Robert Potter – Blog

How many photos have you seen of friends or family looking so stiff they could be mistaken for a member of the armed forces on parade? Directing a photo shoot can be a tricky art when the participants are feeling super self conscious. I would guess to say over 50% of people having their picture taken by a professional photographer go super tense as soon as they are in front of the lens. There is one big exception to the rule and that’s the under 12 year olds, well at least when they aren’t throwing a tantrum. Good communication skills come in handy in these situations, some people have it naturally and the rest of us learn it the hard way bit by bit.

I always try to achieve that natural look when shooting people as the photos come out looking ten times better than the old school tin soldiers. I recently did a family group shot were the children were playing around so much it became difficult to get one shot where I could see all the faces at the same time with a decent expression.  I did take some good ones, but didn’t bag the shot I really wanted. I resorted to using image editing software to combine three photos into one. I’m happy with the end result which looks natural and you would have never guessed the picture had been doctored.

1. Original photo.

2. Mothers’s new smiling face added.

3. Final color version with youngest boy’s head changed.

4. B&W version.