I actually wrote this post a few months ago, but never shared it! Now that most of the country is under a stay at home order, I figured this is a great time to practice taking your own family portraits!

Let me just start by saying that I totally believe in hiring a photographer for family portraits, but I also know that sometimes it may not possible! Maybe it’s just not in the budget! Or you realize right after church that you’d love to have an updated Easter photo like we did! Brian and I are forever thinking of last minute family portrait ideas! For example, the first photo below was taken right after Church this past Easter! We drove around our nearby town and found a spot that I thought would work perfectly! It would have been so much easier to have someone else take these for us, but we planned this photo in about 15 minutes! Just in case you’re like us and realize that you’d like to take a quick family photo or you’re currently under a stay at home order like we are in North Carolina, I’m sharing 2 tips on how to take your own family portraits! I’ll also share a few obstacles that you may encounter!

Choose a Location

My first tip is to choose a location! When it comes to choosing a location, I suggest choosing a location that has great lighting! If you’re goal is to create a clean portrait, I suggest finding a location that isn’t very busy with people or objects in the background! A plain wall works great! Or an open field or beach! Once you’ve chosen the location, now you can get ready to position your family in the perfect spot!

Self Timer and Tripod

Most cameras have a self timer option that make it possible to set a time for the camera to fire automatically! I’ve found that it takes me about 10 seconds to press the camera button and run into the photo! I never said that taking your family portrait would be easy! I definitely believe that it’s a lot harder than hiring a photographer! You’ll also need a sturdy tripod to place your camera on! Or if there is no tripod, you may be able to find something nearby to use! For example, I knew that we wanted a photo of us as a family at Disney last month! We were walking down Main Street when I noticed that there trash bins near the Magic Kingdom castle! I had my G7x with me and a tiny tripod and decided to see if it would stand on top of the trash bin! It did and we were able to create the second photo together in front of the castle! We did the same thing during our beach photos at Siesta Key! There was a lifeguard house with stairs that I used to place my DSLR on! It’s not the easiest thing ever, but I promise you it’ll be totally worth it!