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Author: Jefferson Graham, American Association of Retired Persons, November 17, 2021

There are more families planning to gather during the holiday this year. Compared with last year's Thanksgiving, there was a big change in discouraging gatherings at that time.

In addition to happy reunions and memories at the dinner table, for many of us, this will be a good opportunity to make updated family photos. It's been a long time.

The good news is that in the past two years, smartphones have become better at producing seemingly foolproof photos.

Is your image too dark or too bright? Do you have a photo that looks like it was burned by a gas lamp because the flash is too strong, or your image is blurry? Thanks to software tricks, especially on the new iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel phones, all of this is now unlikely to happen.

In other words, human error will still be an obstacle. So here are five tips to help you get memorable family photos to pass on from generation to generation.

Large gatherings create competition for your time.

Some people are handling food. Others participated in TV shows. Someone needs to be responsible and make sure that the photo is complete, whether it is before or after the meal.

Pro tip: If you can set a time before eating, you may get better attention from your family, and the light will be better in the afternoon, and everyone will look better.

In order for everyone in the group to take pictures, you will not need any extra hands to take pictures. Fortunately, software comes to the rescue. You can use the timer on your smartphone to take pictures with the selfie camera. With the visible screen, everyone can squeeze together to fit the frame. 

• Tripod and adapter. The desktop tripod is great, and you can buy it at a large local store for $30 to $40. You also need an adapter to mount the smartphone on a tripod. Many tripods come with adapters.

• Or a stack of books. If you forget to bring a tripod, you can lean the camera on a pile of books or other things to keep it upright and stable.

The trick is to make sure the camera is at eye level. If it looks up at you and your family, you will shoot in the nose, revealing a huge neck that no one would like.

Preferred method: Put a pile of books on the table, as high as possible, until it reaches the level of most people’s sight, including the tripod on top of the pile. Or just pile up a lot of books for tripodless technology.

Next, turn on the timer of your phone to start your collective selfie countdown.

On the iPhone, open the camera app, select a photo, and tap the up arrow in the top middle of the screen. You will see five or six icons directly above the white shutter button, depending on your iPhone model. The timer is a clock icon with a missing part of the circle, located on the right and sometimes on the far right. Touch the icon and set it to 10 seconds.

On Android, the timer is easier to find. On most Samsung Galaxy phones, just open the camera app and display a similar clock icon directly at the top of the screen. It provides a setting of 2, 5 or 10 seconds.

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The biggest problem with extended family photos is to get everyone involved. If there are only four people, it is easy. If the brood has grown up, this is a challenge, especially when you don't have a photographer to help you.

But let us assume that a family member will serve as a holiday photographer. The trend is to line up in two rows, with the shortest person at the front and the tallest person at the back. This is good in theory. But the people behind are often hidden, and you can't see their faces.

This is what makes the chair unique. They can make you line up, and people in the back can squeeze around the people who are sitting.

Pro tip: Give the chair to grandparents or other VIPs and let the children stand behind them. Because you will have a smartphone screen and a timer that counts down the seconds, everyone will be able to be in place and confirm that they are in the frame-and at eye level with the camera.

As good as new smartphone cameras, they can't always compensate for the way light passes through windows. When you photograph someone in front of a window, the camera tends to expose for the brightness of the window instead of the subject. This turns them into silhouettes.

On the other hand, the best lighting you find for the party will come from the windows-soft, uniform light will make everyone look great without any shadows on their faces. But this only happens when they are standing facing the window.

Pro tip: Try to capture as little clutter as possible in the background. This way, you can focus on the face instead of the mess on the kitchen table.

For example, in this photo of Robin and Natalie Cayetano's mother and daughter, we position them so that they are at an angle to most of the blank wall behind them, so that the image is less cluttered.

Sometimes you cannot use the interior window lights, and the interior ceiling lights you can use are dazzling and unpleasant. Solution: If you can, go outside, even if you just pose at the door, and let the available light shine on your face.

When you are outdoors, the open sunshade can produce the same soft and uniform light as you get from a window.

But if you stand under direct sunlight, it will create harsh shadows on your face, especially in the eyes. Try to keep the sun behind you instead of facing you so that everyone can see all of your face without shadows.

In this photo of the Cayetano family, they are posing on seats in the shade of the front porch. A loving family sits together, right?

Three family members are sitting on the seats, and Natalie is sitting on the armrests. She looks a little taller than her father, but she may not complain. Dog Wes is also involved, and there is a secret to involving animals. Only need to take many, many, many photos, because it is very likely that pets will look for at least one of them.

Jefferson Graham (Jefferson Graham) is a writer/photographer responsible for reporting on personal technology. He was previously a technical columnist for USA Today. He hosted the Photowalks travel photography series on YouTube and is the author of Video Nation: A DIY Guide to Planning, Sharing, and Shooting Great Videos. 

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