Beach Family Photography: My Approach
Here’s what I tell every beach family photography client before we start: we’re going to make some portraits, and then we’re going to forget about the camera for a while. The first half gives you the photos you came for. The second half gives you the ones you didn’t know you needed.
Connection over symmetry
The goal of a family portrait isn’t simply to line everyone up evenly and make everyone say cheese. It’s to show that these people love each other. That sounds obvious, but it’s easy to lose sight of when you’re trying to get twelve people to look at a camera at the same time.
What I’m always looking for is closeness. Groupings that bring people physically together, arrangements that create natural overlap, moments where genuine interaction can happen inside the frame. On the beach especially, given how casual it can feel, flat evenly-spaced lineups tend to look stiff even when everyone is smiling. A little depth, a little movement, someone slightly closer to the camera than someone else… that can make the photos really come to life.
Two kinds of photos: posed & “candid”
Every session runs about 50/50 between posed portraits and unposed, movement-based photography. I love capturing both and both end up in your final gallery.
Posed portraits are exactly what you’re picturing: everyone together, looking at the camera, smiling. These are the wall-worthy shots that grandma wants on her mantle. I take these seriously. You will leave with clean, composed portraits of every grouping you need, and I work through a grouping list to make sure nothing gets missed.
Unposed moments are what happen in between. Kids chasing each other at the water’s edge. A grandmother pulling a grandchild in close. A couple walking away from the camera with the whole sky behind them. These are the photos that tend to surprise people. These photos are ones that feel the most true, that get shared the most, that you come back to years later.
You don’t have to choose between the two. We do both at every beach family photography session.
Directed, not staged
When I say “unposed,” I don’t mean I put the camera down and hope something happens. Candid moments are directed. I’ll give you something to do, and then shoot while you’re doing it.
That might look like walking together along the waterline, gathering in for a group hug on the count of three, grandkids piling onto grandpa, or parents swinging a toddler between them. The spontaneity comes from the reaction and the movement, not from me standing back and waiting.
The frames that end up being favorites are almost always the ones where someone laughed at the wrong moment, or a kid broke away and everyone reacted. I’m always watching for those.
What to do with your hands
Since everyone asks: don’t overthink it.
Hold onto each other. Hands in pockets, hands on shoulders, arms around kids – all of it works. Give little ones something to do with their hands (hold a parent’s hand, pick up a shell, grab a sibling) so they’re not just standing there waiting to be photographed.
If you’re genuinely interacting with your family, your hands will find somewhere natural to go.
The perfect shot and the real shot
There’s a version of family photography where everyone cooperates, the light is perfect, and the photo looks exactly like what you had in mind. That happens sometimes, and it’s great.
But the photos I hear about most, the ones clients message me about months later, are usually the ones nobody planned. The toddler who took off running. The grandparent who got a little emotional. The siblings who couldn’t hold it together for one more serious portrait.
Those moments are the whole point. My job is to be ready for them.
One of my favorite “perfect vs. real” examples: Liz, from Body Double Swimwear, used both of these photos on the family Christmas card this year.
Want to see what the shot list looks like for your session? Check out the family portrait groupings guide for a full breakdown of standard groupings by family size.
Nikki Schell Photography serves families along the Delaware and Maryland shore in Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach, Rehoboth Beach, and North Ocean City, MD.
