Hopefully photographing children doesn’t seem as daunting to you anymore. With a few last tips to help wrap up our series, I hope you have a great understanding of some simple ways to take amazing photos.
Use a Prop
Children have very short attention spans. If you are trying for a more portrait style photograph, and you are having trouble getting your child to sit still, try giving them a prop to hold onto. Be patient. Let them look at it, hold it, and eventually they forget it’s in their hand and you might be able to capture an award winning smile. As you can see, we held the attention of our sweet subject by giving her something to hang on to in these two photos. Her smile is natural, she’s happy and the photo’s turned out great!
Use Natural Light
Aim for natural light, which is usually the best early in the morning and late in the afternoon. This is my favorite way to get great outside photos of my kids. If you use these natural light methods, you can help eliminate shadows on faces, squinting eyes because of too much sun and other distractions from bright light. You can almost see the natural glow on their faces.
Gain a New Perspective
Try taking photographs at strange or different angles, and you might fall in love with the results. I love to stand up high on chairs and look straight down or lie down on the grass and look up. I also love standing behind two people engaged in an activity and capturing them from the back! These different angles give a whole new perspective to a normal photograph. Just have fun with it!
No matter when or how you photograph your children, day or night, inside or out, keep in mind that it should be fun and natural. You want your children to enjoy getting their photos taken and not go running from the camera each time it shows up. Spend quality time with you children and don’t stress so much about your photos, just remember to capture some of those precious moments! The memories will last a lifetime.
To see the other Photographing Children Series installments, check out my families.com blog.