Now that Thanksgiving is over and you’ve started to deflate back to your normal size it’s officially festive season. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa chances are you’ll be wanting a nice family portrait to send out to relatives and friends. If you’re planning to take this most important of photographs yourself here are a few tips to help you out:
1. Give it a little forethought. Like many things involving this festive time of year this a task that requires a little bit of thinking ahead. If you just grab the family without any warning, tell them to “say cheese!”, and press the shutter chances are you won’t get the portrait you’re after. Choose a time when everyone has at least an hour or so to spare and consider getting your subjects to wear similar coloured clothing, or bring some reindeer antlers or Santa hats along for them all to wear. Have at least a vague idea of where you want to put your subjects to pose and what kind of shots you want to get. Don’t over plan though or you’ll end up barking orders and stressing over the details and no one will have any fun.
