5 Tips to Instantly Take Better Photos Of Your Kids
Are you a parent who is tired of trying to take photos of your children, only to be left with mostly blurry and noisy images? Maybe you’re getting a lot of hard shadows and squinty eyes? Perhaps, you just don’t even attempt to take photos anymore. That’s the worst. Taking good quality images consistently, day after day, is attainable for you with just a little bit of knowledge and practice! In this blog, I am going to walk you through 5 tips that show you how to take better pictures of your kids.
Sitting in the shade, with the bright sunlight just next to us.
Easy, But Good, Natural Light
Natural light, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is exactly what it sounds like. It is simply light that is naturally available. In its simplest form, natural light comes from the sun. And let me tell you that not all light from the sun is “good.” When the sun is high in the sky, if you try photographing your kids outside underneath it you end up with harsh shadows across their face or under their eyebrows.
A super-efficient fix is to simply position yourself so that your subject is between you and the sun. This makes the sun act as a “backlight” and leaves your subjects face in the shadows. When you expose your camera’s brightness for the face, they’ll have much more even light across their face. Do take into consideration though, this will also raise the exposure of the background and, depending on where and what time of day you are taking pictures, you may end up with a blown out, or pure white background.
Another way to get great, naturally lit images is by using ‘indirect light.’ When talking about natural light, this would essentially be light coming from the surroundings, instead of the sun itself. A simple example of this is the light coming through a big window or sliding glass door. When the sun is shining directly into the window, it’s the same as being outside in the sunlight. However, when the sun is not shining into the window, you are getting soft and diffused light because it’s indirectly coming from the sun.
Shade also works the same way. If you are under a patio cover, it protects you from the direct sun, but you are still getting soft and indirect light coming in from the sides. By staying in the shade, you are experiencing a similar light to that coming from a window.
Get Down to Their Level
When we photograph adults, we often shoot from eye level. This makes sense since other adults are generally around eye level to us. Children are much smaller though. For photos that really invite you in you must get down to their level. Kneel on the ground and photograph from their eye level. If they’re sitting down, sit down with them. There is, of course, a time and place to experiment with higher and lower angles, but more times than not the best photos are going to be taken from your children’s eye level. This is especially true for young children because they so often look down when playing, thinking or even talking. You don’t want a bunch of photos of the top of their head.
Focus On the Details
When photographing anything, I am always trying to get 3 images. I want a wide shot that includes some of the environment, I want a medium shot, and I want something very close up that is focused on some kind of detail. Think of it like a movie scene. A wide shot establishes where we are. and the medium shot gets close and tells us more about the subject. When we’re shown a close up though, it’s generally on a very important detail that the film needs us to see.
Photographing your kids is all for the memories. These close-up detail shots are what we truly don’t want to forget. We need to see them. These are the shots of your child’s fingers interacting with their favorite toy or their sandy bare feet as they take a snack break. Small and perhaps insignificant at the time, these are the images that really bring the stories and memories to life.
This means you must look closely at what’s unfolding in front of you. Point the camera away from their face for a few moments. (I know it’s hard) Really think about all the little things you want to remember and be able to look back on and take those pictures.
Let Them Be Themselves
“Sit up straight. Left arm in. Tilt your head. Smile.”
Does that sound familiar? If it does, I’m sure you would rate that quite low out of 10 for being a fun experience. Children barely want to sit still to eat, let alone take a picture. So why are so many people trying to ‘pose’ their kids in a way that they themselves wouldn’t prefer to be posed either?
When approached candidly, not only will the photos turn out better, but your children will also have fun. Let them do their thing! Laugh with them and engage with them. Make the photography a side quest while you interact with them. When you do this, you’ll begin to predict when something might happen, you’ll be prepared, and the resulting images will be so much more authentic and enjoyable to look back on because they were part of an overall fun experience.
Use Burst Mode for Action
Kids move fast. Taking one shot at a time when they are playing around simply isn’t going to yield a good result. At least, it’s not likely. Photographing a fast-moving scene like this can be thought of as buying a lottery ticket. If you buy one, it’s not likely to be a winner. But you increase your chances of winning by buying more and more tickets. I was told this analogy by a pretty famous wedding photography duo “Two Mann” years ago and it changed my mind about shooting too many images.
I always thought you weren’t a good photographer if you overshot. If you couldn’t get a keeper in one or two frames, you should probably get another job. It’s simply not true though. When you shoot a lot of images at once with intention, it’s because you know that you truly can’t get the best image in just one try.
Of course, I am not telling you to run around holding the shutter button and just hoping for the best. What I am saying is, if your child is about to through up some leaves then you shoot a bunch of images throughout the whole moment. There are so many things changing in microseconds and you want options if you are going to find that perfect shot.
Interested in Learning More?
I want you to know that not every photo is going to be a keeper. Not every time you shoot photos are you going to capture that award winning image. But, with practice you can more consistently document the memories of your family in a beautiful way. You’ll not only be left with images that you want to look back on, but images that you’ll be proud of and be happy to share with your children over the years as they grow. And you will only get better over time.
If you are interested in learning more about becoming a documentary parent and preserving those beautiful memories of your family through photography and even videography, sign up for my newsletter. This is a weekly newsletter where I share tips and stories to help you realize your potential of being an incredible memory keeper for your family. I want you to be able to beautifully document each milestone, family vacation, daily play time, first day of school and much more!
About me: My name is Nic Hilton. I am a photographer whose business focuses on weddings, but my true passion is documenting the different journey each of us follow through life. Every moment is worth capturing.