Where Should I Take my Family Photos?

Where Should I Take my Family Photos?

06.01.2022

The answer totally depends what look you like for your family photos. Indoor and outdoor photos are very different so I always recommend looking at other family sessions to see what resonates the most with you. Scroll through for examples and factors to consider when deciding where you want to have your family portraits taken.

Outdoors

Outdoor locations can be fun with lots of room for the little ones to run around and plenty of natural light. You could choose a place that might be meaningful for you or choose somewhere based on what it looks like. For example a lot of my outdoor sessions have greenery because they usually happen in the warmer months of the year and there’s plenty of big open fields around. If you’d like a less ‘green’ look, a beach shoot is also an option!

Some things to keep in mind for outdoor sessions, some of the more ‘pretty-esque’ locations, such as outdoor gardens or Beaches/Bluffer’s Park are also very popular so these might be better scheduled during a weekday. I also look for nice soft lighting when shooting outdoors and the best times are generally close to sunrise or sunset so you’ll have to keep that in mind too if you are not a morning person or if your little one is still young and needs to get to bed relatively early. I generally try not to schedule outdoor sessions in the afternoon as the sunlight is very strong and not great for photos!

Here are some examples of what an outdoor session might look like.

Indoors - In Your Home

One indoor option is to do it right in your home! I love these kind of sessions because everyone is comfortable, I’ll travel to you and no matter where in the house we end up taking photos, they will always be meaningful.

Some things to keep in mind, I do require lot of natural light for my style of photos so if you feel that your home is generally darker because of the direction the windows face or you don’t have a lot of windows then you may wish to consider other options. You can always send me some photos around your house to see if it’s suitable.

Another factor to consider is that the rooms or areas that we will be shooting in will need to ‘look’ clear. Look is in quotation marks because it’s perfectly fine to stuff laundry baskets, extra toys or things laying around in a box and hide them out of the way but if the thought of that sounds stressful to you, then there’s other options of course. If you don’t want it to be in your home but like a homey feel, we can always look at renting an Airbnb or studios that are styled like a home.

Here are some examples of what an in-home session might look like.

Indoors - in-studio

If you prefer being indoors but not in your home, I offer indoor sessions out of my studio in Markham. This option will probably be the most flexible in terms of the time of day we schedule the shoot as the lighting will be good almost any time.

Something to keep in mind for this location is that it’s best for smaller groups of 10 or less as it’s not a big space. Also, because I rent the studio out to other photographers, I recommend scheduling a date well in advance especially for weekends as those tend to be busy and fill up quickly. Here are what sessions done in the studio look like!

That’s it, I hope that this helps you decide where you might want to take your family photos. If you still aren’t sure, we can always chat more about your situation as part of our planning process for your family portraits!

xo,
Vivian