Family Photoshoot in Singapore

A family photoshoot at White Room Studio runs 90 minutes, in our 1927 shophouse studio at 219 River Valley Road. A fair amount of that is spent not photographing. Children need a few minutes to work out that the studio is somewhere they are allowed to run around. Adults usually need slightly longer to stop worrying about what to do with their hands.

Arrive about ten minutes early. There are two vanity rooms, one on each floor, for last-minute changes and touch-ups. Your photographer will ask what matters most to you before anything is shot, so tell us then if there is one photograph the session has to produce.

Your photographer starts with the whole family together, because that is the photograph most people came for and it is easier while everyone is still fresh. From there the session breaks into smaller groupings. Parents and children. Siblings on their own. Each child individually. If there are pets, they get their own frames too.

A family photoshoot moves between three or four settings across two floors. Level 2 is built around a textured Peranakan wall we added, set against the shophouse’s original timber flooring, and it gives warm, dark portraits. The balcony overlooking Fort Canning Park gives outdoor light without leaving the building.

Level 3 is the opposite, white wainscoted walls and high ceilings, with light through the tall original windows. The European inspired archway we built is the setting families request most.

Direction is constant but light, and nobody is asked to hold a pose. Your photographer sets up the frame, gets the light right, then gives people something to do so the expressions are real. Ask the youngest child a question. Get the grandparents talking to each other. The photographs families choose are almost never the ones where everybody was looking at the camera.

Bring whatever the children need to stay comfortable. Snacks, a favourite toy, a spare set of clothes. We send personalised outfit guidance before every session, so wardrobe is settled before the day.

You return to the studio one to two weeks later for the viewing. We show the images on a large screen in the gallery room, work through them with you, and talk about what suits your walls. No rush, no pressure. Most families take longer than they expected because they cannot narrow it down.

We do both, and families ask us to choose for them more often than anything else.

The honest answer usually comes down to the weather and the ages of the children. Singapore is hot from ten in the morning until five in the afternoon, and it rains without much warning. An outdoor family photoshoot works beautifully at seven thirty in the morning or an hour before sunset, and is hard work at any other time. Studio sessions run to your schedule regardless of what the sky is doing.

With very young children the studio usually wins. Everything is within a few steps. There is a changing room, a lounge, air conditioning, and somewhere to sit down when a toddler has had enough. With older children and teenagers, outdoor sessions often work better, because there is more to do and less standing still.

An outdoor family photoshoot in Singapore carries a $150 location fee on top of the session rate, and we photograph anywhere on the island. Each location changes the photographs completely.

The Botanic Gardens give you green and open space, and children can run. It is the location families request most often for an outdoor family photoshoot in Singapore. See a full Botanic Gardens family photoshoot.

Tiong Bahru gives you curved shophouse frontages and the shade of the five-foot ways. It works in the middle of the day, when the open locations are too bright. See a Tiong Bahru family photoshoot.

Fort Canning is a five minute walk from the studio, which makes it the easiest outdoor location to combine with a studio session on the same morning. Tree tunnels, lawns and the old gates, with shade for most of the day.

The Fullerton and the Victoria Concert Hall area give you colonial stone and formal architecture, which suits multi-generation portraits where everyone has dressed up.

The National Gallery gives you high ceilings, arches and clean lines, and much of it is under cover, so it holds up when the weather turns. A good choice when the family wants something formal without the heat. See a National Gallery family photoshoot.

The historic bridges along the river give you old ironwork against the skyline, and the walk between them means several different backdrops in one session.

Sentosa and East Coast give you sand, water and children who have stopped caring about the camera entirely. Best an hour before sunset.

Capella gives you colonial buildings, wide lawns and quiet, which suits larger family groups who want space without crowds. See a Capella family photoshoot.

Plenty of families do both. Studio for the formal multi-generation portraits and the ones going on the wall, outdoors for something more relaxed. If you cannot decide, tell us the ages of the children and what the photographs are for, and we will tell you which we would recommend. Our guide to outdoor photoshoot locations in Singapore covers the rest.

Getting three or four generations into the same room on the same morning is the hard part. Once everyone is here, the rest is our job.

We have been photographing multi-generation families in Singapore since 2009, and it is the kind of session we are asked for most around Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Christmas, big birthdays and whenever someone is visiting from overseas.

Up to forty. Our studio is 2,400 square feet across two floors of a 1927 Peranakan shophouse at 219 River Valley Road, which is what makes that number possible. Most studios in Singapore are a single room. We have the Peranakan corner, the European archway and the classic windows, so a large group is not stuck in front of one backdrop for an hour.

The studio is fully air conditioned, with seating on both floors including a lounge and our collection area, so anyone who needs to sit down between shots can. Our photographers work at the pace of the family rather than the clock.

One thing to know in advance. The studio is on Level 2 of a conserved shophouse, reached by a flight of stairs. There is no lift, so we are not wheelchair accessible. Most grandparents manage the stairs comfortably at their own pace, and our team is always at hand. If mobility is a real concern, tell us when you enquire and we will talk through the options honestly.

A multi-generation session usually has a newborn at one end and a grandparent in their eighties at the other, and the two want completely different things from the morning. We photograph the youngest and the oldest first, while everyone is fresh, then work outwards. Our photographers have done thousands of sessions with babies and toddlers and are used to waiting for the real expression rather than asking for one.

Most families want more than one photograph. The combinations we are asked for most often are the full group, then each nuclear family on its own, grandparents with all the grandchildren, the siblings together, the couples, and individual portraits of the grandparents. Tell us before the day what matters to you and we will build the running order around it, so nobody is standing about waiting.

Coordinated rather than matching is the rule. Complementary tones across the group photograph far better than everyone in identical white shirts, and they age better on a wall. We send personalised outfit guidance before every session, and there are two vanity rooms, one on each floor, for changes and touch-ups on the day.

Sessions start at $390 on weekdays and $490 on weekends and public holidays, covering up to four people. Each additional person is $20. Groups of more than twelve run for two hours rather than one and a half, so there is time to work through the groupings properly without rushing anyone.

If you would like to see how a session like this actually runs, we wrote about capturing timeless multi-generation family photos in more detail.

Family photoshoot sessions at White Room Studio start from $390 on weekdays. That covers up to four people for an hour and a half, both floors of the studio, three or four settings, professional direction throughout, and the viewing session afterwards.

Additional people are $20 each, and pets count as one. Weekend and public holiday sessions carry a $100 surcharge and book up faster, so if your family can manage a weekday it is worth asking. An outdoor session adds the $150 location fee.

What you spend beyond the session depends on what you want to take home. Retouched digital files, fine art prints, framing and hand-stitched albums are all chosen after you have seen the photographs, not before. We would rather you decide once you know which images you love than commit to a package in advance and feel locked into it.

Download the family rate card below for the full breakdown, or send us a message and we will talk it through.