Extended Family Portraits At Hellyer Park

Extended Family Portraits At Hellyer Park – Four Tips on Scheduling and Coordinating Extended Family Portraits

Anytime when your extended family are together, it is the PERFECT time to schedule family portraits. Here are four tips on how to coordinate and schedule extended family portraits. With some examples of some extended family portraits at Hellyer Park in San Jose.

Make Sure To Schedule The Session Well In Advance

One of the most common times to schedule extended family portraits is around the Holidays. At this time of the year, family tend to get together to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the New Year. However, this is also the busiest time of the year for Photographers. If you are planning to take family portraits, I recommend scheduling them at least one month in advance. This will ensue that your Photographer is available and will give you plenty of time to coordinate with everyone on the location, outfits, etc.

Keep The Outfits Simple

With so many people included in one session, it can be difficult coordinating outfits. I recommend keeping the outfits as simple as possible – rather than a strict color scheme. For Jenny’s extended family portraits at Hellyer Park, each of the three families chose the color scheme for their respective family.

Have A Backup Plan For Bad Weather

Another recommendation I would give to people scheduling extended family portraits is to have a back up plan for bad weather. If people are coming from out of town, the session cannot be easily rescheduled. So having a back up plan for bad weather is a must. When it rains, I typically will take family portraits at Stanford. At Stanford, they have covered hallways where pictures can still be taken even if it is actively raining. If your Photographer has a studio, this may also be an option for the session.

Write Down All of The Various Groupings – So Nothing Is Missed

Last but not least, I recommend writing down all of the various groups you’d like photographed. Your Photographer will guide you through most of the groups – but if there are less obvious groups you’d like to have photographed together, it is best to write it down. Also, if there are fun poses that you’d like to recreate, make sure to mention this before the end of the session 😉

Hopefully the images from my recent extended family portraits at Hellyer Park have been helpful in planning your own session. Thanks!