You Don’t Need A Perfect Family For A Perfect Family Portrait

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It’s great to snap away while your kids are small; once mine got bigger they stopped being quite so co-operative. Now I tell myself that one day I’ll sort through the folders and folders of photos lurking in every corner and crevice of my computer’s hard-drives. If not during the long winter nights then I’ll do it when I retire. Of course going through old pictures of your family is a sheer delight, a luxuriant bathe in nostalgia. “Oh look at this picture.” I’ll say to my daughter. “That’s a picture of you when you were nice.” And she’ll reply; “You should remember who’ll be choosing your nursing home in a few years!”

If we take enough, we’re bound to get some good pictures. But just occasionally it’s worth investing a little more time to get a really special portrait of the family, and then do something special with the picture. For instance you could get it framed for your own wall or give it to grandparents for Christmas. They’ll love it!

So how to get that special picture? Firstly, get everyone’s co-operation. Bribery, blackmail and coercion are the most useful tools. Plan it for some time ahead so no one has to change a plan to go to the skate-park or go out with a boyfriend. Remind everyone of how much the picture will be appreciated by the grandparents. Think carefully about where and when to stage the portrait. It should be done in the day to take advantage of God’s light; it’s free, convenient and very bright. Although direct sunlight will look horrible with strong contrast and shadows, positioning people in or near a north or east facing window will give a wonderfully soft light that still shows the shapes and textures. Do include things like photographs of late relatives, souvenirs from holidays, tools of a trade, odd bits of sports or hobby equipment or anything that represents your lives. These are the touches that will make the picture much more meaningful and poignant as the years pass.

You’ll need a camera with a shutter time delay or a remote control. A tripod is useful but you can balance the camera on a chair, table or even a stepladder. You could set up the shot and then get your daughter’s boyfriend to press the button; it’ll give him something to do!

This is a contrived image, but the more candid the shot looks the better. Keep everyone in position for as long as possible so they get bored and stop posing for the camera, then as conversations start and niggles begin to reveal themselves you’ll get shots that look much more natural. The portrait will show everyone interacting with each other and being a family. Of course small children won’t keep still for very long, so best to just let them move around, they’ll add some spontaneity and help distract everyone from the camera. You can overcome some of the awkwardness by having everyone play the family’s favourite board game, or a word game you play on a long car journey. The important thing is to keep shooting so you’ve got lots of shots to choose from, and save the bad shots for blackmail next time!