Get a Little Closer…
…don’t be shy. The goal of family portraiture is not just to have family members in the same frame. It is to create art out of their relationships with one another. In order to do this, keep in mind one very important concept; get a little closer. You need your subjects to be very closely interacting (physically and emotionally) and you need to fill the frame with the emotional elements. I’m not saying that environmental portraiture doesn’t have it’s place. There are a few photographers who do family photography in this style very very well. But for me, I prefer to get up close and personal.
When posing an entire family, help them arrange themselves into a very close formation, keeping in mind that the more relaxed they feel, the more relaxed and comfortable they will look. Now…have them get even closer. Also, remember that when shooting a whole family, often times things will happen on the sidelines that are worth documenting. It’s why I like shooting with the 70-200mm lens with families. Because while you are shooting the whole family at 70mm…you can also capture moments like this with a simple twist of the wrist, shooting at 200mm.
Likewise, be aware of what’s happening behind and to the side of you when you are shooting a few family members at a time. For example, while I was shooting just the girls of this family, I noticed the oldest brother helping the youngest one up onto a stool to my left.
You can also crop many images later. When culling through your images, don’t throw out an image because one kid was picking his nose. Look for great moments happening within the image. Here are some examples of images that were cropped in on the emotional elements later.
Lastly, when shooting families, it’s important to make the session fun and engaging. You want the family to honestly and authentically engage with one another during the session so that when they look at the images years later, they remember a fun family day (not a stressful photo session day).
Laura is now offering 2 day workshops that delve much deeper into the art of authentic family portraiture. The Indoor Simplicity Workshop teaches how to use minimal equip to set up a natural light studio in a client’s home and document the family relationships in a simple and beautiful way. The Outdoor Workshop teaches how to find and manipulate outdoor light to create dynamic, emotional family portraits. The remaining 2011 workshops are Orange County, CA in August and Orlando in October. You can find more information including testimonials at www.laurasiebertworkshops.com
Orange County Workshops – August 10-11 (Outdoor) and August 13-14 (Indoor)
Orlando Workshops – October 15-16 (Outdoor) and October 18-19 (Indoor)
About Laura:
With 2 thriving studios in Denver and St. Louis, Laura has perfected the art of the family session over the past 5.5 years in business. She strives to create an environment within the session that allows families to feel comfortable enough to “let loose and be themselves” in an artful and beautiful way. Her portrait website can be found here www.eyesmilesphotography.com
Laura also has a successful Commercial and Editorial business. Laura’s work has been published by clients such as Parents Magazine, Mothering Magazine, The NFL Players Association, Cotton Babies, Rumparooz, Bum Genius, Cardthartic and others. She has also been published in 3 books: Mamarazzi-Every Mom’s Guide to Photographing Kids, NFL Dads Dedicated to Daughters and The Little Redhead Book. Her commercial site can be found here www.laura-siebert.com
Email laura@laura-siebert.com to let her know which workshop you would like to attend and that you have done the above steps. She will take care of it from there. Remember, you only have until 11:59pm ET tomorrow!!
