Posing Your Family for Photos

Posing a family may seem tough, but once you get a few basic ideas down it is super easy!  Here are a few ideas for you:

1) Never tell anyone to smile!

2) Never tell kids to smile!

3) Never tell adults to smile!

4) Never tell dads... especially dads "smile"!

5) Create an "Organic" scenario, and capture what unfolds. 

Wait!  I thought you said this post was about posing!  Well yes.  Yes it is.  With out a good expression, a pose is useless.  So first, it is necessary to make everyone feel comfortable.  How often can you remember as a kid when mom and dad said "Smile for the camera", and then you put on your cheesy smile was nothing short of terrible?  Talk with the family, have fun, don't worry about making 8 million pictures during the session - worry about keeping everyone in a good mood!

I like to create what I call "organic expressions".  My goal is for everyone to interact with each other with simple guidance from me, and then I work to capture the moments that show who is really in front of my lens.  I do this by asking for specific things to happen.  For instance - kids love to give hugs and kisses.  How often will a kid hug their parents or sibling on their own and have a natural, real smile?  By asking for this to happen, often the subjects are more than happy to oblige.  Plus, this is a pose that doesn't feel like a pose, and then an "organic" expression occurs.

The two boys above aren't fully smiling, or even looking completely at the camera for that matter, but it is still a great image!  The touch, and happiness really makes this image work.

Another way I like to pose a family is to do something totally out of the ordinary.  98% of the time a mom will stop in the shop and schedule a portrait session for the family.  When we do the pre-consult I usually get the idea of what she thinks she wants, which is what she has seen before.  And what have most people seen as a family portrait before?  Everyone standing in a line with terribly forced smiles.  I always oblige to the request for that standard, traditional pose, but then we move on to having some real fun with the session.  This is when everyone loosens up and the great expressions come out!  The pose to the right isn't anything completely out of this world, but the kids had fun.  And as a parent, I know first hand that when the kid(s) are having fun, you are having fun.  So the first rule to happy parents?  Happy kids.  To do this?  Fun pose.  Ask them to do something silly!  Hold a kid on their shoulders, get on the ground and give a kid a piggy back ride, just play and have fun, thats what kids like, and that is when kids really smile.

This is a big separation point from a real portrait artist and a department store studio.  How often have you gone to Walmart and had a portrait session in a field, while holding your kids mostly upside down and having a smooch with your spouse?  Never.  Thats why people are mostly trained to stand in a line with hands folded in front of their crotch with a white backdrop and bad lighting.... because that is a beautiful timeless image (note the sarcasm).  The department store studio vs. a boutique studio is a completely different post, so I'll save my fingers for typing that one another day.