Ideas For Shooting A Four-Generation Photo

One of the privileges that you may experience when working as a family photographer is getting to shoot portraits of families with four generations in them. This commonly occurs following the birth of a child — if the child's parent still has his or her grandparents, there will be family members from four generations alive at one time. When you meet with the family to talk about this idea, they may have some specific setup ideas in mind. In other cases, however, the family will ask you to suggest something creative. Here are three different ideas that you may wish to pursue.

Holding Photos

An impactful idea for shooting four-generation portraits of families is to have each family member hold a photo of another family member. There are many ways to do so, but one idea is to have each person hold a baby photo of his or her parent — with the one exception being the eldest person, who will hold a baby photo of the newest addition to the family. This idea completes a circle in a sense, and can be pleasing to the family. If the child is very young, it may be a challenge for him or her to "hold" the photo. In such a case, you may simply need to position the photo against the child's torso.

Similar Attire

A fun way to set up a four-generation family photo is to have each person wearing similar garments. Wearing the same style of clothing is nothing new with family portraits, but you'll normally see parents and their children wearing similar attire. It can be fun in an altogether different way to have four generations of people wearing clothing that has similarities. There are many ways that you can approach this idea. For a family with a long history of ranching, for example, you could have each person wearing a cowboy hat for the photo.

Candid Image

While there are lots of ways that you can set up the four family members for a formal portrait, another approach that you can pursue is to have the group act naturally while you snap shots. Provide some direction for the photo — for example, you could have two people sitting on a couch and the others standing behind it and leaning forward. Then, simply observe as the family members act naturally. You might be able to capture an image of them emotionally looking at the youngest or sharing a laugh together. Often, such a candid image can surpass what you hope to get with a formally staged portrait.

For more family portrait ideas, contact businesses like Moorman Photographics.


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