Family Portrait Studio Lighting Techniques

If you're planning to photograph a family portrait studio style, don't rely on the flash or any other lighting that's attached to the camera. This type of lighting flattens people out, eliminating shadows and making the portrait one dimensional. Use lights on stands with umbrellas, floodlights and spotlights to create depth in your portrait. You don't need to be a professional photographer to create great portraits. With just a few tricks of the light, your portraits will look as though they were taken in a photographer's studio.

Natural Lighting

If you want your family portrait to look natural, you'll want to light the room so that it looks natural. Harsh light won't work in this because it will make the portrait look too staged. To achieve a natural look in a dark room, reflect your light source off a wall. The wall will diffuse the light, making it softer.
If your family is sitting beside a window that doesn't provide enough light, set up a white light reflector panel about six feet away from the subjects. The panel will reflect the window light back onto the subjects who are sitting further away from it, highlighting every member of the family. If you use this technique, it will look like the light coming in from the window is lighting everyone.

Highlighting

Many studio family portraits use light as a tool to highlight facial features, which can be very flattering. These lighting techniques create lots of shadows, making the portrait appear three dimensional.
To make faces seem as though they're glowing, you need to light upwards. Put a white sheet on the floor and set your lights up several feet away, pointing at the sheet. Position the family so that they're standing on the sheet, and the light will reflect upward onto their faces. When you're using this technique, shoot from a higher angle to achieve the glow. If you shoot from a low angle, the faces will seem too largel.
To highlight the cheekbones for a model-like family portrait, cut a hole in a white sheet big enough for your camera's lens to fit through. Clip the sheet up like a wall panel, or have some assistants hold it up for you. Situate one light source out of the shot to point at the sheet below the camera hole on the side the family's noses will be pointing. Situate another light source out of the shot to point at the sheet above the camera hole on the opposite side. Keep the subjects at least seven feet away from the sheet to avoid distortion. The light that reflects off the sheet toward the family on either side will create shadow below the cheekbones, highlighting the cheekbones themselves, the eyes, and the rest of the head. This is a great lighting technique to use if your family wants a fashion forward portrait.

References

• Photography Tips and Techniques
• Photo.net
• Better Photo