The Key to Family Portrait Photography

Here are some tips and hints; The Key to Family Portrait Photography.

Learn how you can improve the end result by understanding how the eyes of the viewer can be directed to the faces by controlling light and shade in the image.

Most of our portraits can be described as Low key (darker tones) or High key (light tones). See examples;

The object of the exercise is to draw the viewer’s eye to the faces and expressions in the image and not to the clothing or body shape.

You can see that by keeping the tones of the clothing similar to the background, faces become more obvious and clothing and body shape less obvious. Compare;

Clothing. Aim for simplicity. Plain colours work better than bold patterns. Families look best in casual mid to dark outer clothing for darker background studio portraits, and longer sleeves are better than short or sleeveless garments because they reduce the ‘lines’ of the arms.

Plain dark colours will emphasize your faces and expression and minimize body shape with a darker low key background. If you have chosen to have high key (light background) portraits then light coloured or white clothing is best. You are welcome to bring a selection of clothes.

For a group or Family portrait lay out the selected clothing on the lounge suite in the room where the portrait will be displayed. This will give you a good idea how the colours will look together side by side in the finished portrait. Choose complimentary darker solid colours for groups, and avoid bright colours and bold stripes that will make one person stand out.

Glasses – If you wear spectacles that are photochromatic ask your optician to loan you some frames that are similar to yours. This is particularly important for outdoor portraits but not so much of a problem in the studio.

Women - Make up. To look your best wear your regular daytime makeup and pay particular attention to your eyes, as they are the centre of interest in a good portrait.