Family photo ideas - 10 cute & fun family portrait tips
The kids are off school, the sun is (sometimes) shining and you’ve got some extra time to kill. Yep, this is your chance to capture perfect family portraits.
While professional family photoshoots are always a great option, you might want to try taking your own family photos at home this summer. After all, this is a great way to capture more candid and authentic photos that show what makes your family so special!
Don’t worry if you’re a little stumped for creative family photo ideas, because we’ve come up with 10 cute, fun and easy family portrait ideas you can try taking yourself.
Every family is different, but you’ll have perfect family photoshoot ideas before you can all say “cheeeeese”!
Family portrait ideas you can try at home
1. Share your summer outdoor adventures
Since it’s the summer holidays, this is the perfect time to capture fun family photos outdoors. You don’t need to fly out to an exotic location, simply head to a nearby park, beach or nature reserve and start exploring the surroundings together.
You could pose for a family picnic, play some outdoor games, or get creative with colourful wildflowers to capture more natural and candid family photos.
Whatever you decide to do, you’ll want to look for interesting natural background and play around with backlighting to capture the perfect shot.
2. Open up the toy box
The kids are never happier than when they’re playing with their toys, so this is a great way to capture their biggest, cheekiest smiles. Besides, we know parents are just big kids too, so you’ll love playing with toys, cards, and crayons just as much as the little ones!
Instead of asking the kids to strike a pose, let them be themselves and simply take photos of them at play while the family gathers around.
The kids are the most important part of the photo here, so play around with your camera settings to put the focus on them, with proud parents blurred out in the background as you watch them play.
3. Take generational photos with the whole family
Large family photos are harder to pull off, but a photoshoot that spans all the generations is always loads of fun. Get the grandparents, parents and kids all together in one big shot, and capture the bonds between all the different family members!
You could position the grandparents in the centre of your photo and surround them with the rest of the family, or even line everyone up in age order to showcase your family tree.
4. Play dress up with themed costumes
Hooray! Everyone loves a dress-up day, so pick a fun theme and get the whole family in silly costumes for a more light-hearted photoshoot.
The family could dress as superheroes, recreate entire film scenes, or pick costumes that fit a certain era (like the 50s or 80s). You can also match your costumes with playful props, such as hats, frames, umbrellas and other tidbits, and silly facial expressions that always raise big laughs.
If you really want to make people laugh, you could try swapping clothes and dressing the kids in Dad’s oversized shirts and trousers!
5. Hold funny chalkboard messages
This family photo idea is super-easy to pull off. Just give each family member their own chalkboard, ask them to write a little message on it, and then hold them up together and smile for the camera.
You could all scribble down loving messages, funny captions, memorable quotes or even just your names and ages. If the kids (and grown-ups) love drawing, then you could even draw little chalk self-portraits or other colourful pictures that bring some childish fun to your family pictures.
However you decide to use your chalkboard, this is a fun and creative way to tell a story with your photos and get the kids more involved with your photoshoot!
6. Make a family sunset silhouette
Silhouette family photoshoots look absolutely fantastic when you get it right. Head outdoors during the golden hour (the hour before sunset), stand in front of the setting sun, and use the gorgeous backdrop to capture incredible silhouettes of the entire family.
This is one of our most eye-catching, beautiful and unique family photo ideas, and this shadowy effect will be completely unlike all the other family photos on your wall.
7. Host a cosy family pyjama party
Nothing beats a cute and cosy night in with the family, so try this cute and cosy family portrait idea! Dress the whole family up in matching pyjamas (or just their favourites), snuggle up on the sofa together, and do a little photoshoot that shows just how close your family is.
These family photos could show you reading bedtime stories, watching a favourite film together, or even enjoying a cheeky late-night snack. Hold hands, cuddle up closer or have one big group hug - you can capture all kinds of special moments by just relaxing on the sofa!
8. Recreate old family photos
When the kids have grown up a bit, recreating old family photos is always a fun idea. You’ve taken loads of amazing family photos over the years, so pick out the funniest, cutest and most memorable snaps in your collection, and ask the kids to recreate poses from when they were teeny-tiny!
This is a funny and creative way of showing just how much the kids have grown over the years (and that they’ll always be your little babies, no matter how much taller they might be).
9. Get the family pets involved
We just can’t do a list of family photo ideas without talking about your four-legged friends. They might make your photoshoot a bit more unpredictable, but dogs, cats and other pets are a huge part of the family… and make your family photos look even cuter!
Okay, so pets might not do exactly what you want them to do for the camera, but they’ll raise genuine smiles from the rest of the family. Besides, if you let your pet roam around and do what they want, this can lead to some hilarious candid moments that you could never have planned.
10. Start a messy family bake-off
Ahh, there’s nothing quite like the chaos of the kitchen. The kids (not to mention the parents) have a bit of a sweet tooth, so get them baking up some yummy treats and capture all the chaos on camera.
Whether it’s cookies, cakes or something else entirely, making a big floury mess is a great way to get the whole family laughing their heads off. Plus, little flour smudges on noses and cheeks are always super-cute, and this family photo idea is also a fun afternoon activity for the kids.
The kitchen might need a bit of a clean-up afterwards, but at least you’ll get some cake out of it. Oh, and the perfect family photos you’ve been looking for!
Where can I try a professional family photoshoot?
Make no mistake, taking perfect family photos can be a little tricky. From bad lighting to awkward poses, there’s a whole load of things that could go wrong during your home photoshoot.
If you can’t quite seem to get things right, then you could always bring the family to a local Max Spielmann store for a professional family photoshoot. Prices start at just £40 a session and there’s a ton of photoshoot packages available, so you’ll always go home with perfect prints of your family photos.
There’s also no need to book a session, so simply find your nearest store and bring the family in when you’re ready!
How can I display my perfect family portraits?
Once you’ve taken your perfect family portraits, you’ll want to show them off around your home!
The obvious answer is to turn them into beautiful glossy photo prints, and then stick them inside stylish photo albums or photo frames. However, to really bring your portrait to life, you can print them as supersized photo posters, HD-quality canvas prints or even show-stopping metal prints.
Better yet, you could print them on all kinds of personalised gifts for the whole family. From photo cushions to mugs, you can print your family photos on all kinds of goodies at Max Spielmann!
