{"id":1002,"date":"2011-10-21T15:27:23","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T15:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/taking-family-reunion-photos\/"},"modified":"2012-04-20T02:55:20","modified_gmt":"2012-04-20T02:55:20","slug":"taking-family-reunion-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/taking-family-reunion-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Family Reunion Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Family reunions are a great time to take a family photo. We have very few family group photos that look perfect- maybe we don\u2019t even have one perfect picture. It\u2019s so hard to get everyone looking in the same direction, smiling and not squinting. It seems that if you get the children looking at the camera their parents are looking at the children but no matter how difficult a family reunion photo may be to take, you\u2019ve just got to do it- old family photographs are a treasured part of any family history and it won\u2019t be long until the pictures you take today become a cherished part of your family memories.<\/p>\n

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Becoming our Family Reunion Photographer<\/h2>\n

You can always hire a professional photographer but unfortunately for us, most photographers don\u2019t like to travel to the locations we have our reunions and so we are left with \u201cDo-it-yourself\u201d family reunion pictures. Here\u2019s some things we\u2019ve learned over the years. <\/p>\n

Take Photos at the Beginning of Your Reunion<\/h2>\n

Take pictures earlier in the day and at the first of your reunion.  Children haven\u2019t gotten dirty, or sunburned and no one has spilled their food or drink.  If you\u2019re camping, take pictures the first day before everyone\u2019s hair has gone flat and make up has worn off.<\/p>\n

Get the Light Right<\/h2>\n

The middle of the day is a difficult time for pictures- The light is harsh and unflattering. Because it’s coming from overhead you will get a lot of light on top of people’s heads, but their faces are not going to be lit. For shady locations it won\u2019t matter as much, but for photos out in the open, before 10 AM or after 2 PM is better, if that fits in your reunion schedule.<\/p>\n

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Choose a Spot Free of Distractions<\/h2>\n

A tall row of shrubbery or a colored wall makes ideal backdrops. People say, \u201cI\u2019ll just photo shop that.\u201d But think of the time and headache you\u2019ll save if you just \u201cclean it up\u201d before you take the photo.<\/p>\n

Try Something New<\/h2>\n

Try taking your shot from atop a ladder, bench or table. If you shoot from an elevated position, it’s easier to get everyone’s face, even if people are standing behind one another.<\/p>\n

Small Family Groups<\/h2>\n

Various small<\/i> groupings of family members can be very nice to have for the future.  You can consider having an all girls picture, all boys picture, and an all children picture etc.  Try making your pictures \u201caction\u201d shots- besides making interesting  pictures they\u2019re a lot more fun to shoot.<\/p>\n

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Grandma will want to have a picture of her and Grandpa with all the grandkids for their Christmas photo card.<\/p>\n

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Family Photo Boards and Frames<\/h2>\n

A fun, new photo trend is photo boards. Cut holes in a piece of plywood to accommodate old frames and let family members pose in family groupings. The effect is that of family photos hanging on a wall. You may want to put wallpaper on your plywood \u201cwall\u201d or paint stripes or dots and hang decorations to give it a more \u201chomey\u201d look.<\/p>\n

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Putting hands or props outside the frames give a fun 3D effect.<\/p>\n

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Hand held frames can also be fun remembrances of your reunion. Have a variety of frames available and let family members organize their own family groupings.<\/p>\n

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Set aside some time for photos of family members in their reunion theme costumes. It\u2019s usually easier to take smaller family groupings and helps with identifying family members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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My Favorite Family Reunion Photo Tip<\/h2>\n

is to use paper plates to help in identifying family members. Give everyone a paper plate with a number on it. Take a \u201cpaper plate\u201d picture then remove the plates and take another picture. After printing the two pictures you can list family names using the numbers on the paper plates- #1- Jane Moyer, #2 Clint Holmes etc. Hint: Don\u2019t let anyone move after you\u2019ve taken the first photo with the paper plates.<\/p>\n

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Use  Digital Camera<\/h2>\n

And finally, use a digital camera! You may delete more images than you keep but going digital allows you to snap as many pictures as you want and then do simple editing later and print only the best photos for keepsakes. <\/p>\n

When it\u2019s all said and done, the only thing you have left of your family reunion are the memories you\u2019ve made and the pictures you\u2019ve taken so- \u201cSay Cheese\u201d!<\/p>\n

Aunt MO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family reunions are a great time to take a family photo. We have very few family group photos that look perfect- maybe we don\u2019t even have one perfect picture. It\u2019s so hard to get everyone looking in the same direction, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[402,28,113,400,398,69,399,401],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1329,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions\/1329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/familyreunionhelper.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}