Everybody’s scrapbook has at least one, and nearly everyone remembers it from childhood: the dreaded family portrait. With everyone dressed their best, the annual trip to the mall for the professionally arranged portrait is part of

many families’ traditions. Even though the family portrait is cherished, the pictures from a sitting at the portrait studio aren’t always the most creative. It’s easy, though, to take a family portrait that’s both interesting and timeless.
Know your subject
The biggest challenge most photographers face in taking a good portrait is getting a picture that really shows the subject in a natural way. Even though a portrait is a posed shot, it’s still possible to make a subject feel comfortable and natural so that the picture appears candid and flattering.
Taking a picture of a family member gives you an advantage; you should know your subject well enough to be comfortable from the beginning. Talking with your subject helps them to relax, and that’s easier with a relative than with a stranger. Pose your family members in a comfortable setting, and chat with them while you take their pictures.

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Location, location, location
A professional photo studio doesn’t look at all like the place where the people in photographs live. That can be a good thing and a bad thing for a photographer. You can deal with this by posing people against a simple background (either colored or textured), which allows the people in the picture to really stand out. On the other hand, a boring background can really rob a portrait of character. It’s much more compelling to see people in their own environment and it gives the photograph a sense of place.
So, try both kinds of family photographs. Here’s how:
• To take some pictures with a simple background, pose your family near a blank wall, or take a clean ironed sheet and hang it behind them on the wall.
• Try to find a way to capture your family member’s favorite activities. Does your dad like to fix cars? Take pictures of him in the garage working on something. Your sister is a ski champ? Take a portrait of her on the slopes. Include the background as part of the photograph, but don’t just take a snapshot. Make sure the person’s pose is exactly right, so that they remain the subject who just happens to be in his/her own natural environment.

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Shoot something else
You don’t even have to take pictures of your subject’s face. The big burly hands of a construction worker, or the small feet of a baby make for great portraits.
Lighten up
Unlike a snapshot, the lighting in a portrait is extremely important. Lighting can really make a good portrait great, or make a great portrait poor. However, the flashes on compact cameras are very harsh. Professional photography studios have a lot of really expensive flashes, but you can make a nice portrait with the lights found around the house or at your local hardware store.
• Go to a hardware store and buy a number of plug-in clip-on lights, the kind with metal collars around them. Clamp them out of range of your photograph, and point them toward your subject. Since they have metal collars you can direct their light at your subject’s face, clothing, and other objects.
• If you can’t get to the hardware store, gather up some of your table lamps and floor lamps and use them to light up the room.
• Shine a light on the backdrop. This keeps shadows caused by the subject lighting from showing up.
• Natural lighting is one of the best ways to light a photograph. Pose someone next to a window in the early morning or early evening and let the beautiful colors of the sunrise or sunset light up their face.
• Experiment with turning off the flash in your camera when you use other lighting. Often the soft light of a sunset or the strong light from a batch of clamp lights makes for a great image.

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The eyes have it
There’s a rule in portrait photography that the most important part of the picture is the subject’s eyes. The rest of the picture can be slightly out of focus, but the eyes have to be clear. Your subject doesn’t have to look at the camera in a portrait, but if they do their eyes should be in focus.
Hocus focus
Most cameras only focus on the center of the picture. If you want to take a picture of someone whose face isn’t going to be in the middle, remember that the camera will focus on whatever is there instead.
There is a trick, though. Most cameras will lock the focus if you press and hold the shutter release lightly. So if you are taking a picture of a family member, and their face isn’t going to be the center of the shot, simply point the camera directly at their eyes, and lightly press and hold the shutter release button part way. Then move the camera until you get the picture you want, and press the button all the way down.
With just a little work you can create a family portrait that will be cherished for a lifetime. Get creative, get close to your subject, and get started

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