Tips to nail your extended family photos

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Would you like to organize a photo session with grandparents, parents, children, aunts and uncles, but aren’t sure where to start? You’ve come to the right place!  Here are my tips to nail your extended family photos.

Go with a simple colour palette

The more people involved, the more challenging it becomes to coordinate outfits! For this reason, keeping a simple colour palette is key to ensuring everything works well together.

Stick to neutral tones such as white, cream, beige, brown and grey, then add one accent colour to bring everything together. Let the season guide your choice: soft pastels work beautifully in warmer months, while deeper and warmer tones are perfect for colder seasons.

If you want to keep things simple, blue is always a safe and timeless choice. It pairs beautifully with neutrals and offers flexibility across the group. For example, one person can wear light blue while another wears navy without clashing. It also allows for darker denim while still respecting the overall colour palette.

Pick a peaceful and easily accessible location

Extended family sessions often include people with varying mobility levels, such as grandparents and young children.

To make the experience enjoyable for everyone, choose a location that is easy to access and doesn’t require much walking. Ideally, we want to avoid long walks or steep hills. A parking area close to the photo location is ideal, and bringing foldable chairs can also help older family members rest between shots.

It’s also best to choose a quiet and peaceful location to minimize distractions. With a larger group, it’s important to keep everyone focused and comfortable throughout the session. A less crowded space also helps avoid interruptions from other visitors.

Arrived refreshed and ready to go

Regardless of age, it’s essential that everyone eats before the session. As the saying goes, you’re not you when you’re hungry! A proper meal or a filling snack beforehand helps avoid unnecessary discomfort or irritability.

For families with young children, a nap before the session can also make a big difference and help prevent fatigue or tantrums. If your child tends to fall asleep in the car, you can use the drive to your advantage. In that case, I recommend arriving about 30 minutes early so they have time to wake up gradually and be fully ready when the session begins.

Prepare a priority shot list

Extended family sessions are often booked for meaningful reasons. It might be to celebrate the arrival of a new baby, or to ensure precious memories are captured with an elderly or ill family member.

For this reason, I strongly recommend preparing a priority shot list. I will do my best to follow it carefully to make sure we capture what matters most to you. You can take your time to prepare it, as long as I receive it at least one week before the session.

If no list is provided, I will follow my standard routine, which usually includes:

– Everyone together,
– Grandparents with each individual family,
– Each individual family,
– Grandparents with grandchildren,
– All children together,
– Each individual child.

Don’t always look at the camera

Once the priority shots are completed and if time and mood allow, I like to finish the session with candid moments. This might include grandparents playing with children, children running together or parents sharing a quiet moment.

Unless otherwise specified, you don’t need to look at the camera during these candid shots. Pretend I’m simply not there and focus on each other. Interact, laugh, smile, hug, play, whisper secrets and enjoy the moment naturally.

Of course, you can still glance at the camera from time to time, but these in between moments are often the ones that best capture your connection and create the most meaningful memories.

Last update: April 2026