How to Take a Family Portrait

Capturing your family on film doesn't have to mean hauling everyone off to the photo studio at the mall. Whether you plan to send your portrait to family and friends on a holiday card or display it, silver-framed, on the piano, it's more fun to take a creative approach.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Picture Frames
• Photographers
• Camera Tripod
• Cameras
• Film
• Cameras

1. Call a photographer whose work you've admired in a friend's wedding album, in a local newspaper or magazine, or on the walls of a nearby gallery. If you haven't come across a great photographer, talk to friends to get suggestions.

2. Have the photographer snap you and your menage in a place you all love: the beach, your lakefront cabin, even a local amusement park.

3. Alternatively, take your own photo at home, on vacation, or at a favorite local landmark. Even if your experience is nil, today's super-automated cameras make it a cinch to take good photographs.

4. Set your camera on a tripod or on a stable object facing the background you want. A brick wall, a large boulder, a sturdy table or the fender of your car should offer good support.

5. Gather your group in front of you, look through your camera's viewfinder, and play director. Move everyone around until they've formed a composition that pleases you. Make sure you save one spot in the scene for yourself, and imagine yourself there.

6. Set the automatic timer on your camera, then run onto the set and strike your pose.

Tips & Warnings

• An automatic camera can all but guarantee photos that are technically good, but the composition is up to you. In a portrait, you want to see your family, who happen to be on a beach - not a beach that happens to have your family on it. Move in close enough.
• If the finished product still shows more background than you'd like, take the negative to a custom photo finisher and have it cropped.
• When you're posing your group, make sure your background includes no objects that could appear to sprout from people's heads in the finished photo. Avoid vertical lines such as those of fence posts, spindly trees or the edges of walls.

on 11/22/2005 You don't have to all match, but it helps if you are all dressed in a similar way. Casual or formal, light tones or dark tones. Try to avoid busy patterns - everyone notices the one person in a Hawaiian print shirt.

on 11/22/2005 Our most recent photographer surprised us when we were taking an outdoor portrait by asking us to take our shoes and socks off, but the result? Terrific! Bare feet look much more natural, and produce great photos because everyone is much more comfortable and relaxed than with shoes. I highly recommend it. Your kids will love it!

on 11/22/2005 Get everyone to ham it up and act goofy for a few of your shots. Even if those aren't the ones you frame, the fun and liveliness will carry through for your more conventional shots.