My 10 Tips for Your Best Portraits
After 35 Years of Creating Timeless Portraits, Here Are My 10 Tips for Your Best and Most Meaningful Portraits
After more than 35 years as a professional photographer, I’ve had the privilege of photographing thousands of people—families, children, couples, high school seniors, executives, brides and grooms, and generations of families.
And after all those years, I’ve learned something important:
The most meaningful portraits aren’t simply the ones where everyone looks their best. They’re the ones that become more valuable with time.
A great portrait captures more than what you look like today. It preserves relationships, personalities, connections, and a moment in your family’s story that will never happen exactly the same way again.
If you’re considering having professional portraits created, here are my ten tips for making them truly exceptional.
## 1. Don’t Wait for the “Perfect” Time
This may be the most important advice I can give.
People often postpone portraits because they want to lose a few pounds, grow their hair, wait until life slows down, or find the perfect time when everyone’s schedule works.
Meanwhile, children grow up. Families change. Parents and grandparents get older.
There will probably never be a perfect time.
The people you love as they are today are worth remembering.
Twenty years from now, you won’t look at that portrait and wish you had waited. You’ll be grateful you have it.
©Tim Ray Photography
## 2. Think About Who You Want to Remember
Before deciding what to wear or where your portraits should be created, think about something more important:
Who belongs in this chapter of your life?
Maybe it’s your spouse. Your children. Your parents or grandparents. Perhaps it’s time for a portrait of several generations together.
And don’t forget the four-legged members of the family. Pets are often an important part of our lives and absolutely deserve a place in our family photographs.
The more personal the portrait is to you, the more meaningful it will eventually become.
## 3. Choose Clothing That Won’t Compete With You
One of the biggest misconceptions about portrait clothing is that everyone needs to match.
They don’t.
Instead, coordinate.
Choose colors and styles that complement one another without making everyone look like they’re wearing a uniform. Solid colors, subtle textures, classic pieces, and complementary tones generally photograph beautifully.
Avoid clothing with large logos, distracting graphics, or extremely trendy designs.
The goal is simple:
When someone looks at your portrait, their attention should go to the people—not the clothing.
## 4. Choose Timeless Over Trendy
Photography trends come and go.
Your portraits shouldn’t.
I’ve always believed portraits should have a timeless quality—images that could hang on your wall for decades without looking dated.
That doesn’t mean your portraits have to be formal or traditional. They can be relaxed, contemporary, joyful, dramatic, or artistic.
But the emphasis should always remain on you, your relationships, and your personality, rather than whatever happens to be fashionable this year.
## 5. Let Your Photographer Direct You
One of the most common things I hear is:
“I’m not photogenic.”
Fortunately, being photogenic isn’t a requirement.
Creating flattering portraits involves understanding lighting, posing, camera position, expression, body language, composition, and dozens of small details that most people never notice.
You shouldn’t have to know what to do with your hands, how to stand, where to look, or which direction to turn.
That’s my job.
A good portrait photographer doesn’t simply photograph what happens in front of the camera. They know how to bring out the very best in the person standing there.
## 6. Don’t Make Every Portrait About Looking at the Camera
Some of the most meaningful photographs happen when people stop thinking about the camera altogether.
A mother looking at her child.
A husband making his wife laugh.
Grandparents surrounded by their grandchildren.
A father putting his arm around his daughter.
Those little interactions tell a story.
I always want to create the beautifully posed portraits that families expect, but I also look for the expressions and connections that happen between those photographs.
©Tim Ray Photography
Often, those become the images people treasure most.
## 7. Include Different Relationships
During a family portrait session, don’t create only one photograph of the entire family.
Create portraits of Mom and Dad together.
Mom with the children.
Dad with the children.
The siblings together.
Each child individually.
Grandparents with grandchildren.
And any other relationships that are important to your family.
Why?
Because every one of those relationships has its own story.
Years from now, those photographs can have an importance that is difficult to appreciate today.
## 8. Give Yourself Permission to Relax
Portrait sessions shouldn’t feel like a performance.
Children don’t have to behave perfectly. Everyone doesn’t have to smile at exactly the same second. And you certainly don’t need to practice posing before you arrive.
Some of the best portraits happen after people stop trying so hard to create a “perfect picture.”
Laugh. Talk. Hold your children. Look at the person you love.
Be together.
That genuine connection is something no camera technique can manufacture.
## 9. Create Something You Can Actually Hold
Digital photographs are incredibly convenient. We can keep thousands of them on our phones and computers.
But there is something different about a photograph you can actually hold.
A beautifully printed portrait hanging in your home becomes part of your family’s everyday life. An album can be opened years later by your children and eventually your grandchildren.
Digital files are wonderful for sharing and preserving your photographs, but I encourage families to create something tangible as well.
Some photographs deserve to live somewhere other than a screen.
## 10. Think About the Portrait 20 Years From Now
©Tim Ray Photography
When I create a portrait, I’m not only thinking about how it looks today.
I’m thinking about what it might mean someday.
Imagine your children looking at that photograph twenty or thirty years from now.
Imagine a grandchild holding a portrait of their grandparents.
Imagine your family looking at a photograph and remembering exactly what life felt like during that season.
That is when photography becomes much more than photography.
It becomes part of your family history.
## The Portraits We Create Today Become Tomorrow’s Memories
After more than 35 years behind the camera, I’ve watched photographs I created decades ago become some of my clients’ most treasured possessions.
That experience has changed the way I think about portrait photography.
We aren’t simply creating photographs of what people look like.
We’re preserving who they are, who they love, and a moment in their lives that can never be repeated.
©Tim Ray Photography
So don’t wait for everything to be perfect.
Gather the people you love.
Create the portrait.
Print it.
Hang it on the wall.
And someday, perhaps many years from now, someone you love will be very glad you did.
Tim Ray
Tim Ray Photography
Creating timeless portraits for more than 35 years.
