How To Take Family Portraits In Your Backyard

How To Take Family Portraits In Your Backyard – A Few Tips To Get The Most Out of Your Session

Your backyard can definitely be a good location for family portraits. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. Here are three tips on how to take family portraits in your backyard 😉

Your Backyard Will Need To Have Shade

One of the first things to consider when brainstorming how to take family portraits in your backyard is the lighting. The best time to take outdoor portraits is going to be in the early morning or in the evening. At these times of day, the lighting will most likely be soft and even because of the angle of the sun. If you happened to schedule your session in the middle of the day, no worries, you will just need plenty of shade. Before booking the session, I recommend taking a look at your backyard to make sure there is a good amount of shade. Also consider where the shade is located and if this will provide a good background for the pictures.

Try To Keep Distractions To A Minimum

Another thing to consider when scheduling family portraits in your backyard are any distractions. This is especially important when taking family portraits with small children. Since their toys, the TV, snacks, etc. will be close by, it may be easy for them to be distracted. I recommend cutting off the TV well before the start of the session. Also, try not to give them anything that you do not want to be shown in the pictures. For example, a small bag of chips. Once you give them the bag, they may not want to give it back and it’ll be hard to keep it out of the pictures 🙂 If you have to give them a snack, give them the snacks one-by-one.

Spend Part of the Session Having Fun In Your Home

One of the best parts of taking family portraits at your home is that it can be a lot of fun! I recommend using part of the session doing fun activities that you would normally do in your home. This can be as simple as playing on a play structure with the kids, throwing a ball, or reading books. Incorporating fun activities at the end of the session can be used as bribe for kids that are a little older 🙂 Let them know that once we take a few REALLY good pictures, we can play or have a special treat!

Hopefully these tips on how to take family portraits in your backyard have been helpful. Just remember to make sure there is good lighting, limit distractions, and make the session fun 🙂 Thanks!