You advice for family photography

[Katyxa]

I have my first family photo shoot indoors next weekend. The family consists of husband, wife and two boys (ages 2-4). They want to do photo shoot at their house. I'm not bringing in my lighting equipment, since there is going to be too much work and they want to do it throughout the house. So, I'm hoping to get away with natural lighting and flash.

I would like to get some advice on the concepts. I don't want to do boring photo shoots where family would do traditional poses. I want live in pictures and looking for some ideas (such as pillow fight, eating pizza, playing monopoly, etc). I also need advice on the dress code. Are there any guidelines, websites you can recommend for inspiration?

Thank you all.

[Superfitz]

Originally Posted by Katyxa

I have my first family photo shoot indoors next weekend. The family consists of husband, wife and two boys (ages 2-4). They want to do photo shoot at their house. I'm not bringing in my lighting equipment, since there is going to be too much work and they want to do it throughout the house. So, I'm hoping to get away with natural lighting and flash.

I would like to get some advice on the concepts. I don't want to do boring photo shoots where family would do traditional poses. I want live in pictures and looking for some ideas (such as pillow fight, eating pizza, playing monopoly, etc). I also need advice on the dress code. Are there any guidelines, websites you can recommend for inspiration?

Thank you all.

I could be wrong (which I usually am due to living in my own little world and not paying to much attention to what goes on around me), but it sounds like you are wanting to take a more candid or photojouralistic approach. Just do a search on google for those type of pictures. It sounds like you already have a pretty good start on ideas. As far as the dress code goes you can make it anything you want with those types of pics. Just make sure whatever they wear won't blend into the background to much.

[Happy_Mummy]

I can't suggest too much for poses, but from the list that you had they sound like cute ideas, but I will also add in a few things - board game is a great idea, but at ages 2 and 4 Candyland would be a better idea than Monopoly. Also I would keep the rambunctious ideas to one and keep it for the end. That way if the kids get overly rowdy and you and the parents can bring them back in it doesn't matter! I find once my kids get riled up it takes quite a bit of time for them to calm down and they may continue being silly for quite some time. My kids love playing with train sets, that could also work well for that age group if they have trains and tracks. You could get some angles from above that way too. I find ringing a bell to be a good way to get all kids (and sometimes adults too!!!) to look at me.