Improving your Family Photos

A quick guide on improving your family photos by David Baird Photography.

Background & Focus

It’s easy to get too focused on your subject, and end up ignoring the background. Then, you’ll find yourself with a picture of your favourite cousin with a pole growing out of her head! This is where you need to be aware of what’s happening beyond the focus of the shot.

A distracting background can ruin the shot. Zooming in on your subject, or using a wider aperture both throw a distracting background out of focus and place more emphasis on the person you are photographing.

Remember the rule of thirds

Probably the most important thing to think about is what type of photos you want to take. Are you interested in big group shots of the whole whanau; or do you want individual photos of the children playing with their new toys? Each subject poses its own problems and opportunities: for example faster subjects may require faster shutter speeds. However, there are a few rules that you can use to help you.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that the subjects of your photos are comfortable in their surroundings. Grabbing a camera and shoving it in someone’s face doesn’t always go down well.

Another important rule to remember is the rule of thirds. Placing an imaginary 3×3 grid (like noughts and crosses) on an image creates focal points which the human eye finds pleasing. Try using these grid lines to line up the horizon, or have faces at the focal points. Using this rule also helps you create good balance in your images as well. Thinking about colour in terms of composition will help as well, as you can see in the image above.

Many cameras these days come with a function to overlay a grid like this in the viewfinder. Have a look at your camera’s instruction book to see if you can do this.

If you’re doing a group shot, think about organising the family so that they form a pyramid or triangle shape. This is another format that the human eye finds pleasing.

Finally, remember as well that these rules are made to be manipulated or broken at your whim!

Lighting and Exposure

The best light for a portrait is soft natural light. If you are going to be photographing outside, think about going under a tree or using some other form of shade. The harsh NZ sun isn’t the best for creating flattering shots. Another option for softer light is early in the day or in the evening as the light fades, or have the sun behind your subjects. If you choose this last option, you’ll have to make sure you don’t just end up shooting silhouettes!

Indoor shots can be tricky if there isn’t a lot of light around. One option is to have the subject near a window, and another option is to use a fill-in flash. This is when the flash is set to emit less light, which will “fill in” the darker areas in the photo, without brightening up the lighter ones. Have a look at your camera’s instruction book to see if this is available.

You may also need to adjust the ISO rating on your camera: quite simply this is the digital camera’s sensitivity to light.

Increasing the ISO means more light is able to be recorded on the sensor, and this runs the risk of creating grainier images with more subdued colours. Have a play around with your camera before the family arrives, to get your head around this.

Hopefully this has inspired you to get creative over the holidays, and get some fantastic shots of your family.