How to Shoot Family PortraitsStephanie Elie shares her tips for gathering the gang for holiday shoots with the Tamron SP 17-50mm F/2.8 VC lens. |
Article by Jenn Gidman Images by Stephanie Elie |
With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season just starting to kick into overdrive, it can be hard to get your loved ones to gather round (let alone sit still!) for a beautiful family portrait. Just a little gentle direction and the right lens, though, can help pull it all together. Photographer Stephanie Elie uses the Tamron SP 17-50mm VC lens for her holiday portrait work, taking advantage of the 17-50's fast F/2.8 maximum aperture to blur out the backgrounds so she can focus in on her smiling subjects, as well as Tamron's proprietary Vibration Compensation (VC) feature to minimize camera shake. |
Read on for Stephanie's tips on setting up the perfect family holiday portrait that will stand the test of time. |
Make sure everyone's dressed appropriately. |
Pick your portrait locations based on ease of shooting and the light. |
You also need to consider the lighting when choosing the location. In the one shoot I did here, the house was so big and open and had all this light streaming in. In addition to shooting a bunch of pictures of the family on the couch, I also used the kitchen table for some shots, because they had a big bay window in there where a ton of light was coming through (it was around 10 a.m. when I started the shoot). I used an external flash for fill so that I didn't get those dark shadows around their faces when shooting directly toward the window. I also overexposed many of the images during this photo shoot to help eliminate some of the details in the background - I really wanted to show them set against the bright white of their home. |
Break down the shoot into parts and work up to the big family shot. |
I usually like to experiment with different angles (shooting from above or on the ground) for individual shots, but then for the group shots, they're usually straight on. I'll usually set the family members up by height and make sure everyone's heads are level. I try to situate the parents first, and then build the kids around them in the frame, maybe positioning them on the parents' laps or standing next to them. |
Have fun, relax, and work quickly! |
However, in general, kids have short attention spans and get bored easily, which can make getting a family portrait challenging. I try to relax them by playing a quick game of "Simon Says" or asking the parents to start playing with them - then, while the kids are distracted, I'll start bringing everyone into the shot. I'll also ask them to say silly things like "chocolate bananas!" or I'll pretend to forget their names and call them by other names, just to get them giggling and relaxed. |
In the end, though, you get what you can and don't push it. If they're done, you need to let it go! |
To see more of Stephanie Elie's work, go to www.bizzieliving.com. |