3 Tips To Get Great Family Photos | Buffalo, NY

Families

Jun 22

As a Buffalo NY family photographer, I spend most of my time behind the camera — and truthfully, that's where I feel most comfortable. Being in front of the lens? That’s a whole different story. It can feel awkward, confusing, and let's be honest... what do we even do with our hands? I totally get the nerves that come with having your photo taken. The good news? There are a few simple things you can keep in mind that make a big difference — and I’m sharing them with you here!

1) Grownups, Keep Smiling

This might sound obvious, but sometimes when kids start running off, don’t look at the camera, etc, it’s the natural tendency for the parents to start talking to the child and telling them to smile, pay attention, listen, etc. I get it. It’s my immediate reaction too. But actually, don’t do that. Keep smiling because many times the kid will smile or do something cute and I will have a super cute photo of the child, but the parents will be talking or pointing in the photo. If possible, it’s best if the adults keep smiling and laughing. Obviously this doesn’t apply if the child absolutely needs to be attended to! But within reason :)

2) Hands

I always pay attention to hands in photos. I like hands to be engaged because it creates more connection and I will tell you to get awkwardly close during sessions. I’ll let you know if you need to move your hands, but as a general starting point, you can put your arms around one another, put your hand on your child's shoulder, stroke their hair, put your hand on your partner’s forearm, etc. If you have a free hand, you can put it in your pocket or hold onto an article of clothing, but if at least one hand is engaged and touching another loved one, that’s awesome.

3) Embrace the Cheesiness

So while the goal is to create beautiful and natural looking photos, we will need to embrace the cheesiness to do so. Taking photos is a relatively unnatural experience. We might be in the middle of a field dressed up in your best. You probably wouldn’t normally be hanging there all dressed up and gazing at one another. However, the love and connection between loved ones is absolutely real and that’s what we’re working to capture. So we might need to be a little cheesy to do so. It might feel goofy and that’s ok - it’ll create genuine reactions.

I hope these tips help to get you family photos that you will love for years to come and help you feel a little more comfortable in front of the camera :-)