Bill Hurter - The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images

The modern-day family portrait should be a fun experience for the family members. Almost gone are the days of rigid posing, replaced by less formal more emotional imagery. Photograph by Marcus Bell.

Photographing families is a challenge that will draw on all of your photographic skills, since the family portrait as a whole is only as good as each of the individuals in the portrait. You should be able to look at each person in the portrait and ask, Could each of these individual portraits stand alone? If the answer is Yes, then the photographer has done a good job. According to Monte Zucker, The first thing to remember is that each person in the group is interested primarily in how he or she looks. So, that means that you have to pay attention to every person in the group, individually. No matter how good the pattern of the group, if people dont like the way they look, all your time and effort are wasted. Robert Love concurs. Each person in a group must look greatas if they were photographed alone, he says. Love makes it a point, in fact, to pose and light great individual portraits within his groups, a technique that takes time and patience to perfect.

Family portraits have changed over the years. With so many extended families, due to remarriage, the family portrait often doesnt resemble the family portrait of years past. Not only has the structure of the family changed, but so has the attitude of what constitutes a family portrait. A mother and her kids, two young sisters, a dad and his newborn son, even a man and his dog all constitute the modern-day family portrait. The primary connection in any family portrait is the love shared between the subjects. There is a bond that is deeper than association or friendship, and it is the task of the family portrait photographer to render that connection with emotion and honesty. That is what makes a great family portrait.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

It is my hope that you will not only learn the technical side of family portraiture from this bookhow to pose, light, and photograph family groups on a higher planebut that you will also become a fan of the design systems used in creating compelling group portraits. This is the path to a higher level of photography and self-expression.

To illustrate this book, I have called upon some of the finest and most decorated portrait photographers in the country. Some, like Monte Zucker and Bill McIntosh, are living legends among modern-day photographers. Most are not only gifted photographers but teachers as well, who lecture throughout the United States. Some of the featured photographers are newcomers to the limelight. In all cases, though, their photography is exemplary. Many of the photographers included in this book have also been honored by the countrys top professional organizations, the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI).

When the entire family is pictured, a more formal pose is often called for. Here Tibor Imely created a timeless composition that features the mom and dad as bookends in the composition. A popular feature of family portraits is detailed coordination of clothing tones within the photo. A trademark of Imelys seems to be khaki and white. The light is twilight with a blink from a Sunpak 120 barebulb flash, two stops less intense than the daylight reading. Image was made with a Canon EOS-1D Mark II and a zoom lens at the 150mm setting.

Marcus Bell photographs families, weddings and landscapes with equal skill and one of his trademarks is to never settle for the clich, always trying to reinvent the moment. He has done so here in a humorously affectionate portrait of father and son made in his studio.

I would especially like to thank the following photographers for their technical assistance and boundless expertise: Robert Love, Bill McIntosh, Norman Phillips, and Monte Zucker.

Family has always been an important part of contemporary life, but since the 9/11 tragedy it has become increasingly vital. Today, images of family are even more highly regarded and the business of producing memorable family photographs has never been more sought after. It is my hope that this book will provide a solid reference to developing such a business.