A few tips to help your family portraits looks their best
by Scottsdale based family and event photographer Sara Waterman.
www.sarawatermanphotography.com
1- Coordinate your clothing do not match your clothing.
This is the most important point, if you show up to your shoot all wearing white collared shirts and jeans, fine but there not enough creative posing I can offer to prevent your portraits looking like they came out of 1993. Ouch! No no instead pick a color theme, think blues, jewel tones, pastels perhaps whites and pinks? I suggest using the outfit you have in mind for the littles to help plan your outfit (let's face it their clothing is way cuter than yours) There is one exception to this small kiddos can always match, that just never gets old, at least I hope not my 10 week twins are in for a lifetime of matchy matchy, even though they are a boy and a girl.
- Blues
2- Avoid busy patterns or characters on clothing
You may be a chevron or ikat fan right now, but I guarantee in a few years these trendy patterns will look very dated. Plus super busy patterns distract from you. I want people to look at your photo and notice you not the large Tory Burch logo on your sweater. Keep it simple, keep patterns small not super big and chances are you will be happier with the finished product.
3- Consider you backgrounds
Pretty self explanatory, but if we are shooting at the beach try to stay away from tan, I want your photos to pop from the background. If we are going to a shoot against the desert (most of the time that's what we do in Arizona) stay away from light greens and tans for your shirt. Bright colors are my favorite look how eye catching this portrait is...
4- Layer it up
I love layers, they give us the flexibility to quickly change your look, plus I think a jacket or an over shirt help to make your look polished, a jean jacket a black cardigan, a blazer for a man can really look nice. I know it's hot here but a light neck scarf can also go a long way to finish your look. Not a requirement but certainly something to think about.
5- Plan ahead
Make sure you plan ahead for your shoot. I can't tell you how many times I had clients come to shoot in a tizzy because the dress their kid was going to wear was dirty. Make sure you dry clean your clothes (if needed) make sure shirts are pressed and you are ready to rock on shoot day. Make sure hair is cut, fingernails don't have chipped polish and please don't wax your eyebrows day of. If you are planning new makeup or a new style, try to do that a few weeks before your shoot so you have time to adjust. Family shoots can be stressful (as much as you will have fun with me on shoot day) you still have to get everyone on board (happy) and on time looking their best if you plan your outfits ahead it will be one less thing to stress about on shoot day.
6- Avoid all white or all black or fluorescents.
If everyone showed up in black if would difficult to photograph you can end up with clippings (which just means you loose a little details in the clothes in order to properly expose your skin) Florescent shirts can throw color casts on the skin, which is just time consuming to correct in photoshop, especially if it's for every photo. So this request is just for me.. thanks!
7- Consider your home
Many family portraits end up gracing the walls of your home, especially if you have a plan to print a large print, think what would look best on your walls? Light and fun or dark and moody. Do you have white furniture would a portrait look good if everyone was wearing dark colors. A picky point I know, but something to think about for a moment.
8- A few more tips
For men wear dark colored socks, so if they peek out they don't stand out (unless this is a barefoot shoot of course). Women consider a shirt with at least a small sleeve, this helps the attention go to your face, not your bare arms, as a rule it looks better (but of course not always) Do you see the white socks peeping out - Yes I photoshopped them dark in the end (but I can't do that for every photo)
9- Keep is classic
These images will be around for year to come. So timeless simple classic attire will help you not cringe when you look at these images over the years. Of course that's fun too, looking back at your pegged jeans and mc hammer pants for the 80's is great fodder for a giggle.
Thanks for reading! I can't wait to help create your family portraits.
-Sara Waterman
