My co-workers have long been after me to do family portraits for them, and I finally caved under pressure from them in cooperation with my (sweet and patient) wife who I think wants me to come up with a way to pay for all this gear. I agreed to do some for an under-priviledged family who could not afford to get them otherwise, and it has begun to mushroom. Now several people want me to do them, and I really want to do a good job for them. Everybody deserves good photos of their family.

I have never done these before.

Please if anybody has done them, I need advice - what shots to get, what pitfalls to avoid in lighting, how to ensure that I don't miss any important poses, how to deal with children who may not want to be photographed, how to charge people for the labor, what kinds of photographic paper to print on, lense filters, white balance settings ... I am ignorant, and want these people to tell their friends what a good job I did. I know I'm posing. I just don't want them to know ;-)