Three Tips for Fun Family Portraits This Holiday Season

With the holiday season fast approaching, it may be the perfect time to take fun family portraits with Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s themes. Of course, you’ll want to avoid coming away with an awkward family portrait, or a series of family pictures that plainly show discomfort or stress on the faces of the participants.

It would make sense to take the time to prepare some fun family picture ideas in advance. Here are some general family portrait tips to keep in mind.

Get the Whole Family Involved

You’ll want to avoid any situation in which a specific member of the family feels left out from the decision making process when it comes to the family portrait. In fact, if you can turn family meetings where choices need to be made into a kind of game in which family members have to build on existing ideas put forth by the others, this will make it all the more engaging. This time spent deciding on family portraits is also an excellent opportunity to bond.

Make Sure You’re Having Fun

This is perhaps the most important suggestion to remember. If you’re not having fun in planning for the pictures and taking them, this will be evident in the results. With that in mind, it would be wise to opt for a more lighthearted tone with which everyone in the family can be comfortable. Perhaps this means dressing in funny hats or purposefully tacky sweaters that everyone agrees on. Maybe you’ll want to send up the common stereotypes of cheesy holiday family photos. No matter what you choose, it’s important that you and your family remember not to take yourselves too seriously.

Choose a Creative Location

There’s no need to set up your fun family portraits in front of a standard backdrop. You might want to take the photo shoot outside of the studio to the outdoors, or to a more unconventional location that still helps retain the specific holiday theme you want. When choosing an outdoor location specifically, you’ll want to keep factors such as the weather, the specific terrain, and how long it takes to get there in mind at all times.

These are just three basic tips to get you started. Now it’s time to start brainstorming. If you have additional questions, comments, or tips on how to get the best family pictures possible, be sure to share them in the forum below.