Take The Perfect Family Photo
You aren’t a professional photographer, nor do you really aspire to become one. You are busy with your life, your career, and more, and the seemingly herculean task of truly learning all the intricate details of the various capabilities of your digital camera can be daunting.
Photo: Gerry Slabaugh
Fear not, as the process of capturing memorable and quality images is not beyond your reach, and attention to a few details will provide you with everything you need to CONSISTENTLY take good, dramatic family photos. (Consistency is key here, as even your Uncle Bob has taken at least one good photo. You need to be able to compose the best image on the fly, as your children are complaining about the heat and, by the way, where oh where are the bumper cars you promised.)
We can break this down in to three primary components. 1 – the things external to the camera and you; 2 – the camera and its mechanical capabilities; and 3 – you moving the camera around and finally hitting the button.
1. External Issues
Photography is ‘drawing with light,’ i.e., writing on the light sensitive bit of your camera (film, historically; digital sensor, currently). Thus, LIGHT is the most important element of photography. Without it, you are out of luck. So, unless you find yourself in the bowels of the Marianna Caves in North Florida, you will need to be paying attention at all times to the light present when thinking about taking a photograph.
Photographers will talk about ambient light, natural light, harsh light, strobe light, cigarette light… Well, maybe not that last one, but they will talk about light ad nauseum. You, on the other hand, can just witness the light. This takes a bit of practice, but pay attention to how the strong overhead noon sunlight is different than the 7:30pm light as you have a margarita in your hand. These changes in light will change your photograph very dramatically.
Photo: JKleeman
Also, keep in mind the subject (which is, presumably, also external to you and the camera). Sensitivity to the concerns of people (if they are in the photo) will be necessary to elicit any kind of real happy looks. Waiting to take the photo after encouraging the fight you are having with your spouse over the way you looked at that last waitress, and looked, and looked… is not a good idea. A suggestion that the family pose for a quick series of photos would best come as everyone is apparently getting along reasonably well.
2. Camera Mechanics
Your camera is really a marvelous little device, when you think about it. Current digital cameras cost surprisingly little, and yet can capture an image that you will cherish until your death bed. So it is important that you understand, at some basic level, the mechanisms at play here.
You will want to try to think about the relation between three different things:
a. Shutter speed. This is exactly what is sounds like – the shutter opens, lets in some light to ‘write’ on the sensor, then closes. Shutter speed is how long the thing is open. If it is open a long time, more light is let in, so you can take a photo in a darker area. However, if you move while it is open (or if the subject moves), you get BLUR.
b. Aperture. The opening in the lens of the camera can likely change size (on most cameras). The bigger the opening, the smaller the ‘f’ number. A small f-stop, like f 2.8, corresponds to a large opening, so more light is let it. An f 8 opening would be much smaller. BUT, this also influences the depth of field – the size of the plane that is in focus. Small f-stop, small depth of field, large opening. Take a picture of your spouses beautiful face at a close distance with a small f-stop, and take a look at the background of the resulting image. Blurry, right? You are supposed to call this bokeh. Don’t get it wrong again. Bokeh is typically an appealing result, particularly when you aren’t so interested in the detail of the background, but of the people present. However, if you are taking a photograph of a landscape, bokeh is, um… less desirable. Raise the f-stop.
c. ISO/Speed. You might remember this from your film days, if you had them. ISO 100 or 200 film was for sunny, bright days. ISO 400 was more indoors, ISO 800 was for darker venues, etc. ISO has become a more integral part of each individual photograph, since you can change it as you move through the day, from shot to shot. Many cameras can now shoot at ISO 3200 or more. Keep in mind, though, that the higher the ISO, you will typically find higher ‘noise’ (distracting grainy elements in your photo – a bad thing, usually).
Now go reread a, b, and c above. These three intermingle and a change to one might mean a suggested change to another, and so on. Play around with each setting, based on your camera’s capabilities. You will be blown away just by what you can accomplish by paying attention to mostly these three things.
3. Composition
With a look to the light, and with attention to the camera settings, you are set to compose the image (look through the view finder or watch your LCD screen) and click the shutter button. But wait, did you really want that oil rig sticking out of your daughters head, and do you find the plain blue sky important enough to give it a starring role in over half of the image?
The moral of the story? You can move your body and the camera to take the image you want. Careful thought to composition will, given the right light and camera settings, provide you with the perfect family photo.
Photo: jakesmome
Two things here – the rule of thirds can be very handy when building the image in the view finder. Take the display (what would be the photo when you hit the shutter button) and divide it like a tic-tac-toe board. The rule of thirds dictates that you will want to put something of importance on the spot where two lines cross, or at the very least on the lines themselves. This sounds a little arbitrary, but after a couple of thousand years of human artistic expression, adopting the rule of thirds is often a good idea. This isn’t an absolute necessity, but usually results in a better image.
Second, change the perspective of the photo by moving the location. Try looking at the same subject from as high as you can get, then get down on the ground a look at it from below, on each side as close as possible, or straight on from hundreds of feet back with the camera zoomed in, and so on. This will change the look and feel of the resulting image. (Plus you can make your subject laugh by rolling in the dirt next to the alligator tank, screaming at the top of your lungs, “Look happy. I said, look happy.”)
Wrap these three points together – external concerns, camera functions, and composition – and you will capture the perfect family photo. But only if you actually find the time to take the photos, so you will want to take the camera everywhere, as you never know when inspiration will strike.
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About the Author
Ready to wow your loved ones with perfect vacation photographs? This article quickly covers photo basics and will enhance your photography skills.
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