Outdoor settings offer many possibilities.
Family portraits don't have to be boring or stilted. There are many ways to capture the vibrancy and playfulness of your family, and an outdoor setting like a pond offers many different possibilities.
Be Playful
Feel free to use props.
If everyone feels comfortable, feel free to play around. Have everyone jump up in the air at the same time. Everyone can be either in a straight line or staggered. Or pretend to be tossing one person into the pond. Two members can swing a third. And feel free to use props. Everyone can wear straw hats, fly a kite or carry fishing poles.
Juxtapose the Beautiful Setting
Bring costumes.
Just because the setting is beautiful, doesn't mean the poses have to be. Stage a fake epic fight. No one should strike each other, just pose like they're about to. Or everyone in the family could put on their biggest pouting faces or angry faces or sad faces. The point is to capture the opposite of the landscape. Get creative. Bring costumes.
Get in the Water
Don't be afraid to get wet.
Make sure this is the last pose of the shoot, because clothes are bound to get wet, but if everyone feels up to it, roll up your pants and step into the pond. Splash around, or everyone can dunk dad. Safety is key, but there's no reason not to get a little wet in order to capture the perfect picture.
Animals
Feed the ducks.
Let the kids feed a duck. Bring along some bread crumbs and pass them out, then capture the moment. Or bring along a pet and either pose as a family or have everyone chase it around.
Use the Surroundings
Use the natural surroundings.
Shoot through branches or a hole in a tree. If there is a tree everyone can climb, do so, or just have one or two family members hanging from a branch. Toss a rock in the lake and shoot the ripples as the background.
Use the Sun
Magic hour
Depending on your schedule, try to time your session with what photographers refer to as the "golden hour" or "magic hour," which is the first or last hours of sunlight. These are the most flattering times to shoot. Also, if possible, cloudy days work better for photography, because they lessen glare and overexposure.
