Family photography- sony a7iii + 50mm lens

[Rsalem]

Hello! I'm shooting my first non family member family next week, 2 parents and 2 kids.
I did ok with the practice shoot with my family but I want to catch more candid photos of the kids this time around. I've been diving deep into camera settings to make sure I'll be able to get sharp images but I got a bit confused with some options.
- should I keep the drive mood on single shot or continuous shooting(lo or hi or hi+)

-should I keep the focus area on wide?

- should I keep it on eye af?

Am I missing anything?

 

[Strodav]

Yes, you want to be prepared with camera settings, but the most important thing is your compositions. Start by talking to them to understand why they want a photo shoot and what's important to them as a family. Talk about how they are going be dressed. Casual is better for candid shots, a little nicer clothes for more formal portraits. What's important to them as a family might help build a setting. You want your subjects to be separated from the backgrounds and the backgrounds can't have any distracting elements, especially high contrast stuff. Think about poses. You might want to bring samples of poses, say, on an ipad, to help them pose (pexels.com -> family portraits). Also think about harmonious color combinations (color grading).

For the camera settings they can be all over the map. Photography is painting with light so everything starts with what kind of light you will be working with. Are you shooting indoors or out, natural lighting or (fill) flash? Reflectors? If flash make sure to have a diffuser / soft box. Constantly weigh DOF versus separating your subject(s) from the background and their respective distances from the lens to pick f stops. I always try to shoot portraits at the lowest ISO possible, but know what your limit is. Is it ISO 200, 400, 800? I use eye AF when shooting one subject or when my subjects are equal distance from the lens, but if you've got kids in front and parents behind, your focus point might not be an eye given your DOF, but all the eyes need to be sharp. Take a shot of a gray card every time the light changes to help with WB in Post. For poses, look at using Live View mode instead of the viewfinder. I always bring a tripod and remote release.

Good luck!

 

[Rsalem]

Yes, you want to be prepared with camera settings, but the most important thing is your compositions. Start by talking to them to understand why they want a photo shoot and what's important to them as a family. Talk about how they are going be dressed. Casual is better for candid shots, a little nicer clothes for more formal portraits. What's important to them as a family might help build a setting. You want your subjects to be separated from the backgrounds and the backgrounds can't have any distracting elements, especially high contrast stuff. Think about poses. You might want to bring samples of poses, say, on an ipad, to help them pose (pexels.com -> family portraits). Also think about harmonious color combinations (color grading).

For the camera settings they can be all over the map. Photography is painting with light so everything starts with what kind of light you will be working with. Are you shooting indoors or out, natural lighting or (fill) flash? Reflectors? If flash make sure to have a diffuser / soft box. Constantly weigh DOF versus separating your subject(s) from the background and their respective distances from the lens to pick f stops. I always try to shoot portraits at the lowest ISO possible, but know what your limit is. Is it ISO 200, 400, 800? I use eye AF when shooting one subject or when my subjects are equal distance from the lens, but if you've got kids in front and parents behind, your focus point might not be an eye given your DOF, but all the eyes need to be sharp. Take a shot of a gray card every time the light changes to help with WB in Post. For poses, look at using Live View mode instead of the viewfinder. I always bring a tripod and remote release.

Good luck!

Thank you for your response!
I've actually created a questionnaire with multiple questions related to their family and what they want out of the session. We've also discussed color schemes and I've given them examples of what to wear depending on what colours they choose. My plan is to bring a blanket with Me for seated pictures as well. It will be an outdoor sunset session. I've written multiple posed and watched a few behind the scenes videos on how to work around kids regarding poses and such.

Would using a continuous shot instead of a single shot mess up the quality? I plan on going to the location a day before and getting practice shots with my own family to make sure the settings are ok

 

[Strodav]

Thank you for your response!
I've actually created a questionnaire with multiple questions related to their family and what they want out of the session. We've also discussed color schemes and I've given them examples of what to wear depending on what colours they choose. My plan is to bring a blanket with Me for seated pictures as well. It will be an outdoor sunset session. I've written multiple posed and watched a few behind the scenes videos on how to work around kids regarding poses and such.

Would using a continuous shot instead of a single shot mess up the quality? I plan on going to the location a day before and getting practice shots with my own family to make sure the settings are ok

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the composition and color scheme parts. Work fast around sunset. I shoot raw, aperture preferred, ISO 64 or 100 for portrait work (higher DR and low noise) and keep an eye on my shutter speed. With a 50mm lens and IBIS, it shouldn't be much of a problem for you in reasonable light.

In natural light and handheld I usually shoot around 5 fps taking about 1 sec bursts, which helps avoid missing that great shot because someone blinked. In the excitment of the moment, I might get a bit of camera shake when first pushing the shutter button, but by the 3rd shot, I'm usually rock solid even at lower shutter speeds. Maybe a holdover habit from using dslrs without IBIS for so long.

Instinctively know your DOF and remember it's usually sharp about 1/3 in front of your plane of focus and 2/3 behind at closer distances, but you might want to check it before the shoot. Watch those backgrounds.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Yes to continuous shooting and continuous focus - particularly if you want candid shots. The a7III handles that pretty well.
Plus: consider the tracking options in the focus area selection (at the end of the options on the bottom) of the a7III.
If you have the time, play with your aperture. I personally love to shoot wide open, even for bigger groups, but it's not everyones cup of tea, so having other shots with higher f-numbers to choose from is a good idea.