Family of 6?

[stephanidaxx]

Saturday I am photographing a family of 6. I've never photographed a family that large yet.
They have a 1 year old, 2year old, 4 year old and 7 year old.
Any tips? Advice? Anyone photograph a family with kids in that age group?
Share some of your work. Please & Thank You!!

[candleman]

indoor studio or outdoors?

heres a link for family posing.. traditional, but it works.. very well.
http://jzportraits.home.att.net/chapter-08.html



you WILL need an assisant with several exciting "ringing/flashy things"

tell the parents of your approach, so they know to relax.. let them know you will tel them when to look and smile at the camera.

take a few shots and get your lighting right,
dont stress the "look at the camera" until you have (in a relaxed way) directed the parents on how to move the kids for a correct looking composition.
(use this time for the relaxed informal shots)

when your composition and lighting are perfect, get ut the bright flashy light thing and tell the aprents "now its smile time"
shake the secret weapon and get the kids attention.. as aoon as baby looks.. shoot til he looks away.

give a small break, and doit again with a new shiny thing.

i did this with a group of 9 babies under 1year old, all on pillows... so it works.
also a group shot of 9 mums and their babies..
it wasn't easy

just be sure to tel the parents of your approach so they know they dont ned to smile until you say so, and keep talking so they dont think "is this it??"

dont forget to post the results

[compleks]

I'm 1 from a family of 7. Looking back on some of our family portraits is hilarious. We must have been a nightmare to shoot (not to mention the dress code...)

I just realised I don't actually have anything useful to add. Would be interested in seeing the final result though.
Good luck

[whiteeye]

I come from a family of 7 boys. A couple of years ago we took a family photo. With all the grandchildren there were over 30 of us in the photo, with several children under the age of 5. There was no way she was going to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

So what she did was take several photos and then cut and paste the heads as needed to get one photo with everyone looking at the camera. The final photo turned out great. She did a good job with Photoshop and you can't tell at all.

[sarahgirl777]

I've done a few larger families, Here is a link to my families on Flickr, maybe it will give you some ideas (not that mine are that great! lol)