Having a photoshoot session with the whole family can be stressful. You may have a baby or young kids that don’t want to sit still or even look at the camera. Or you may have a large family with grown kids and it seems near impossible to get everyone together at the same time. You want to make the photoshoot fun, engaging, unique, or maybe just another bonding experience, but this one caught on camera. There are so many ways you can make your next photoshoot with family fun and unique and simply not “just another photoshoot”.
The first thing is picking your location. Sometimes it is perfectly okay to have it in your home. If that is what you want, you’re going for simple, or you like and want variety, but also believe your home has that to offer. However, if you don’t want the photoshoot at home and don’t want to pay to rent out a studio, then sometimes a little more thought has to go into the location for the photos that may be hung on your wall or on your fire mantle until the next time the whole family gets together. I mean, let’s be honest, they might stay there longer or find a nice home inside a photo album.
Some ideas for a location for a family shoot are:
- A Park: This might be a fun idea to find a park with a playground, maybe by the water, with a nice field, a picnic area, and maybe something that has a unique aspect to it. You can also look for parks with basketball courts and baseball fields if you want to throw in a few sportier photos with the family.
- Rent an AirBNB: I know that this option could be a little more expensive. However, if you have a bigger family, you can split the cost amongst everyone and it will come out a little cheaper. This is a great way to get that at home vibe in a photoshoot without having it at your own home. Especially if you’re a young mom with young kids who make a mess, the second you’re done cleaning it up and you feel like you are always behind. An AirBNB can also open you up to a completely different layout to spark different themes for your photoshoot, along with housing everyone at the same time.
- Go on a Family Vacation: This is always a fun one. You get to make new memories, explore a new place, and document it with a brand new set of family photos. Take a trip close to home but somewhere you’ve never been, an amusement park, a foreign country, or anywhere in between. The options are endless and so is the fun.
- The Beach: Put on those swimsuits or a fun summer dress and get your toes a little wet and sandy. A beach is a fun place to have a shoot. Splashing in the water, live shots of the dog knocking over the kids, and everyone smiling in the sun. Just make sure to remember hats and sunscreen or some of the photos later in the day may end up being a lot redder than the ones earlier.
- A Small Town in or Near The Mountains: I honestly love small mountain towns. I actually am sitting in a hotel in one as I write this for you guys. A small mountain town gives the sense of togetherness and a close knit community, which is a great environment to get close with your family. There are so many landmarks and historical places, all within a short walk of each other. This can make for great walking action shots or, if you’re into it, editing your photo into an old time sort of vibe and putting you and the family back in time. This is also great if you love the greenery of the mountains for a beautiful landscape in your photos.
Next thing to think about are outfits. Some photos or photo shoots you want everyone matching, or maybe the girls in one color and the boys in another color. Maybe you want everyone in the same color, you want a theme to make the outfits match. Or sometimes, you simply don’t matter. Outfits are super essential because they can also completely change the vibe of the whole photo.
When thinking of outfits you can consider the following.
- Everyone matching: This is probably the most common and popular option that you see when it comes to people taking family photos and family portraits. Pick a simple outfit, a cute outfit, a fun outfit, or an outfit that matches your setting and the vibe you want to give off with your portraits, and dress the whole family the same. Maybe if you have a kid, that’s a little more picky, try to get their input on the outfit, or get everyone’s input.
- Girls matching and the boys matching: This is semi similar to the first one but simply have the girls in the family wear the same outfit and the boys all wear the same outfit. They can be a girl version of what the boys are wearing or they can just be two outfits that complement each other. This is a great idea to add variety, allow the girls to dress in something a little more feminine and the boys to dress in something a little more masculine.
- Everyone wearing the same color: Dress the whole family in the same color. They can all agree on a color, or pic white, lol, and have everything get an outfit together in that color. This is a great way to coordinate and appear matching but letting everyone have a say in what they want to wear.
- Girls wearing one color and boys wearing another: This is similar to the one above, but it can allow all the girls to pick a more feminine or pastel color and let the men pick a more neutral or primary color. Sometimes the best family photos are also ones where you match, but match by gender.
- Girls wearing dresses, boys wearing khaki shorts and a polo: This is an option to give everyone a little more freedom but keep them matching in a sense. Have all the girls wear a dress, you can coordinate any way you want to, or not at all, it just has to be a dress. Then you can have all the men wear khakis and their favorite polo, or just whatever polo they get to first, because let’s be honest, that’s what they’re going to do anyway.
- Free for all: This one could be fun, but do it at your own risk. You can just have everyone bring clothes and wear what they want for the photoshoot. It can match a little or you can make certain guidelines, like no sweatpants, unless you’re going for a comfy cabin in the woods by the fire sort of vibe. This can allow everyone to add their own personality to their outfits and to the photo, which can really show what a real family is, a mix of a little of everything.
The last major thing to consider are poses. It is important to come up with a few poses ahead of time so you don’t end up just standing there or doing the same statue-like poses in every single photo taken. Choosing your poses are the final and last major important party of your next family shoot.
Some pose ideas might include:
- Everyone strike a post: This one could be silly and goofy. Put on a fun outfit, get yourselves to a random place. Then have someone count down and everyone strike a pose. This can really show the true personality of every family member. You can even coordinate and take turns on someone picking a pose that everyone has to do. These can make really fun or really silly photos for your family album.
- In order of age: You can have everyone line up, in one or more rows depending how many people you have, in order of age. This could be fun to look at how the family changes as you keep adding one more person.
- In order of height: This is similar to the last one, but with height instead. Sometimes arranging everyone in order of height just adds something completely different to the photos.
- The classic mom with kids in the front: Having a few photos for the shoot with the mom or both parents standing behind the kids is always a classic. Keeping one generation in front of the previous one. This can make for one of those nice classic ones you’re going to be put right on your fire mantel or hanging on your wall.
- Doing an activity: Do you and the family have a favorite activity? Do you just like goofing off? Live action shots can always be fun. You can all skip or run around. You can play a care or board game together in the grass or at a table. You can go to a park and have everyone on the swings. The ideas are endless with the amount of activities you can be doing and sometimes these shots make for the best photos and the most genuine smiles.
- Laughing: This may appear forced, but try to have everyone laugh. Take turns telling jokes and have the photographer take numerous shots. Laughing is a great icebreaker to get the smiles started.
- A few candids: Go somewhere, have everyone just go about their day and do what they want and have a person snap a few photos along the way. Candids are a great way to capture true personality in every single member of the family and it can even capture the bond between two members in a unique way, since no posing is forced and they can just freely be themselves.
- Kids doing something and parents doing something else: This could be a unique twist. You can have the parents sitting on the ground on a picnic blanket and have the kids running around. You can have the kids on the swings and the parents standing behind them, slightly out of focus. You can have the parents sitting on a bed in robes and the kids jumping on the bed behind them. There are endless possibilities for the parents doing something and the kids doing something else in the same shot.
- Parents holding kids if young enough: If you have young kids, this could be cute. Have the parents holding the kids. Either on the hip, in your arms, on your back, or anything you can think of. This could show a cute bond between parent and child.
I hope some of these poses, places, and outfits helped with some ideas for the next family photoshoot. Make sure to include everyone in the decision making. Having the kids be more involved in the planning can make for a better and more enjoyable shoot.