Strike a Pose: 8 Summer Fun Photo Ideas
Summer is nearly here, which for many Enlightium families means a lot of fun, special occasions, vacation time, and relaxing at the beach. The summer provides many great opportunities to capture family memories with a fun photo. You can even make an entire day out of getting some great shots of your family. Whether you hire a professional photographer or recruit a friend or take the photos yourself, here are eight fun photo ideas to memorialize your family’s summer.
What to Wear
You have a few options when it comes to deciding how to dress your family for a fun photo.
Let them express themselves.
Sometimes kids want to wear what they want to wear. Buying coordinating outfits can add expense to your project and become overwhelming. There are plenty of reasons to let your family wear what they want, the most fun of which is to show off their personalities. If you want to capture a history of your family, what better way than letting them wear what they normally do, or what they feel will best represent them in a photograph.
Go neutral.
If matching is really important to you, but you don’t know where to begin, the easiest option is to go neutral. It is easy to coordinate your family if everyone wears black and white, or dresses in grayscale. This family even used a variety of black and white patterns.
Make a color scheme.
The next stage of mixing things up is to choose a set of colors that everyone’s outfit will be composed of. There are so many ways to mix and match even just two colors. A common summer color scheme is light blue and coral.
Pick a theme.
You can unleash your imagination when it comes to themed outfits. Maybe you’re all fully in costume, or maybe you are all wearing band T-shirts for different bands that suit your personalities. Perhaps you’re cooking together and everyone has an apron on. Perhaps your theme is Disney and everyone wears Mickey ears. The baseball theme used in this photoshoot is working great for those brothers.
Choose a style.
If you’re one of those people with a strong aesthetic sense, you may be able to choose family outfits that don’t feel matchy, but still have a strong sense of cohesion. The photos in this blog post have done this brilliantly. Despite no matching of color and pattern, these outfits have a unified style that gives the pictures a natural, artisan feel.
Go uniform.
If you enjoy matching clothing, you may want to buy outfits that match perfectly. You just have to make sure you can find the exact same garments in the sizes needed. If you sew, you could use the same fabrics for family outfits. Having custom t-shirts printed is another great idea. You could even print your children’s ages on the front of their shirts like these people did.
Find a Setting
Finding the right location can infuse a lot of life into your family photo. The results are worth the extra effort, and you may leave with some new memories on top of a fun photo or two.
Here are some locations you may want to consider:
Set the Scene
If you’re feeling ambitious, you may want to bring your own decorations with you to your destination, or set a scene in your own backyard. You could consider some of the following.
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Antique furniture
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Picture frames
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Backdrop (you could even paint it, or have your kids paint it)
Find a Pose
If you’ve chosen your place, light, props, and outfits, all that’s left is the pose! What kinds of moments do you really want to capture?
Portray an emotional connection.
A common trend in family photography right now is placing the parents near the children, but somehow demonstrating their own romantic love. This is a great option when you want your photos to express that throughout the throws of child rearing, you remain united and in love. You’re sure to capture a fun photo this way, especially if your kids somehow react to your display of affection.
Play with perspective.
Another creative way to really make your photo stand out is to play around with perspective. Finding a focal point and accenting it with your subject matter makes for a unique and very artistic way to capture the moment. You can create a really captivating photo that accentuates the varying ages and sizes of your family members by lining them up like this family did.
Recruit a documentary family photographer.
If you want a fun photo that captures the true essence of your life together as a family, you may consider hiring a documentary family photographer. This person will simple step into your daily life and take pictures of the ordinary things that happen. Here’s a great video describing the documentary style of family photography.
Perhaps you have a shutterbug in your family that is looking for opportunities to practice the craft of photography. Many Enlightium students have found a creative passion for photography after taking our Digital Arts or Fundamentals of Digital Media electives. These students are always looking for opportunities to get their creative juices flowing and are often willing to participate in a fun photo shoot.
Grab your selfie stick.
Some of the most memorable and entertaining pictures are much simpler than the traditional photo shoot with matching outfits and a professional photographer. Selfies have become the everyday way for anyone to create their very own fun photo quickly and easily. This has become a way of self-expression and captures the essence of the moment in a way no posed photograph ever could.
Regardless of how structured or spontaneous your photography turns out to be, Enlightium Academy believes that summer, family, and fun photos go hand in hand. So put on your Enlightium apparel, grab your camera and loved ones, and start taking pictures! We invite you to enter our summer photo contest by sharing your fun photo with us on our #EAEDU page. Be sure to tag your pic using the #EAEDU hashtag so we can find your entry. One lucky winner will receive a free iPad! We are excited to see what creative and fun photo ideas you come up with. See our contest webpage for official contest rules.
