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Everyone loves family photographs – they’re so cute but can be pretty expensive! But you can do it all by yourself, and we’re here to help you. Check out our tips for free family photos and finally create your own!
- Choose the Location and the Time of Day
The first thing you need to do is decide on the location of your family photo shoot. Is it a park, a cafe, a beach, or your living room? Once you choose the location, you can discuss the time with your family members. It is crucial since lighting changes throughout the day. For example, you can take amazing shots at a fair if you go there in the evening, but it would be a totally bad idea for a park as there’s not enough light.
- Search for Posing Ideas
If you’ve planned when and where to gather your family, then why not do some research? What kind of photos would you like to get, and what poses will you need for them? Consider poses for different body shapes so that all your family members like the way they look in the photographs. There are myriads of useful tips for family photo poses, so don’t hesitate to check them out.
- Chill Out
Right, go easy! You’ve planned everything carefully and don’t have to control everything. Family photo shooting is a great opportunity to spend quality time together. Turn on your favourite music to help everyone relax, you can even create a playlist together. As for kids, just let them have fun and capture these priceless moments instead of forcing them to sit quietly and smile. Let kids be kids.
- Use Burst Mode
Any group photo is always at risk since one can suddenly blink, sneeze, or look away. It might also take a great deal of time until kids finally get focused and stop moving and looking around. Nevertheless, this issue can be easily solved by one camera setting – Burst Mode.
Burst Mode lets you take multiple photos at once and is perfect for family photo shooting. Usually, a Single-shot mode is set automatically, so go to your camera’s settings and change it. Now you’ll have at least one great shot from a sequence of images you take in this mode. Don’t worry if someone wanders into the background as things like that can easily be sorted with background remover tool, which is a really easy way to get rid of anything from photos you don’t want.
- Adjust Shutter Speed
As we’ve said, children might have a lot of fun playing and running around while shooting. It’s no problem. Just make the Shutter Speed on your camera faster. You can start with 1/250s, which is enough in case they play games or wave. However, you’ll need a faster Shutter Speed if they jump or run really fast. Then set Shutter Speed as 1/800s or more.
Anyway, not all your photographs need to be sharp. With a slower Shutter Speed, you can get a stunning blurry effect. It looks especially beautiful with cars passing by, kids running around, etc. So be sure to experiment with this camera setting.
- Use a Beginner-Friendly Photo Editor
Sure, when we watch tutorials for such programs as Photoshop or Lightroom we tend to think it’s too complicated and soon many of us give up. But there are numerous beginner-oriented photo editors anyone can figure out.
If you want to fine-tune your family photos on the go, then download a mobile application. For example, Snapseed is a great photo editing app with an uncluttered interface and the most commonly used tools. Besides, it is available for both Android and iOS devices. So edit your photos in a few taps, save and easily share them with your friends on social media.
However, mobile apps normally have very limited functionality. Alternatively, you can download software on your computer. For instance, PhotoWorks is a photo editor for PC which offers more sophisticated tools yet an intuitive interface. In PhotoWorks you can use such professional-grade features as retouching, colour correction, and even batch processing mode which will allow you to edit all your photos at once. So handy!
- Make Your Images Timeless
Although photography is one of the best ways to develop creativity, family photos are not the case when you should put much effort. While taking and editing your family photographs, keep in mind that they should look appealing now, 5 and even 20 years later. For this reason, stick to minimalist and classic editing styles and avoid trendy filters.
Wasn’t it a piece of cake? As you can see, taking family photos is no problem. Just keep in mind the tips we’ve shared today, and everything will be alright. Now go ahead and plan your family photo shooting!
This is a collaborative post.