Ideas - Large Family portrait shoot

Kbeg3

I have a studio shoot coming up with a family of 7, 2 parents and children ranging from 2-18. I've never worked with such a large group before and am just thinking of what to do with them, does anyone have any posing ideas or any other advice.

Thanks in advance

PCPhoto

- ladder and shoot from above.....if possible family pyramid.

- parents sitting 2 kids standing behind each parent (taller kids) - and the smallies on the floor in front.

or if you wanted to get creative .... put parents in a giant cot/bed .... and have kids lined up along side of it - looking in on their adoring parents !!

playground setting - parents on a pair of swings - kids around nearby - playing.

Family picnic - parents and youngest kids sitting down on grassy area with picnic setup - some kids in background playing...maybe one cycling, or something like that.

all kind of depends on the personalities and the people involved - no point in shooting a heavy family in a sporty setting - just wont look convincing.

EDIT: if they are a good laugh - dress them up - pick a theme and give them all costumes....or pick random costumes.

Thecageyone

I did a shoot for a family of 5 recently, I just had them standing in the garden, switched positions around a few times until I was happy. I had my girlfriend hold a reflector [experimented with gold/silver/white] and though the set I have isn't all that big, the light easily covered all faces and killed nasty shadows [it was early evening very sunny, I had them face away from the sun and used the reflector for fill]

I didn't have all that much time with them, or I'd have tried some more casual, sitting in the grass close together, not looking at cam for some candids, got them to playful wrestle and pile up on the ground for fun shots maybe. For the standing shots I was just concentrating on making sure all eyes were open, no frowny faces [the youngest child wasn't really into it so I did get the father to tickle her a bit and put her at ease] The larger the group the harder it is to get all faces bang on.

The main thing is to be confident, but cheerful, never get frustrated so the kids will play along. The adults will automatically get into pose mode so concentrate on the youngest ones, get them right, chances are your shots will turn out well. Set your cam to Continuous and fire off as many as you like for each set of poses. You never know when one of them will blink/turn away/frown/look goofy.

Indoors is much harder for a group, as you will be tight for space no matter how large the room. Maybe get the youngest ones to kneel out front, do no more than 3 layers deep - 2/3/2 or 3/4 - Tallest to the back and if there's varying height in a row just try not to have it so they go up or down in diagonal lines. Mix and match so all faces are unobstructed and there's a loose feel to the set up. You don't want stiff, all arms hanging, unnatural poses. have them place hands on shoulders, around waists, cuddling in close.

No expert here, just some random ideas Best of luck.

thedarkroom

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