Find The Moment
The first of the three tips to take better photos of your kids is simply this. Don’t make them stop what they are doing to look at the camera. If you make a habit of documenting life as it happens, you will give yourself a meaningful collection of memories. And memories are all that we get to take with us on the journey of parenthood/childhood.
I say listen to your heart. For sure, it well tell you when a moment should be frozen for prosperity. So don’t concern yourself with getting the kids to look your way but instead use the next two tips to capture the moment in a quality photo. Here are a few examples to show you what I mean by capturing the moment. And here is an example of this in a portrait session.
Find the Light
Photography literally means “drawing with light’ deriving from the Greek photo = light and graph = draw. So the importance of light in a photograph can not be over stated. I would say, the first and most basic tip in this category is to make sure the light is even. Rule of thumb is you don’t want dappled or uneven light on your subjects. It’s distracting. What you can do is move around your subject until you see that they are in even light before you take the photos. This will usually mean putting the light source completely in front of your subject or in back of your subject.
Point of View
Lastly, to take better photos of your kids is to change the point of view. This means, don’t just stand where you are and take the photo. Instead, get down to the kids level. See where the action is and put yourself there. You will find that this gives the photos a more intimate feel. You can also shoot from below or above in a purposeful way to add to the story of the photos. For example, shooting from below might make the kids feel larger than life and shooting from above might emphasize how little they are.
Next time you have your camera handy, keep these tips in mind and practice practice practice. Soon you will see a real improvement in your memory photo quality. I’d love to know how these tips work for you so reach out and let me know.