Welcome to part three of the Life Styled by Elle and Fairy Wing and Dinosaurs photography collaboration. We get to help you rock your next family shoot. Check out my previous post here and here.
Once you have your photo style, photographer and session set, you can start playing with the styling elements that you can bring to the shoot – posing, props and palettes.
Catch Ruthie from Fairy Wings and Dinosaurs thoughts on the same topics here!
Posing
Even the word posing sounds a little lame. Steer away from any poses that seem to embody “posing.” No ‘90s glam shots. You really don’t need to worry about exact posing and positions. Your photographer should be coming up with his/her own list of what should work for your family. What you can work on is coming up with are the details that are specific to your family. If you have little ones, they undoubtedly work better with a certain parent or sibling. Plan for that. Some toddlers may need to be held to keep them in one place. Some toddlers may think that means you are treating them like babies and holding could kick off a whole crazy-kid melt down. Think carefully about each of the family members and what will work for each one. Then go back and look up a few poses that could work with those notes in mind. Once in you photos session, keep an open mind. Something that seems awkward may be great. Let the pro be a pro. Just keep in mind that no one knows your family better than you. And when your sweet little lovies get a little more wild and crazy than darling and photogenic, roll with the punches. You will end up with better shots allowing the littles to be giggly and silly than trying to coerce them in to the perfect head tilt.
Props
Ultimately your photos are your photos, but I wanna recommend that you forego props for simple sake of props. That doesn’t mean ban them, but if you are just shoving buckets and blankets, and chairs and chalkboards to keep up with whatever is trending, there is a good chance you will regret it later. Not only are trends trends (ummm…. they will look dated later), they distract from the subject of the photo – your family! Use props that add meaning or serve a purpose. In my son’s newborn photos he posed on both his daddy’s football and his great-great grand mother’s vintage luggage. My daughter’s 3 month photos didn’t have real sentimental props. I just set her up in a basket that I got at her baby shower. Not because I need to freeze that basket in time, I just needed a way to prop up my smiley, slobbery baby and that worked. For our most recent family photos we really didn’t use props. The only ones we had were to entertain the kiddos. Just the stuff to distract away tears. I know Ruthie has a most gorgeous photo of her daughter with her violin. That is lovely. It’s beautiful, it’s charming and it captures something significant about her daughter.
Palettes
Alright, so here’s the fun part. Anything you wanted to achieve with props – mood, theme, vibe, attitude – can all shine through colors. I created a few palettes inspired by things I love. Please, please, please do yourself a favor and put time and thought into your palettes. Choose complimentary colors – not matching ones. There is no reason to throw your hands in the air and default to khaki and white. Likewise, don’t pick just two colors and Gap out the whole fam.
Choose several colors. Colors with depth and interest and layer multiple colors onto each person. Try let inspiration come from varying sources. If you aren’t the kind of person who pulls a family portrait palette from a coffee art lattee, no fear, there is an app for that. I lie. I actually don’t know if there is an app, but there is an awesome website. Check it out: http://www.design-seeds.com/. You can find palettes inspired by nature, seasons, florals, food, or any darn thing you can think of really. You can also search by setting up one color and then the site will show all the palettes they have featuring that color. Cool, huh?
Life Styled by Elle 