Posts in category: Photography

Choose family photography to make memories and cement that feeling of closeness.

Having your own family is the dream for many. What is there not to love about welcoming your own little bundle of joy into the world and creating memories you can treasure for a lifetime? Being together as a family is what helps certain people live through each day, so how can you capture those memories you create? Family photography is a big one; one that is becoming more and more popular as the years go by.

Having a family photoshoot experience has a whole host of benefits for you and your family. Not only is the experience a fun one in the short term, but you’ll also be able to keep those prints for as long as you wish. Looking back on a time you really bonded as a family is enough to brighten anyone’s spirits!

So, how can family photography bring your family closer? Here are a few of the many advantages:

Capture a moment in time.

Having a photoshoot with your family can capture those genuine emotions and show you just how strong your family bond is.  The finished outcome in the form of printed photographs can become treasured memories, something you can place up on the wall in your home to remind you of a specific time where you had fun and bonded further.

Have fun.

Photography allows you to really come out of your shell once you feel comfortable in front of the camera. For those who feel a bit awkward, it’s good to know the other members of your family are in the same boat. To really enjoy the experience, breathe, relax and even share an inside joke or two between yourselves to lighten the mood and create genuine smiles for the camera!

Capture milestones.

Family photography doesn’t have to be just a spur of the moment activity. It could actually be a perfect experience for an important birthday or to capture some of your child’s first steps or movements. Not only this, but your photographer can capture your real-time facial expressions and the joy you’re feeling inside at any particular moment.

Be natural.

Looking at the camera and smiling isn’t the only way to take a photograph. This is something you don’t do every day, so an unnatural smile is something photographers will probably steer clear of. Instead, they will probably encourage you and your family to interact with each other to create genuine smiles, laughter and emotions.

A loving pose.

The right pose can make all the difference in a photograph. Without it, the shot will seem awkward – perhaps leading people to wonder if you’re a group of strangers having your photo taken together! Make sure your bodies are close together, showing you’re a loving family. Your photographer will probably arrange you in terms of family relationship, perhaps the older generation first or in the back of the shot and the younger ones second or at the front.

Family photography can certainly bring you and your family closer.

It’s true that you are at your happiest surrounded by the people you love and through family photography, you can really bring your family closer and share some special moments together. Have you ever been on a photoshoot, perhaps by yourself or with your family? How did you find being in front of the camera? Share your experience in the comments!

The post was in collaboration with Nousha, professionals in family photography. For more information about their services or to get in touch with their photography team, visit their website: https://nousha.co.uk.

As a parent it can feel like life is non-stop, a constant whirl of activity.  And while you might be aware that you want to make sure you’re in more photos with your children, it can be really hard to find the time to actually do it.

It’s easy to grab your camera or your phone and snap some photos of your baby.  But it somehow feels so much harder and time consuming to get in front of the camera with them.

I think it’s so important that we do it though.  So here are my top tips for finding the time to get in more photos.  Both with and for your children.

Remember why you want to do it.

If you focus on why it’s important to you to get in more photos then you’ll be more keen to make the time to do it.

Think about the future, and how you want your children to have plenty of photos of you to look back on one day.  Use that feeling to get yourself fired up and motivated to jump in front of the camera more.

You could even print out a reminder to yourself, just with the something like the words ‘exist in photos’ and stick it on the fridge as a daily reminder.  When something matters to you it becomes easier to find the time for it in your life.

Lower your standards. 

If you tell yourself that every photo of you has to be perfect then you’ll always have an excuse not to do it.

Stop focusing on perceived perfection and start thinking about the memories that your children will enjoy seeing when they’re older.  Let go of this idea that every photo has to be perfect.  Or that you need to look perfect to be in a picture.  You are absolutely good enough to be in a photo just as you are.

Slightly blurry photos are better than no photos at all.

Photos of you in a messy lounge are better than no photos at all.

Honestly, your children love you and they’ll just want to see you in these photos in years to come.

Make it easy for yourself.

The more steps involved in taking a photo, the less likely it is that you’ll bother doing it.

If you have to go upstairs to fetch the camera, and set up a timer, and sort out the focus and so on, you’ll talk yourself out of taking the photo before you even start.

So keep your camera handy.

If you spend most of your time at home downstairs then keep the camera there too.  And get yourself a remote trigger for it so you don’t have to run back and forth using the self timer.

Basically, make it as easy as possible to get in these photos as often as you can.

Learn your camera settings.

Following on from the last point, if you’ll be using a proper camera rather than your phone, get to know all the settings so you’re ready to go quickly.

Make it part of your family routine. 

Like with any new habit it can be hard to get into the practice of taking photos regularly.

So try making taking family photos part of your routine.  I struggled for ages to take regular family photos until I really committed to doing the Me and Mine project.  This project involves taking a family photo every month.  I mark it in my calendar to make sure we so it each month.

Until it becomes a habit you need to choose to make getting in family photos a priority.  Put it on your calendar and make the time to get it done.

Try a project to fire you up.

