Tips to nail your extended family photos

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Would you like to organize a photo session including the grandparents, parents, children, aunts and uncles, but don’t know where to begin? You stumbled on the right blog post! Here are my tips to nail your extended family photos.

1. Go with a simple colour palette

The more people there are, the more difficult it is to dress everyone! For this reason, it’s best to stick to a simple colour palette to make sure your clothes work together.

Favour neutral colours, like white, cream, beige, brown and gray, then add an accent colour to make your outfit pop. Let the season inspire you. It can be a soft and pastel colour during the warm season, or a rich and warm colour during the cold season.

You don’t want to rack your brain? Go with blue as your accent colour since it’s the easier to play with! Not only does it go well with all neutral colours, but it also gives more leeway when it comes to choices. A person can wear pale blue while another navy blue without causing a major clash. Plus, this will allow some family members to wear dark jeans while respecting the colour scheme.

2. Pick a peaceful and easily accessible location

Extended family sessions often involve people with low mobility, such as grandparents and young children.

In order to make the experience enjoyable for everyone, pick an easily accessible location that won’t require a lot of walking. We want to avoid walking for more than 5 minutes, or going up and down steep ills. Ideally, the parking lot should be right next to the area where the photos will take place. You can also bring foldable chairs so these people can rest when their presence isn’t required on the pictures.

Similarly, the location should be peaceful to avoid any external intrusion. The more people will take part in the session, the more difficult it will be to preserve their concentration and patience until the very last shot. Going to a vast or little frequented spot will also prevent other users from bothering us.

3. Arrived refreshed and raring to go

No matter the age of the participants, it’s primordial to eat before the appointment. As a popular ad once said, you’re not you when you’re hungry! Having a meal or a filling snack before the session will prevent many unpleasant situations.

Furthermore, when small children are part of the session, taking a nap before your arrival will prevent tantrums. If your kids tend to fall asleep in the car, you can take advantage of the ride to make them sleep. In this case, the best is to arrive thirty minutes early. This way, your little ones will wake up at their own pace and should be wide awake when it’s time to get in front of the camera.

4. Prepare a priority shot list

Generally, people book their extended family session for a specific reason. For instance, it can be because a baby is born and everyone wants to be photographed with them. In other cases, it can be because a family member is terminally ill and this is one of the last occasions to create memories with them.

For this reason, I strongly suggest creating a priority shot list and I will do my best to follow it to capture what’s important to you. You can take your time to create your list, as long as I receive it no later than one week before our appointment.

If I don’t receive a priority shot list, I will follow my normal routine, which includes:
– Everyone together,
– Grandparents with each individual family,
– Each individual family,
– Grandparents with grandchildren,
– All children together,
– Each individual child.

5. Don’t always look at the camera

If the time and good mood allow it once the priority list is done, I like to end the session with candid photos. For instance, grandparents playing with children, children running together or parents taking a romantic break.

Unless if stated otherwise, you don’t have to look at the camera during candid shots. Pretend I’m not there and don’t hesitate to be yourself in front of the camera. Interact, laugh, smile, kiss, give tickles, look at each other in the eyes, whisper secrets in your partner’s ear, etc. In short, enjoy yourself!

Of course, no one will forbid you to look at the camera occasionally, but these moments are an excellent way to capture your complicity and leave you with memorable memories of your family.

Last update: February 2024