Portraits of adult(s) with kid(s)

[kobeson]

Hve been asked to take some shots of a freind and her daughter, along with her sister and her daughter, and their mother also. So a mixture of bubs + mum/bubs + both mums/both bubs + all 5 etc.

I have taken baby shots before, and also candid picnic type shots, but have no idea where to begin with this kind of posed stuff indoors.

I have 2 flashes, and one umbrella - not a massive amount of room, but can probably clean out my garage and make it studio-like.

Any tips or tricks? And recommended references/sites/blogs/tutorials for this kind of work? Am having a look around, not finding much!

Also, would assume maybe 35mm on 5D3 would be a good focal length for more than just bub shots? 50 is perfect for one baby.

[mike_311]

maybe this will help you out, its my go to for the basics.

http://digital-photography-school.co...phing-children

[kobeson]

Originally Posted by mike_311

maybe this will help you out, its my go to for the basics.

http://digital-photography-school.co...phing-children

Thanks! There's an iPhone app of that also, nice!!

[mike_311]

Originally Posted by kobeson

Thanks! There's an iPhone app of that also, nice!!

yep, i dont have an iphone, so i screen capped the images to a word document so i can keep it as reference on the road.

i have the android app on my tablet and it includes more pointers than is given in the article, including wedding poses

[kfreels]

Try to make geometric shapes with the heads being points in the shapes. Keep the heads fairly close together. Try not to put two heads on the same exact horizontal plane and try to have about half a head height difference between any two heads next to each other.
Keep the general direction of any body lean into the center of the portrait or into each other. When people are leaning out it gives you the impression of "ewww - I don't want to be by them". And try to keep everyone's face on the same film plane so you don't have people falling out of focus for being too close or far apart. Stop down a bit for some additional DOF if necessary. Try to keep everyone's body at a 45 degree angle to the camera. Overlap bodies at about the center of the chest.

Of course, these are generalizations which don't always apply, but it's a starting point.

[cwallis1]

Originally Posted by kfreels

Try to make geometric shapes with the heads being points in the shapes. Keep the heads fairly close together. Try not to put two heads on the same exact horizontal plane and try to have about half a head height difference between any two heads next to each other.
Keep the general direction of any body lean into the center of the portrait or into each other. When people are leaning out it gives you the impression of "ewww - I don't want to be by them". And try to keep everyone's face on the same film plane so you don't have people falling out of focus for being too close or far apart. Stop down a bit for some additional DOF if necessary. Try to keep everyone's body at a 45 degree angle to the camera. Overlap bodies at about the center of the chest.

Of course, these are generalizations which don't always apply, but it's a starting point.

What do you mean by keeping their bodies at 45 degrees? You mean have them lean toward the camera?

[AvailableLight]

Originally Posted by cwallis1

What do you mean by keeping their bodies at 45 degrees? You mean have them lean toward the camera?

He means instead of the person's body facing straight to the camera lens (which usually results in an unflattering look), have the person stand sort of diagonally, but not completely sideways like a profile shot. So this is 45 degrees to the camera, but not tilting downward 45 degrees.

[kfreels]

Originally Posted by AvailableLight

He means instead of the person's body facing straight to the camera lens (which usually results in an unflattering look), have the person stand sort of diagonally, but not completely sideways like a profile shot. So this is 45 degrees to the camera, but not tilting downward 45 degrees.

Right. I wish I had some examples for you. Back in the 90s I shot about 3-5 families a day. But I closed in 97 and got completely out of photography until 2 years ago. Since then I haven't shot a single family. lol

One thing that can really help with the geometry are these blocks or something similar.
https://www.aprprops.com/acatalog/info_236S_0.html

Keep in mind that although you are keeping the body 45 degrees off the camera angle, you want them to turn their head around towards the camera. People will want to look at you sideways which can work well with one or two people but really messes up the continuity as the groups get larger. People start trying to look at you out the corner of their eye. Older and heavier people will be more prone to it than others. Once you do that, watch the angle of the head on your men. Sometimes when they make that turn to the camera while their body is pointing off center, their head will tilt back giving them what I refer to as a feminine head tilt.

Oh, and leaning toward the camera CAN be useful for people who are heavier. But you have to be careful. You can use this technique to minimize "double-chins" and to increase the apparent head/shoulder to body proportion.