DIY Network

Family Portraiture: Composition and Cooperation From "The Whole Picture" episode DTWP-107

Family portraits are best when the subjects are comfortable and relaxed. A well-chosen background accentuates the composition and helps make the subjects appear more natural.

The Whole Picture host Erin Manning offers advice and techniques on location, lighting and composition to take professional looking family portraits. Having covered how to select a good location and provide good lighting, she now moves on to composition and how to coax a good shot from your subjects.

Materials used in this episode:

Digital camera with the self-timer function
Camera owner's manual
Tripod
Clip lights
Reflector boards

advertisement

	Figure A
	Figure B

Composition and Cooperation

The best way to shoot a family portrait is to prepare the scene in advance--getting everything, including the lighting, set up before you bring in your subjects. With a digital camera, it's easy to use the LCD to help compose the shots in advance and see how well the lighting and background are working. You can also take some test-shots, before the subjects even arrive in the shot, to help with adjusting the lighting.

Once you're happy with the lighting, you can work on composition. Bring your subjects into the scene and position them in a manner in which they will look natural and comfortable, and that no one is lost behind anyone else (figure A).

Once the subjects are in position, you may need to adjust the lighting to highlight certain areas, make certain your subjects are lit evenly and eliminate unwanted shadows (figure B). Remember to focus a little extra light on the eyes to help bring out the personalities of your subjects.

	Figure C
	Figure D

Use the LCD to compose the shot just the way you want it (figures C and D). Make sure that your subjects fill the frame and no one is cut off or has things sprouting from their head, and make sure that the light is even. You can press the shutter button down half-way to make certain that the scene is in focus. You may also want to take some test shots, with the subjects in frame, to see if any final adjustments are necessary.

After you've made any final adjustments and you're happy with the composition, you're now ready to shoot your portrait shots. Move quickly and keep the mood light so that the subjects don't get bored or restless. A joke or humorous comment may help lighten the mood so that the reactions you get from your subject are more natural.

	Shutter speed: 1/18 sec Aperture: f2.9 ISO: 100 No flash.
	Shutter speed: 1/19 sec Aperture: f2.9 ISO: 100 No flash.
	Figure E

If you're part of the subject as well as the photographer, don't forget to leave room for yourself in the scene. In this situation, the most basic technique for including yourself in the shot is to use the camera's built-in self-timer. This allows you a few seconds to get into the picture before the camera takes a single shot. Many newer and digital cameras also offer a continuous mode feature that enables the camera to take a series of shots in succession. In this way, you have more images to choose from, and you improve your odds of getting shot you want with natural poses and facial expressions.

Check your camera's user manual for instructions on continuous-shoot mode. Typically, you'll simply use the menu button to navigate through a series of screens until you reach one for selecting continuous mode and determining the number shots you want (figure E). Then, by simply pressing the shutter-button once, the camera will automatically (after a short delay) take a series of shots.

RESOURCES :

PC Photo magazine
Website: www.pcphotomag.com
Online version of the magazine devoted to digital photography and related technologies.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digital Photography
Model: 002864235X
Author: Steven Greenberg
Order this book from Amazon.com.
Prentice Hall
Paramus, NJ 07652

Digital Photography For Dummies
Model: 0764506463
Author: Julie Adair King
Order this book from Amazon.com.
Hungry Minds, Inc.

Complete Digital Photography
Model: 1584500077
Author: Ben Long
Order this book from Amazon.com.
Charles River Media
Website: www.charlesriver.com/