What is Family photography?

There are many kind of styles and specialty niches in the world of photography, some of them include: architectural photography, fashion photography, nature photography, sports photography and landscape photography among others. Family photography is one of those specialties and through our images we hope to bring you back in years to come to this moment in time when the kids are still young and as parents we are still discovering them and wondering what their future will look like. Family photography is a niche because it’s tricky to connect in a short amount of time with your toddler and also to understand how to work with young children and cater for their different personalities and stages in their development. As a lifestyle photographer I aim to capture a variety of images, moments of natural interaction among your family members.

Family newborn and toddler photography sessions at home

Family sessions can take place at home or on location. Family sessions at home work better for portraits of small children, specially for the winter months. Documenting the changes in your family is important, and your home represents a part of who you are.  The family sessions at home have more flexibility on the time of the day they can be scheduled. Here you can see a recent Family lifestyle photography session at home , and here you can see what a newborn photography session looks like. 

What if my home is not “good enough” for an in-home family session?

If you find yourself thinking about this, please don’t let that be the reason why you are not willing to get on the other side of the camera. Not all the houses are created equal, that’s true, but then again they each tell a story and this is YOUR story. Your story should be about the people that inhabit this home, I want your session to reflect your own family with your quirks and spontaneous moments. I always start my photography sessions with a tour if your house to asses the best places for your session. We can always move things around and re-arrange furniture.

In my eyes, a house well lived in, and specially houses with little feet running around, is full of stuff. I love the challenge of using this at my advantage as a way to tell your story, or becoming a magician and making it disappear just by using perspective and light.

Family photography: what camera should I use?

We are very lucky to be living in an era with a great variety of options in terms of lighting, cameras and lenses. Within the family photography world there are a variety of setting that will dramatically change the type of camera or lenses needed. If the photoshoot is outdoors, then all of the mid-range cameras will have the ISO capability to deal with the amount of light from a full sun to an overcast day. However, if the family session is indoors then the photographer will most likely need a better camera that is capable to deal with low light situations. In terms of lenses these will also influence how high and low your ISO can go in function of your aperture. For lifestyle photography sessions at home I find the best lens for me is 35mm as it is wide enough to allow me to capture a variety of situations within confined spaces. If I am photographing newborns then I also like to work with a macro lens, the 100mm to be able to get further details capture that will help me with the narrative of my family photography session.

How do I know the right settings for my family portraits?

The DSLR has a mode that allows you to set the 3 parameters needed by the camera (Aperture, ISO and shutter speed) this is MANUAL mode. This mode will allow you to use the best settings for low light while still managing sharp images. It is always preferable to keep the noise (small grain texture) to a minimal in your images, but in low light situations this can be challenging. If you have to shoot in low light (this is a very common condition indoors) then you can always use a high ISO and minimise it in post production, as long as your image is shot in RAW format.  

Come and have a look at our latest sessions on the blog! This is what your session could look like:

Fran Jorgensen is a lifestyle family photographer available in and around Melbourne. To see current work come and have a look at the lifestyle blog section of the website. 

** By Booking a session with Fran Jorgensen photography you agree for Fran Jorgensen Photography to own copyright of the work produced and reserved the right to submit images for publication unless otherwise agreed in writing. If you don't wish for your images to be published or used in social media please provide a written request.

Fran Jorgensen is a bayside natural light lifestyle family photographer. I specialise in maternity portraits, pregnancy photography, portrait photography, newborn photography, newborn lifestyle photography, natural light toddler portraits, lifestyle photography, kids photography, infant photography, engagement photography,  children photography, candid newborn photography. 

Photoshoots are currently available in Melbourne bayside and southern suburbs like Elsternwick, St Kilda, Black Rock, Highett, Cheltenham, Brighton, Bentleigh, Hampton, Elwood, Caulfield south, Malvern east, Glen Iris, Glen Eira, Camberwell, Toorak, Prahran, Windsor, South Yarra, Ormond, Balaclava, Armadale, Hawthorn, Richmond, Williamstown, Yarraville, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne , Albert Park, Kew, McKinnon, Richmond, Southbank among others. Among our services we offer the following: maternity lifestyle photography Melbourne, newborn photography in South Melbourne and other melbourne metro areas, portrait photography in Elwood, baby and toddler photography in Bentleigh , and natural family portraits in Camberwell.

Let's have a chat and come up with some creative ways to capture the essence of your family.