Trying to improve your photography or are you new to your DSLR? Here are two easy tips for choosing the right aperture for your family photo session.

Choosing the “right” Aperture for a family of five at a family session is will look different for lots of photographers depending on their style. Here are two questions to consider:

1. Do you want to blur out the background?
2. Do you want to get everyone in focus?

The answer to those questions for a classic family portrait is usually “yes” for me.

1. To get maximum blur I choose:
   • the widest aperture possible (lower number), while still getting everyone in focus. For small families thats usually between 2.8-4.0 for me.
   • the longest zoom I can (and still get the composition I want). For small families, that’s usually between 50-85mm for me.
2. To get everyone in focus:
   • Try to keep everyone one on the same plane so they are all about the same distance away from the camera. Blurring out the background also means there is a smaller area that the camera will have a crisp focus on. If I’m photographing a small family and keep them on the same plane, I don’t have a problem getting them all in focus at 2.8, but I usually only do that if I’m desperate for light, simply because there is a smaller margin of error for me. I prefer to shoot at 3.2 or 3.5, there is still plenty of blur at longer zooms and then I have a little more wiggle room on how I place clients.

Want more photography tips? Check out this post for some posing tips https://lexiraephotography.com/utah-engagement-photography-posing-tutori

Or Check out my Pinterest boards with lots of photography tips here: https://www.pinterest.com/lexiraephotography

I’d love to hear if this was helpful! Get out and practice and let me know how it goes in my DMs on Instagram

Photography Tips, Utah Family Photographer

Lehi, Utah

@lexiraephotography