It seems as if, whenever I’m at a photo shoot, or whenever I set friends or acquaintances up for a quick portrait, I usually get comments about how fast and confidently I pose my subjects. Well, it’s kind of like brushing teeth. Brushing your teeth is a habit, right? Something you do pretty regularly, that feels instinctive to you because it’s so familiar, right?

Over the past few years, I have posed literally thousands of people for my camera. So it’s become instinctive. I know what typically works and what typically doesn’t, and I’ve learned how to adjust on the fly as I work with different personalities, body types, lighting conditions, and surroundings. But what I find most fun is figuring out ways to capture my subjects looking as natural as possible — looking as if I hadn’t set up a photograph, but simply happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture a candid family moment. Today I want to share just a sliver of what I’ve learned about posing families for natural family portraits.Plan strategically for the children’s needs.

With older children this isn’t an issue, and with younger children this is as much on the parents as on the photographer — but as the photographer, you can help the parents plan to be prepared for their portrait session. If you’re not shooting at the family’s home, remind the parents to bring drinks and snacks for little ones who may not make it through an entire portrait session without some extra energy. And diapers for kids who aren’t potty trained are a no-brainer. It’s also a good idea to have spare clothes on hand, even if the family isn’t planning an outfit change since you never know what might happen with children!

It’s also important to make sure you choose a location that is safe for little ones and won’t have the parents constantly worried about holding their mobile kiddos’ hands. Busy downtown streets, docks without railings, and parks filled with steep riverbanks are probably not the best locations for young families’ portraits. Choose locations with wide open lawns or other flat, safe surfaces, or relatively enclosed areas. And with multiple little ones, tell the family they may want to consider bringing along a babysitter or a relative or friend who knows the children well, someone who can help wrangle the kids and watch over any kids who need a break from portraits.

Set expectations.
Before any portrait session that involves little ones, I make it very clear to the parents up front that my goal is one or maybe two “over the mantle” pictures with everyone smiling for the camera. The rest of the pictures will be smaller family groupings, individual shots, and lots of documentary shots capturing the family simply playing together. Setting this expectation helps parents relax — and relaxing for a family portrait session is essential. Once parents know that I won’t be upset if their two-year-old would rather chase ants than look at my lens, the parents can settle in and enjoy the scheduled family play time.

And let’s talk about those pictures with everyone smiling for the camera. I usually try to knock one of those out right at the beginning of the session, before the novelty of the camera has worn off and the child’s/children’s curiosity has been diverted . . . and before outfits have been quite likely dirtied up. If we have more glowing light or an outfit change later in the session, I’ll try for another “over the mantle” portrait, but I love being able to start the session by telling the parents that we’ve already gotten our one requisite smiling-for-the-camera shot, and anything else we get is icing on the cake.Physical interaction is key.

Make sure your subjects are touching one another in most of your portraits — holding hands, arms looped over shoulders, head tipped against head as they laugh together. It’s easier to carefully plan and execute specific physical interaction with older children; with younger children it will be more spontaneous. Worry less about whether your subjects are angled perfectly, and more about whether they look comfortable together.

Put them in the best light/location.

Get your subjects where you want them in terms of the best light or the best backdrop, and make sure their bodies are positioned in a way that you’ll be able to capture their faces, and then. . . .

Give them something to DO.
Inexplicably, there are few things harder in this life than actually staring into a camera and producing your most authentic smile. It’s doubly true for most kids, who have been taught over and over to “say cheese” whenever a camera is pointed their way. Astonishing that saying the random word “cheese” doesn’t make children look totally natural, isn’t it?

My favorite moments to capture are the ones where the family is truly interacting together — not with the camera, but as if the camera weren’t there. So I set families up to have tickle fights, send them for a walk down the beach, ask them to snuggle together on a blanket and tell each other their favorite thing that happened this week — basically, anything that will set them up to be themselves and act naturally. For a moment, I want them to genuinely forget that the camera is pointed in their direction, while still having them (mostly) visible in the camera, as mentioned in the previous point.Don’t be afraid to be a part of the fun.

Kids like to have fun. Okay, adults like to have fun, too, but with kids, it’s really, really important to make your portrait session fun in order to capture kids looking happy. The best way to do that is to make yourself fun. Get down on the children’s level, joke with them, play silly games, let them show you and tell you things they’re proud of, like how they just learned to do a cartwheel or how high they can jump. And capture it. Capture the action, and capture the smiles and giggles that ensue.

When time and circumstances permit, pull the parents aside.

If the kids are safe without parents holding their hands for a few minutes, whisk the parents off to the side for a few quick portraits of them on their own. Remember, unless they have family portraits taken regularly, they probably haven’t had any professional pictures of just the two of them for several years — maybe since their wedding. It’s a great way to round out the photographs from their session, and a great reminder to the parents that their children aren’t the only reason they’re a family!

Be a cheerleader.

This is huge. Even if you’re flustered, stay upbeat. Even if your subjects are cranky, stay cheerful. Even if the conditions are difficult and you’re having trouble capturing what you want, stay positive and encouraging. Remember, you, the photographer, set and control the tone and pace of your portrait session — even when it feels as if it’s getting away from you. If you are calm, composed, and cheering the family on, the parents and older kids are far more likely to keep trying to make magic happen rather than throwing in the towel when their toddler has a meltdown. Have patience with little children, and let parents know that they are doing a great job. Being an encourager, rather than just the person snapping pictures, makes all the difference in the world — and, truthfully, it gets noticed every bit as much as the quality of your work. The way you make your subjects feel during their session is going to impact the way they see themselves in your final edited photographs.

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For all the family photographers out there, I hope this helps. For families, I hope this is just a little bit of insight into how lifestyle family portraits photographers (some of them, anyway!) work.

~ Laura