How to take good family photos with your phone.

Light: face the window

Light does more than any setting. Indoors, turn the group towards a window or have it to one side; never put the window behind them, or faces go dark. Outdoors, open shade or the hour before sunset is kinder than midday sun, which makes everyone squint.

Skip the flash for groups. If faces are dark, tap a face on the screen: the phone focuses and sets the brightness for it.

Lens, height and portrait mode

• Use 1x or 2x and step back. The 0.5x wide lens fits more people in a small room, but it stretches faces at the edges. If you need it, keep people away from the corners.
• Hold the phone at eye level or slightly above. From below, nobody looks their best; from a chair or a step, a big group’s back row stays visible.
• Portrait mode is lovely for two or three people side by side, but it can blur anyone standing further back. For bigger groups, use the normal photo mode.
• Wipe the lens. A phone lens with fingerprints on it makes every photo hazy, and it is the most common reason a photo looks soft.
• Take a lot of photos. Burst, or press many times, and choose the one where nobody blinked.

Getting everyone in, including you

Stand the phone on a shelf, a stack of books or a small phone tripod, at about chest height, frame the group with a gap for yourself, and set the camera timer to 10 seconds. Walk in, settle, and take several in a row.

Some phones can also be triggered from a watch or a small Bluetooth remote, so you can take many photos without running back and forth. Asking a passer-by works too: show them where to stand, and ask for a few photos, not one.

Natural photos, not only posed ones

After the group photo, keep the phone out. The photos people love later are often the in-between ones: someone laughing at the posed photo, hands passing a plate, a hug at the door. Shoot at the height of what’s happening, and get closer rather than zooming.