The thing is, with things like this it’s not really about finding the time to do it.  It’s about getting motivated enough to make the time.

One way to do this is to challenge yourself to complete a project.

It could be as full-on as a project 365, where you take a photo every day for a year.  Or you could do what I do and just pick a month where you’ll take a photo a day.  Another idea is to do a 10 on 10 project where you take 10 photos on the 10th of each month.

Get creative and see what ideas you can come up with to challenge yourself.

Life really is busy.

If you’re not actually motivated to get in more photos it’s all too easy to just tell yourself you don’t have the time to do it.  That you’ll do it at the weekend.  Or next month.

The thing is, the time goes so quickly.  Before you know it months and months have gone by and there are still hardly any photos of you.

So get fired up.  Get to know your camera and always have it handy.  Make it a priority to get in photos with your family.

Make the time to make it happen.

So in the future your children will have a whole pile of photos of you to cherish.

Since January 2017 I’ve been taking a family photo every month as part of the Me and Mine project.

I actually attempted the project in 2016 I think but didn’t last long at all with it.  It seems like such a simple thing to do, but honestly I have really struggled with it at times over the last few years.  But it is so worth the effort each month to take these photos and I absolutely love having them to look back on.

If you don’t ever really take any photos of you with your family because it seems too hard, or you think it’ll be too stressful then this post is for you.

Here are my top tips for taking your own family photos and making the process as stress-free as possible.

1. Lower your expectations

I mean, really lower your expectations.  If this is the first time you’re trying to take your own family photos then try not to expect too much from this first attempt.

Let go of the idea you have in your head of the perfect family photo.  This way you can hopefully not put pressure on yourself and your family to capture this ‘perfect’ shot.  Try instead to focus on getting a photo that is perfectly you.

Keep in mind that the weird grimace-like smile that your 4 year old does for the camera might be a bit frustrating right now when all you want is a ‘nice’ photo.  But in a few years time you’ll look back at it and love how much that fake smile captures who he was at this time in his life.

2. Make life easier with the right equipment

If at all possible use a tripod and a remote trigger to take your family photos.

Set your camera up on the tripod and then get your family where you want them in the frame.  Then jump in with them and snap away with the remote trigger.

If you don’t have a remote then use the timer function on your camera.  This can be actually be a great way to get more natural smiles from your children as they laugh at you frantically running to get in the shot each time!

If you don’t have a tripod then get creative looking for places to prop your camera up.  We’ve used walls and benches at the park quite a lot when I’ve not wanted to take the tripod out and about with us.

3. Have a plan of attack

Sometimes it can work to take family photos on the spur of the moment, but for the most part it’s worth making a bit of a plan in advance.  Think about where and when you want to take the photos.  Try and plan them for a time when everyone will have been fed recently and no one is due a nap!

Have a quick chat with your children before you start and explain to them that you’d like to take a few quick photos of the family together and that you would really like them to just cooperate.  Use chocolate bribes if necessary.  If everyone knows what you want them to do before you start you’ll have a better chance of getting some good photos.

When you start taking the photos do the more posed, everyone-looking-at-the-camera type shots first.  Children will lose interest and get restless quite quickly so get these pictures done first and then you can move on to more relaxed photos.

4. Think outside of the traditional portrait poses

Once you’ve got the more posed photos that you want you can try a few other options.

You can encourage everyone to hug each other, to look at one another, to tell each other jokes.  Tickling little ones is a great way to get fun, happy family photos.  You don’t have to stay still either, you can set up the camera and then get photos of you all walking towards it.

These kinds of photos where you interact with each other, instead of the camera, are quite often my favourites.  And they’re generally easier and less stressful to take than when you’re worrying about having everyone look at the camera.

5. Don’t worry too much about clothing

If you want to then go for coordinating pieces rather than matching outfits, but really the best, less-stress option is to just let everyone wear what they’re comfortable in.

You’ll get much better pictures when everyone feels like themselves.

6. Be prepared to take a lot of photos

The beauty of digital photography is that you can take way more photos than you actually need.  So use this to your advantage when you try to take your own family photos and just keep taking picture after picture.

Take more photos than you think you’ll need, to have a better chance of everyone being in focus, with their eyes open and looking where you want them to be looking.

7.  Stop and check your photos as you go

Following on from the last point, make sure you stop regularly to check the photos you’ve taken.   You don’t want to take hundreds of photos to only realise at the end, when everyone has had enough, that none of them are actually in focus.

So stop now and then to check the photos.  Make sure the settings are ok and that the pictures aren’t too dark or blown out, and check that you’re all in focus.

8. If all else fails, try again another day

Remember that this is meant to be fun, so if things just aren’t working out stop, and try again another day.

Some days you’ll find that someone in the family just isn’t in the mood to have their photo taken, or you just won’t feel happy with the pictures you’re getting.  On these days it really is just best to stop, take a break, try again later.

When was the last time you had a photo of you and  your family all together?

Hopefully these tips will help give you the confidence to head out with your family and take some if you’ve not done it for a while.