Posing
Family photoshoot poses
With children, posing means positioning adults and then giving everyone something to do. The adults are the structure; the children move inside it.
Posing
With children, posing means positioning adults and then giving everyone something to do. The adults are the structure; the children move inside it.
In short: With children, posing means positioning adults and then giving everyone something to do. The adults are the structure; the children move inside it.
Parents on a step or the floor, children leaning on them. Nobody has to stand still.
One parent lifts a child; the other looks at them rather than the camera. Real expressions, every time.
Heads together, everyone looking down at a younger child or an object. Removes the need for six people to smile simultaneously.
The classic, and it works because it is an action rather than an arrangement.
Everyone lying in a circle, photographer above. Children love it and it produces a frame nobody expects.
Staggered heights, nobody in a straight line, taken early.
Start with adults seated, children draped — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to lift and look up and the huddle once the shoulders have dropped, and keep the one proper group shot for the end, when self-consciousness has gone. Shoot each one in bursts through the movement rather than holding it: the usable frames sit between the instructions, not on them.
Two metres back with the lens zoomed rather than close and wide — distance is what keeps facial proportions natural. Camera at or slightly above eye level for portraits, at chest height for full length. Below eye level enlarges whatever is nearest the lens, which is rarely what you want in frame.
Asking small children to smile, which produces the grimace; and lining everyone up by height. Also: shooting for an hour with no break — plan for a snack halfway.