A Helpful Guide to Lighting and Posing Family Portraits

Whether you are doing it professionally or simply looking to use your skills to capture lasting memories, family portraiture can be a challenging but rewarding genre. This helpful video will show you both how to light and pose family portraits. 

Coming to you from Michele Celentano with Westcott Lighting, this excellent video will show you both how Celentano lights and poses her family portraits. One trick I really appreciated was how Celentano put a diffusion panel in front of a silver reflector. In using the reflector, she wanted a bit of light to kick back and fill in the shadows, but felt that the silver would be a bit too harsh, while the diffuser would not reflect enough light. By putting the diffuser on top of the silver, she got a nice middle ground. Of course, she could have also just shot a light through the diffusion panel, but that would required a third strobe, something you might not always have. Beyond that, the other salient point I took from the video was just how much patience and energy it took to get the final shots. If you are working with kids, be prepared! Check out the video above for lots of helpful tips.