Tips for taking better pictures of your own children.
Here are some tricks I use for taking pictures children. Use these to help take better pictures of your own! Yes, even you can be a great child photographer. The number one thing with photography is lighting. Watch the light and see how it changes, both inside your house and outside your house. Light is the most important factor in taking a great picture. The soft light you get right at sunrise and right before sunset (often called the golden hour) is perfect.
Lighting.
If your not able to get out and shoot at those times of day then look for open shade. Open shade will be areas of light that are evenly shadowed. Try to stay away from speckled light (the light that comes through trees). You will notice this light leaves blotches of dark and light spots on your subject. Finding a place that has a solid shadowed area is your best bet. You will want to notice the time of day and where the light is placed in the sky. It can be hard to shoot pictures in the bright sun. You will find that either your camera is catching lens flare or your subject is squinting because the sun is hitting their eyes. If you find you have no other choice but to shoot in full sun, then try to have the sun over your left or right shoulder. Finding the light can be one of the biggest challenges with photography.
Location.
Always look at where you are shooting and what is behind your subject. Make sure there is nothing distracting, no trash cans, people walking or bright spots behind them. Try to keep a clear background if possible. Just be patient and look around, you will be amazed at what you see when you start looking for those empty spaces. If your at a park and just taking snapshots then these things don’t matter as much. I try to not have vertical lines running through the head. Also I try not to chop off limbs such as fingers, feet, or any joints. I do think its okay to do a chop mid thigh or just above the elbow. Remember these are just little details to help your shot look better.
Interaction.
All too often we get caught up with “say cheese” or “smile”, “look here”, “look at the camera”. We end up getting frustrated and before you know it, it’s a flop and you are just ready to throw your camera down and give up. Think about what your child loves, little boys love sticks, acorns, rocks, dirt, so take them to those places or give them a stick. Ask them to look at it to feel it to tell you how it feels. You will get those expressions of curiosity, natural, lovely images. Let your child be who they are, sit back and snap away. I promise you will get some great images and will be sure to smile when you see their personalities shining through. Let little girls dance, smell flowers, some of my best images are of children not even realizing your taking pictures.
Now when your ready for them to look at you and smile.. and give a genuine smile do not say “smile properly”. I want you to think about this, smile properly… I will stop in a session sometimes and tell a parent to give me a real smile. They stop and look scared and then look at me like I am crazy. A real smile, come on show me! And they can’t. Yet we as parents say “a real smile” and expect our children to magically pop out a real smile. It doesn’t work, never has, never will. So ways to get around that, lets think for a minute. My favorite by far is saying “don’t do it.. don’t smile, I do not want you to smile so don’t”. I assure you they will smile, and even laugh, children have a warped sense of humor! They love being mischievous, it’s reverse psychology. Make a toot sound, blame them.. “did you toot”.. “eiwww stinky bum”.. they will laugh. Another great one is getting low to the ground, shoot from different angles – up high, down low. when you are low, pretend to fall on your bum! Say OUCH!! Watch them laugh (I told you they have warped senses of humor). They will laugh. So many fun little tricks.
If you have siblings, have them chase each other, have them nose kiss! Make them hug.. Tell them its a staring contest. See who breaks into laughter first. Tell them to tickle each other and capture those moments of pure joy and laughter. The best advice is to keep it fun. Don’t lose your temper, let them be children. Let them pull silly faces, cover their faces.. whatever it takes just let them do it. And you sit back, snap away and when you upload and look back you will see you captures some amazing shots that represent your child’s personality perfectly!
Nicola Lane Photography is a Raleigh newborn photographer located in Raleigh, North Carolina. At Nicola Lane you will find fine art newborn photography, maternity photography, child photographs, baby photography, and family portraits, covering the Raleigh, Durham, Cary and the surrounding areas.