Your Outdoor Family PhotoShoot

Outdoor family photos are a great alternative to the traditional studio photo. After all, outdoor photo sessions are often more relaxed, lively, and can feel more authentic than studio photography. With your family in a more comfortable and less restrictive environment, they are much more likely to show their real personalities through their body language and facial expressions.

Top 3 Tips on How to Prepare for Your Outdoor Family PhotoShoot

To make the experience even better, here are our top three tips on how to prepare for your outdoor family photoshoot:

Selecting the Perfect Location for an Outdoor Family Photoshoot

When it comes to your outdoor family photoshoot, choosing the right location matters! Besides factoring in the time of day and the appropriate light exposure for your images, the specific details about the background can also make for a good story.

Ideally, the location should be accessible. While a mountain trek may be a good bonding experience with your family members and the peak may make for exciting photo composition, you probably don’t want to look all sweaty and huffing in your final photos. That being said though, you also dont want to shoot in a carpark – a short walk through a park, off the beaten track a bit always makes for a much more interesting photo.

There is also a matter of crowd control. Unless you’re willing to rent out a beach resort for exclusivity, the chances are that there are other people strolling around, which will make it more difficult for you to do an outdoor family shoot.

That being said, there are ways to avoid large crowds of people, such as shooting your photo earlier in the morning or scheduling the shoot on off-season months, where there will be fewer people walking about like Olivia and Dimitri’s shoot taken in the rain on the top of Mt Lofty!

Family photography

Choose the right clothes

Family photos portray you as a single and united unit without making you look stiff and forced. This means that colour coordination is encouraged, though this doesn’t necessarily mean wearing the same shade for everyone!

When we talk about colour coordination, we mean choosing those that complement each other in a way that groups you as a unit while still maintaining individuality. One good example is in wearing pastel-coloured clothing.

Pastel colours are hues that have been tinted with white, giving them a subdued but aesthetically-pleasing appearance. These shades work well with natural light and can add a touch of photographic interest without distracting from you and your family’s facial features.

Family photographer Adelaide

Make sure the young kids are full and well-rested

While everybody’s mood will improve when they are not hungry or tired, it’s the young children that you really have to worry about! Hunger and sleep deprivation are young children’s worst enemies, and it will lead to some rather unpleasant experiences during a photoshoot that’s supposed to capture you and your family at your best spirits!

To get a higher chance of having adorable and cooperative kids on your photo session, ensure that they are well-rested and full from eating their favourite food before the shoot. It’s also a good idea to schedule the shoot early in the morning or late in the afternoon—after they’ve taken a nap—to lower the chances of dealing with an irritable kid that just wants to get some sleep.

Walking together as a family

Get a professional family photographer

Just about everyone with a camera can claim to be a photographer, but getting a professional family photographer who can bring out the best in you and your family for a photoshoot is rare. Remember that outdoor photoshoots can present so many uncontrollable variables, which is why hiring a predominantly studio photographer used to having control with studio lights may not be the best choice.

If you have young children, it’s also good to ensure that the photographer has the patience and tricks up their sleeves to get a kid’s cooperation. If possible, spend some time getting to know your family photographer to ensure that your personalities don’t clash and to provide a smooth and productive photo session.

baby in a basket in the grass

An outdoor family photoshoot is an excellent way to capture your family in their most relaxed state. While it can be a bit of an involved process, a professional family photographer will have the necessary skills to produce family photos that are worth remembering and will be cherished for the next years to come.

Sven Studios is a photography studio specialising in capturing natural and fleeting moments that you can treasure forever. Our award-winning family photography services in Adelaide are priced at $260, inclusive of the session itself, the editing of the images, and we offer a wide array of physical products! Contact us today to learn more about our services.