How to take Awesome Family Photos – Without a Photographer

Many of you are rushing for our fall photo shoots for our end of year cards about now. I have a secret.. I love a professional photo shoot but I can’t afford it. I make sure my family see’s/gets a session about every four or five years but the rest I do on my own and with my phone!!! Gasp! Here are the three steps I have in creating awesome family shots.

Here are my personal tips:

1. Coordinate Loosely – Do not wear clashing colors or the complete matching t-shirt thing. It just screams over the top and sloppy. Do try and coordinate with the season theme, the place your taking them, and family. blues and tans, orange and green with pumpkins, Christmas colors at the holidays, match just the girls or everyone wear mickey at the theme park (this also helps identify kids in big crowds. ;).
2. Buy a Solid Bluetooth Tripod – I use a bluetooth i-phone tripod. You can get them off amazon for under 25 dollars. It is the length of my lower arm and weights less than two pounds. This is my ultimate secret! For less than 25 dollars you have a photographer! Just pose and snap. https://www.amazon.com/UBeesize-Extendable-Bluetooth-Aluminum-Lightweight/dp/B07NWC3L95/ref=sxts_rp_s1_0?crid=3IHXO0DY6HNSU&cv_ct_cx=tripod+for+iphone&dchild=1&keywords=tripod+for+iphone&pd_rd_i=B07NWC3L95&pd_rd_r=7c71f283-7bfe-4938-9cfe-07ac9c066c77&pd_rd_w=g8fwY&pd_rd_wg=UWsOT&pf_rd_p=60f680d5-2ef4-438b-a860-68ff8dd70684&pf_rd_r=8WQYG72TW251BD2N0F4F&psc=1&qid=1633531338&sprefix=tripod%2Caps%2C214&sr=1-1-2a7ba1aa-1291-4447-a5e4-5bbe384024ef
3. Download Awesome Filters – There are a hundred million apps for filters and I love many of them! I strongly urge people that what ever app they use that they buy extra filters! Do not use the free ones. They just don’t cut it. When you think about the years of saving you will do have by spending 35-50 dollars on good quality editing software it is far less than -a one time 300-500 dollar photo shoot. And you keep on using them! They are worth every penny.

Thats it! That is all I do. Find a good spot and throw on something cute. Have fun bribing the kids and just SMILE.