Here is a family portrait session that I did at a nearby park here in West Chester called Everhart Park.

I started off with my signature family portrait, and something that not a lot of photographers offer.  In technical terms it’s simply a posed family group shot, using the legendary Canon 200mm f/2 Prime lens wide open at f/2, with off-camera lighting (a medium sized soft box in this case) balanced just right with backlit late afternoon sun. Easy right?

After we get that family portrait image made, with everything balanced just right and all the kids smiling and looking at the camera, I feel like the shoot has been a success.  It’s time to start gathering bonus images.  So the next thing that we did is make a headshot for mom and dad and a fun portrait of each of the boys.

Continuing on with the theme of gathering a variety of images after the priority shot (a classic family portrait) has been made, we did a few shots of everyone walking through an open field.

We had about 10 minutes left of their one hour family shoot at that point, so I decided to make one last family portrait but with a more dramatic look.  I liked the way these shots came out so I’ll continue with this technique in the future.