Monday, February 6, 2012

Composition And Family Portrait Photography

By Eri San


Compared with other types of photography, family portraits often demand for a more formal pose. Its purpose is to capture unity, an essential factor that keeps a family together. Professional portrait photographers apply both technical and non-technical elements to depict such characteristic.

In the technical aspect, the composition plays a major role in the final appearance of the portrait. This photography element pertains to how the key elements are used and put together to capture an interesting photograph, or in this case to photograph the family's distinct personality as a group. On the not so technical aspect of this type of photography, great composition can be attained by requesting the family members to use coordinated color tones for their clothing. There are photography studios - especially those that photograph families in their formal clothing - already have formal attires that their clients can use.

Aside from executive attires-which are considered traditional for formal family portrait-there are other ways to pull off a formal look even without requiring the family members to use coat and tie or corporate dresses. This can be achieved by asking the family to wear clothes that depict their culture or religion, or anything that identifies them as a family.

A Muslim family, for example, can wear clothing that exhibits their cultural heritage. Muslim women are required to wear long skirts or shorts or the more traditional high-necked, lose robe that protects the arms and legs called jilbab. Again, the family's color of clothing being well-coordinated is important.

Emphasizing the individual personality of the members of the family is also vital in capturing group photography. Professional photographers achieve this by ensuring that every member of the family feels good about their clothing and overall appearance. The great composition the photographer has visualized for the family would be futile if one or two of the members of the family look obviously uncomfortable in the photo. This only indicates that "[family] portrait [photography] is only as good as each individual in the photograph."




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