Family photo sessions...
Many people dread the idea of it...Get the family together, dress in like cloths, and try to get along for 35-45 minutes while having a photographer point his/her camera at them...Sounds like a blast!...ha!
Luckily I have had the pleasure of working with amazing clients like The Williams Family. These photos where taken the weekend of Thanksgiving last year. Tampa is hit or miss during the fall. Luckily this was one of those days where we had a nice cool breeze and clear skies.
One difficulty when not shooting around sunrise or sunset is finding shade. A lot of times when you think you find it, you'll end up having patches shoot through the trees and make your subject look splotchy.
Finding the light source (the sun) and getting it to your subjects back helps. Keeps them from squinting too much and if balanced right can make for a nice hair light.
The next difficulty is posing.
My favorite question is "what do I do with my hands"
Hands are tricky. I try a few different ways to put hands in each set so that I let the client really pick the one they like. I typically like to keep the out of the pockets the best I can. I don't like when their hands just cut off. Some people just need to put there hands in front and relax, so we go with that. Half the battle is just getting your subject comfortable.
As for posing, I typically try to get a few posed shots and they once I know we've nailed one or two I'll just have them relax and act natural. Try some goofy stuff. Same some dumb things to make them laugh. etc...
Anyways, here is an example of an hour shoot with the final images.
I hope you enjoy!!
-Dennis
