jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

I would truly appreciate any thoughts on doing some outdoor family pics. Could be related to lighting, filters, staging of the subjects, things to look for, things to avoid, best time of day, cool props, lenses, flash v no flash, angle of flash.

Will be mom, dad and up to 3 kids.

As always I appreciate your feedback.

Jeff

PS-- If you have any interesting family shots you want to share along with what you did to get them--that would be helpful as well.

jw32003 Loc: Oklahoma

Jeff: There are many ways to pose family photos but the best thing to do is do a search online and choose a style you and the family like. Try to take the images in the shade if possible or even a cloudy day. I see you have a Tamron 17-50 and assume it's 2.8 aperture. That would be a good choice for groups. If you are in full sunlight, some would suggest to have the sun over your shoulder. I would put the sun somewhere behind the group. If you put the sun over your shoulder you will have a bunch of squinting and eyes closed. This will require you to watch and try to avoid "hot spots" on the face. If they have shadows use fill flash. Also, it is better if they don't wear white shirts. A darker color is better for exposure..

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

Hi Jeff,

I'm James from Anchorage Alaska. Portrait photography can be very challenging. Because there are literally dozens of different skin colors and skin tones. Lighting situations can vary greatly from one individual to another. There are dozens of good lights available on the market to choose from, including steady (continuous), strobe and flash. A flash is a light that attaches to your camera, or is built in. A strobe connects to your camera but is separate, usually on a light stand with an umbrella. I would strongly recommend buying a basic 3 light kit to start, along with at least 2 reflectors.

If you want to do most of your portrait photography outdoors, your best light source is usually natural light, preferably defused. Bright sunny days don't offer good light for photographing portraits because of the harsh and hard shadows it produces. Cloudy days are best because the sunlight is defused, producing very nice and soft shadows.

The internet has a plethora of information for the beginning, advanced & professional photographer. Here's a link where you can go to buy lighting equipment; http://www.dmkfoto.com/ It's a very good sight and offers a wide variety of photo equipment at very reasonable prices. Granted the equipment isn't top of the line, but it offers good quality equipment at very affordable prices. I got my first lighting kit from here and continue buying from them because they are affordable with my limited budget. I have not been disappointed with my equipment from DMK Foto. FYI, I'm not normally recommending, nor do I promote businesses unless I believe in it and even then, only rarely.

Last, I would recommend researching the internet specifically about outdoor portrait photography. You would be amazed at the amount of people willing to share their knowledge online, especially on http://youtube.com. I use the internet all the time, researching and learning about photography and videography. Sorry to be so long winded, but I hope you find this helpful and useful.

James, Anchorage Alaska

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

JW---great advice. I also just got a Canon 28-105 1:4 L IS...may use that. Truly apprec the tips.

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

James...thanks for the input. Really appreciate it. I'll check out the websites tonight.
Jeff

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

Another great choice for outdoor photography for portraits is early morning, just as the sun is rising, or just before sunset. If it's partly cloudy, the results of a sunset, or sunset portrait can be very dramatic. Of course during those times of the day, use of a good light source is key and recommended.

Here is a "youtube.com" website with some good outdoor photo tips. another website good for ideas and suggestions is "ehow.com." Hope you're able to find stuff you need.

good luck and best regards,

James, Anchorage Alaska

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

Sorry, forgot to include this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OXpPDl58Nc&feature=related

drbarrymary Loc: No. Carolina, Florida

i have enclosed a photograph of my grand kids taken at our botanical gardens. At first, tried to pose them, then turned them loose to climb the tree. Seems to have worked great for me.

barbara Loc: Atlanta, Ga

Good shot, I would frame it

DCDan

I like the way the photo turned out but I would have brightened it
with a little more fill flash or processing.

RonaldLewis Loc: Chicago, Illinois

I usually use fill flash when I shoot outdoors. I try to put the people in the shade and shoot away. I ususally use my flash on camera with a diffuser. I shoot at ISO 400 and shoot at shutter preferred with the children because I know they are going to be moving around. I always use flash because of the shadows from the light coming from in between the leaves that put shadows in the people's faces. I learned from a very good photographer who told me that a good photographer always had a flash on his camera. It has worked for me.

HungryEye

Nice Capture drmarybarry!

Portraits in photography for me have always been a point of transformation in my own understanding of what it is to be a human being.

It all starts with the intention of the photographer. Whether my subject is an individual or a family, I try to find out what their essence of joy is and then try to mythologize or symbolize it through a spontaneous activity. This could be both looking towards as well as looking away at the camera. Trying to find the photo I did of a family that really had a close joyful relationship with sports.
There were 8 of them and one of the scenarios I came up with was to have them all run towards the camera holding hands and when they got to a certain point I had them jump up in the air to reach for ballons that were just out of top frame. They loved the shots (because they already had joy through movement)
As I recall... Shot open bright shade, 1/1500 F8 800 ISO Continious motor drive and manual follow focus. Try to find it and post...

mljphoto Loc: Bigfork, MN

Jeff-
The best piece of advice I can really give, as I'm new myself, is definitely watch out for the sun! The sun can be wonderful but also your worst enemy!!! As far as poses and shots, consider what the family loves to do, who will all be in the picture, will they be including dogs, etc. And will it be just the family, or will there be pics of the kids too! I just did some family pictures for a friend and I'll include a couple images.

The family loves trails so this made for a nice picture set up for this family


This little boy is such a goofball and likes to make faces.


As you can see again, the boy loves making faces!