hugging and cuddling are essential, especially with younger children and babies. If the kids are on the shy side, let them cuddle up to their parents — it’s an opportunity for a more intimate, quiet moment.
Have fun with it. “Hold the child almost Lion King style, lift them up, and get the kiddo to laugh,” Matia says. “Sometimes I’ll say, ‘On the count of three, everybody tickle…’ and then I’ll name one of the family members. They’re usually shocked to hear their own name, and then everybody is tickling and laughing.”
Parents walking while kids frolic in the foreground can create a depth of field effect for dynamic family photos. For a side-by-side walk, have parents or kids hold hands as they stroll, and encourage the family to observe their surroundings, especially during outdoor photography.
After some wandering, capture some beautiful family photos in a more relaxed setting with sitting poses. “Wherever it is, I’ll lay a blanket down and I’ll have everyone pile in,” notes Matia. Hint: Get the entire family on a cozy couch and take an opportunity to snap some close-ups while the kids stay still and parents can relax.
A family photoshoot is a great opportunity to capture candid moments that explore the family members’ personalities. Once your subjects are comfortable with the camera, opportunities for unexpected photography poses often present themselves on the fly — so snap away.
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It can be awkward trying to get a large family comfortably in frame or wrangling young children — the trick is to plan your photoshoot with flexibility and comfort in mind. Work with the personalities of the entire family to get great photos, and don’t shy away from sharing family photo ideas ahead of time to establish that crucial personal connection and perfect pose.
There are always new techniques to learn when you’re a family photographer. Here are some photography tips to hone your craft toward capturing those memorable moments. With the right camera settings, it’s easier to focus on the subjects of your photos and pose them in ways that highlight their family dynamics.
Boost your photo game and highlight family portrait poses by focusing on the finer details.
Take advantage of the soft light of golden hour, when the sun is low, warm, and the golden hue makes it the perfect time of day to shoot. “If I’m photographing a family in a field, I’ll want to utilize that soft backlight, so I will put them directly in front of the sun,” Matia suggests. “And that gives a soft hazy look. After the sun sets a little bit, which we call blue hour, I turn them around, and I face them where the sun once was. And that can also be really flattering.”
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After a successful photoshoot, bring family portraits into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Fine-tune tones, remove blemishes, add blur to shift the focus, and more — transform your family pictures into unforgettable moments.
Lightroom and Photoshop expert Jesús Ramirez suggests taking your family portrait to the next level with the right digital tools and powerful presets. “If we’re talking about adjusting tonality and color, then Lightroom is the place to go,” Ramirez suggests.
Adding blur can shift the focus of a photo to highlight the dynamics you’ve captured with careful planning and posing. “To accentuate the face, you could use the blur tools in Photoshop, like the Blur Gallery, to soften the background. Experiment with Iris Blur — it’s basically a circle that you can put over a person’s face and everything around it is blurry while keeping the face sharp,” notes Ramirez.
Explore tools to adjust the tone with Curves and enhance color with Vibrance and Saturation. “You can add contrast by using complementary colors. Or draw attention to something by desaturating the elements you don’t want highlighted,” says Ramirez. If you need to remove small objects in photos, the Content-Aware Fill tool makes it easier than ever to remove and replace unwanted elements in a family photo that might have distracted from a perfect cuddle moment or candid shot.
There are a lot of considerations when it comes to family photo poses. A great photoshoot requires a balance between planning, pivoting, and highlighting the natural dynamics that the individual subjects and entire family bring to the event. Putting learning into practice is the best way for any family photographer to improve their craft.