Family Portraits: What’s Most Important

When planning your family portraits, what’s most important?  It’s not the location.  It’s not the coordinated outfits.  It’s not the Victorian style furniture.  Those things can most certainly enhance the overall look of your family portraits, but none of them are the most important element to consider when planning your family portraits.  The most important factor is the light.  That’s why so many photographers prefer to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is lowest in the sky and there is plenty of shade available.  If I’m shooting one or two people, it’s not as much of an issue because I can easily manipulate the light using reflectors and diffusers and such.  However, most of my clients have a minimum of six people in their family portrait.  It becomes increasingly difficult to manipulate the light with each added person.  So if you have a special place where you want to take your photos, make sure you schedule your session for a time when your location is lit best.  Here are some adorable children to illustrate my point.

The morning I photographed this family, the sun had already been up for three hours.  There were patches of full shade, so that’s where I placed them.  It made the background look a little blown out, but I decided I liked it.

The little one and I walked a few feet away to get some photos of her by herself.  Here she is in full sun.  She’s still adorable, but the light is very harsh.  There’s a shadow on half of her face and you can’t see the light in her eyes.  Also, is she laughing or disgusted with me?  Who can say?

Here she is in full shade where all of her face is lit evenly and you can see the light in her eyes.  Also her dimple, which is probably what is most important here.

If full shade is hard to find, I try to make sure that at least the subject’s face is evenly lit.

This sweet kid was getting baptized soon, so he suited up for some individual shots.

I took one shot in this crappy light with this crappy background and declared it crappy.  His face is not evenly lit and he has to squint to see me.

Much better.

This gorgeous girl couldn’t wait to get her own pictures taken.

Here she illustrates well what happens when you put people in full sun facing the sun.  Shame on me.

Those big brown eyes look much better here.

Yes, she’s smiling and happy in the full sun picture on the left, but her face and eyes are hidden in the shadows.  You can see all of her cuteness in the full shade picture on the right.

The right light makes it possible for your family to look happy and relaxed in their portraits, which is usually what people are going for when they plan family pictures.  So, just remember: Light first, Victorian style furniture . . . much much later.