Family Photography

Traditional families have changed and so have their expectations in family photography. There are families of three, families of sixty with three generations, extended families, ethnic families, single-parent families, and the list goes on. Family photography must be just as diverse as families.

Only 36% of households can be considered “ traditional families” consisting of a dad, a mom and children. Single-parent families are equally as good subjects for photographing as “ traditional” families.

Relaxing Brings Smiles	Mother and son	Mother and daughter

Family portrait photography is considered the single most profitable area available to the studio photographer. More dollars per hour are earned from family portrait photography than in almost any other type of studio photography. However, family photography is not automatic (like senior portraits or graduation portraits). Family portrait photography has to be specifically marketed to families. Families are not ‘looking’ for a photographer to take their family portrait.

You have to show them what your skills can do for them. Establish a need in their mind to have their family portrait taken. Since family photography is such a profitable type of photography, department stores and chain studios are strongly represented in the market. Usually, their marketing is unsophisticated, non-special and cheap. Sears, Kmart and Walmart (and other discount-type department stores) claim to provide family photos for less than $10 a sitting. Younger families have no trouble waiting in line at the department stores for this type of family portrait.

Older families will not subject themselves to waiting in line at a department store to have an important photograph taken. They have a greater sense of their value than $10. The department studio appeals to young and new families – not to older families. The older families are where your better (as in long-term, higher-spending, returning, etc.) customers are.

The real value of family portrait photography is tradition. Family members like to visually document their individuality within the context of their larger family. Some families still seek the formal family portrait. However, the modern family strives for ‘different’ within tradition.

Regardless of the family structure, families see themselves as making ‘their place’ in the world by photographing the family unit. They see themselves as a unit in the natural environment of their area, in their homes or yards, in their dream environments or in some unique setting.

Family portrait photography is worth the effort to study and plan to offer. The most profit is there and there continue to be more and more families.

Vary poses	Another variation of standard posing	The traditional pose

Shot at the eye level of the child	Standard posing	Vary angles without losing image balance