Organizing a Family Photo

My family traveled to spend labor day weekend together and we have had a great time! Since we were all in one place, I organized a family photo. Everyone else just has to show up at picture time, but as I am the "picture taker" of our family, I put a lot of thought into organizing the photo.

1. I set the time and date. Just to make sure everyone will be there and there are no surprises. For the time, I picked an hour before sunset (also know as the "magic hour" for photographers).

2. With the collaboration of my mom and sisters, I picked the color palette. We chose navy, light blue, coral, white and khaki.

3. I got my camera equipment ready.  Last time we took a photo - I had the crazy job of setting the timer and then running as fast as I could (which is not very fast) back to my place in the photo.  (Until I got tired and made my brother-in-law do it!) so I went on Amazon to find a solution.  I have a Canon Rebel T3 and the only remote clicker that works with it has to be plugged in.  So I discovered that a 2.5mm Stereo Headphone Extension Cable would work as an extension for the remote I have!  This is what I got:

I made sure my battery was charged and packed up my camera, lenses and tripod (along with the remote and new remote extension cord).  Unfortunately I used my telephoto lens and the extension cord wasn't long enough. 

4.  Then I thought about posing.  I loved the pose for our last family photo (taken two years ago), but I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it again or try something new.  

5. Normally I would already have a place/backdrop in mind and would visit the site at the exact time of day to get a feel for the lighting or any peculiarities to that location, but since we were headed to the small town in western Kansas where my sister's family lives, I didn't have the chance to scout the location.  I knew her backyard was an option or the park nearby.  I thought I'd check out the downtown area and any fields nearby as other options and make a decision once I was there.  I ended up choosing the park. 

6. Props - I considered a bunting to hang in the background, but decided against that.  I wasn't sure if we'd need chairs or stools - again, I figured I'd assess our options once I was there.  I didn't end up using any. 

7. Having a 4 year old, 2 year old and 5 month old in the photo presents a special challenge.  A lot of times when taking photos of just the kids, I make use of the parents and grandparents to get them to look at the camera and smile, but since all those people were in the photo, I needed something else for them to look at and smile at.  I decided on a Minnie Mouse balloon from Dollar Tree.  I tied it to my camera to capture the kids attention.  I think it did give them a focal point...but it was crazy windy outside and  it may have own the camera off center a few times so that wasn't good.

Here's the big reveal!!  All this planning and organizing resulted in a pretty great family photo!