Adding spontaneity to make great portraits

One way to make family portraits feel more real is to keep shooting well after the posed image you set up.

I've talked about it before, but one of the reasons why shooting digitally is so great is that you don't have film and processing costs. All you have is a memory card, which can be reformatted and reused. So after you have shot the picture of your favorite people in a pretty location, keep shooting when they sit down and relax.

In this example, I sat next to my friend Paul and his son Parker, and actually held the camera down low near the ground. I used a zoom lens set at 35mm, set the auto-focus on a wide spread pattern covering all the focus points and just clicked away while they played. Because both of them were focused on enjoying their moment together, the images were much more relaxed, spontaneous and intimate.

Using color to make great portraits

It's always fun to shoot portraits, and at the same time you want to make one that is unique. So in sizing up the opportunity, besides looking at the features of the person you are shooting, try to take other things into account to make the image special.

In this case, I certainly wanted to make an image of Tasha's warm, smiling face. But where to place her? When I looked around, I found this wonderful melon colored wall that worked well as a background. Certainly it was nice because it was a simple background and allowed the eye to focus on her face and not be distracted by other elements like texture or pattern. But the real key is that the wall is the complimentary color to the aqua dress she was wearing, so it makes the whole image pop.

So when you are shooting a portrait, look for color to help you make an image that is unique.