Family portrait photography has become more than just photographs of your family.

Many modern photographers now view portraits as a form of artistic expression. The feeling is that a well composed portrait can show the bond shared by the family, how they feel, and represent who they are.
Portraits are no longer just about smiling and staring into the camera. They can be both unique and creative.

Each family is different and an artistic family picture can express the individuality of each particular family’s distinctive qualities and relationships. When the family members, and anyone else for that matter, look at a modern family portrait, it should be possible to have the power to invoke feelings and emotions much like fine art does.

Family Portrait Photography

Artistic portraits of a family can tell a story, and even one solitary image can induce profound emotional reactions, within that family. What makes an artistic portrait different from the older portraits?

Traditionally, family portraits were taken with everyone standing or sitting stiffly, in a uniform group, all looking straight at the camera. Now many artistic photographers have changed all that.

Composition, and consideration of the rules of composition such as the Rule of thirds, is aimed to create something that is more than a snap or stiff conventional group.

Examples could be a couple who may stare lovingly into each others eyes, or portraits of a family, artistically composed, with a new baby which could have all the members subject gazing at the baby.

A dramatic effect could also be accomplished by having the family members looking in different directions and perhaps at different angles. Conventional family portrait photography featured the family grouped in the center of the frame but now the artistic appearance of a family off-center or asymmetrically arranged can add a special dimension, or depth to the image.

On a practical note, when composing your image try arranging your subjects in odd numbers if possible as odd numbers always work better than even numbers; with number three the best of all, of course.

You will see that three people posing in a triangle gives a very pleasing result.

If there are only two people try to avoid the side-by-side pictures - they have slightly behind or ahead of the other.

Four people can be a problem but you can stagger them ie as two people plus two people.

When you have more than four people, you can try to stagger them in a diagonal line.

Different angles can also introduce a new element to the portrait. Rather than the typical straight on shot, the photograph can be taken from an elevated position.

The photograph could also be shot from below, looking up at the family, or from the side or any number of other angles. These alterations in perspective can completely change the whole look and feel of the image. Colors or lack of color can dramatically affect the appearance of the image as well.

For example, dramatic emphasis can be added to a photo by creating a black and white portrait. Black and white or sepia colored portraits can often stand out and appear more elegant. Art offers limitless possibilities for the enhancement of family portrait photography.

Your portrait should exhibit your family’s individuality, and the right photograph will be both a record of your family and an artistic expression of whom and what they are.