5 tips for great family photos (with a self timer)

As our baby turns 6 months, I've realised we don't have a single photo of the four of us.

Getting some professional pictures taken is definitely on my to-do list but we've just not got round to it. Life has been busy.

Last weekend I was determind to get a picture - the four of us, our little family, my camera and a self timer. Easy right? 

It took patience, a lot of patience with a toddler running into the garden after every shot and being dragged back to the sofa for 'just one more!'  We got there in the end though.

Here are some of my tips for getting that family shot:

1. Choose your weapon - you may have an SLR or compact camera and a tripod. You may be looking to balance an iPhone on a pile of books. Choose what works for you and work out how to use the self timer function.

2. The set-up - my advice (particularly if you have young children) is to decide on your location in advance (ideally close to a window with some natural daylight). Clear away clutter and any distractions. Use an adult to pose for a trial shot and see how it looks. If you have everything set up in advance, you just literally need to bring the children in and get going.

3. Patience- we bribed our toddler with a biscuit and entertained her with songs. She was not playing ball but we just kept persevering with the self timer, taking numerous shots.

4. Eyes to camera? Do you want everyone looking at the camera? We tried shots some looking at the camera and some away. The image I chose was less posed and more natural. This is the style we prefer but the beauty of the self timer is that you are in charge and you can try lots of different options.

5. Editing - my editing for clients is done on my desktop computer with Photoshop software. Increasingly for day to day family pictures of our life at home I upload my pictures straight to my iPad using an Apple card reader. I then use the VSCO or Snapseed apps to crop, tweak colours and contrast or change to black and white. 

 

Before & After

Before

After

As you can see I chose to be close to a window with plenty of light. I had originally tried to include a painting we have in our kitchen but in the end decided the painting was a little too distracting and cropping in closer would work better. I also decided without the painting, I preferred the picture in black and white form.

Using the self timer is definitely something to try out. It takes a little planning but great to have a family photo ready for framing on your mantelpiece. 

Cruising the Norwegian Fjords

The beautiful town of Olden in the Norwegian Fjords

Norway is every bit as breathtaking as I imagined.  It has been high on our list of places to visit for some time and we settled on a seven night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords for our first proper family holiday with our 14 month old. 

Breakfast with a view

I admit I was always a bit of a snob about cruises, feeling they were reserved for the bingo-loving older generation. But after our first cruise five years ago, I swiftly changed my mind. On this occasion, my family and I were onboard P&O's brand new ship Britannia, a huge, floating, gleaming hotel complete with fine dining restaurants, cinema, theatre and spa.  Cruise ships these days are incredible, some ships boast multi million pound art collections featuring works by artists such as Jeff Koons and Anish Kapoor. 

We have now been on three cruises and I had never anticipated how calming I would find it being on the water. Sitting on a balcony watching the sunsets, with the gentle sounds of the waves below is unforgettable.  On this trip I was able to take a dip in the heated outdoor pool whilst taking in the surrounding landscape of Olden.

I worried if cruising with a baby would work logistically but we had a fantastic cabin set-up with everything we needed and baby food supplies provided. All that was left was to strap our daughter in her baby carrier, fill our lungs with the icy and crisp Norwegian air and set about exploring the ports of Bergen, Andalsnes, Olden and Stavanger. We were not disappointed and will definitely return.

Homes perched around Olden lake

The city of Stavanger

Taking in the sights from one of the ship's many onboard restaurants.