‘How do I photograph my own kids?’

Easily the most frequently asked question I encounter!!  So of course it HAD to be the topic of one of my first blog posts.  Heck, the whole reason I got started in photography was because I wanted to capture all of those little moments in ‘Little Man’s’ life…so off I went and got my big fancy camera and set off on this crazy journey that turned into a passion and a business (but that’s a whole OTHER blog post)

I firmly believe that developing a healthy relationship between the camera and your child is crucial. Pushing them to tears just to get the shot you want can be counterproductive and will set an unhappy precedent for future photo opportunities. As a parent, I know how challenging it can be. So I have put together just a few key tips to consider when photographing children.  I could probably go on and on but I’ve tried my best to narrow it down into 8 easy steps that have worked for me with my own kiddo and plenty of other people’s little ones.

Tip #1 – Get Down at Their Level

The first step that you can take that will immediately improve your child candid portraits is to get down at their level.  Whether outdoors or inside, your best chance at capturing an engaging child candid portrait will definitely involve crawling around a bit.

When you take photos of children looking down on them from above, two things happen:

1. Their heads look much larger than the rest of their bodies (due to perspective)

2. They look much smaller than they really are

When I take photos of my two year-old son (or any small child for that matter) I am always kneeling and sometimes I’m even lying down.  Your goal is to keep the camera level with their eyes.

This ensures that their bodies appear correctly proportioned and improves your chances of getting a photo where they’re looking right at you (since it’s a lot harder for them to look at you if you’re WAY above them).

Tip #2 – Shade is your friend!

There seems to be a misconception that a bright sunny day is the best situation for taking photos – on the contrary, I WELCOME a cloudy and overcast day – and if I am not lucky enough to get one of those (which happens frequently here in gorgeous sunny Southern CA), I hunt down some shade!!

Direct sunlight results in too much contrast for your camera to capture accurately. The end result is VERY dark shadows, which obscure parts of the child’s face, especially if he enjoys wearing hats or tightly squinted eyes from the glare.

There are two types of light that are significantly better for child portraits: shade and overcast.  Muted light is much more even and balanced, and the reduced range of contrast makes it easier for your camera to capture details from shadow to highlight.

Also, if your camera has the capabilities, look for a ‘shade’ setting, which will help the photographs look less ‘cool blue’ in color.

Tip #3 – Take WAY too many photos!

The time that I’ve spent taking child candid portraits has taught me one thing for certain: facial expression is the KEY.  You can compare two virtually identical child portraits side-by-side where everything is the same except the child’s expression. One will be a keeper, and the other will be a dud.  The mere tilt of a head, smile, or position of the arms and body is what’s going to make or break your child candid portrait.

How do you get more keepers than duds? Take WAY too many photos.  That’s the beauty of having a digital camera – so snap away!  Once you have a kid who’s entertained and you find one of those special moments when the light’s just right, keep snapping away.  If you’re able to, set your camera to ‘burst mode’ or ‘rapid fire’ and take several photos in rapid succession when you might otherwise only take one.

Yes, you’ll have to do a lot of weeding through everything after the fact, but it’s well worth it when you find that you’ve captured a priceless expression that is there in one shot and gone in the next.

Tip #4 – Don’t stop!

This tip is related to the previous one: once you get into the groove, don’t drop the viewfinder from your eye and don’t remove your finger from the shutter release button.

The reason is simple: since you’re not deliberately posing your subjects, you never know when they’re going to strike a pose.  I have missed many a ‘perfect’ moment or expression because I paused to do something else…and no matter how fast you are, inevitably, you’re just a second too late.  Also, once a child strikes a pose that you really love, chances are that they won’t be able to do it again, no matter how much you coax them (and then it’s not a candid portrait anymore, right?).

The best thing to do then is to be prepared: the moment the child settles into a position that you really like, snap 10 photos.  When you constantly have the camera up to your eye and your finger poised on the shutter release, there’s no chance that you’ll miss one of these fleeting moments.  These two photos were taken seconds apart – I ALMOST put the camera down because Little Man was just looking at me like ‘what mom?’ but then he ran toward me giggling – and snap!  A favorite Easter photo of mine

Tip #5 – Use Props

There is one certainty when it comes to child candid portraits: your subjects have limited attention spans.

Whether it’s puzzles to put together, balls to bounce on or crayons to draw with, kids will sit still longer when they’re occupied. Give them something to do that they enjoy. Have them glance up every once in a while; ask them to show you what they are doing.

I typically don’t recommend giving food to entertain them (although this is often times your first instinct) because then 99% of your shots are with their hands in their mouths – which is one of my big pet peeves for photos – you don’t get to see all of that beautiful face!

There’s a side benefit to this approach: when the kid’s attention is engaged in something else they completely forget that you’re there taking pictures.  End result: more relaxed and natural-looking portraits.  These two gave me a run for my money!!  Both of them were running (in two different directions) for the majority of BOTH of our sessions, but right at the end, we pulled out the tea set, and caught two sisters just interacting – some of my favorite kinds of shots!

Tip #6 – Smile!

Children want to make faces and goof off for the camera all the time. Let them! Let them enjoy getting their picture taken. Then suggest to them that they can have more of their “goofy face” time after you have taken just a few of them with a nice smile. Encourage them to think of something that makes them extremely happy. They may need a minute. Ask them to tell you about it and then ask them to smile, if they’re not already smiling. Hold the shutter down and photograph these moments. Their faces will be filled with natural expression because you have just brought to the surface their own inner joy.

Tip #7 – Don’t wait for perfection

I always caution against waiting until everything is perfect to take the shot. While you might want an occasional posed portrait to mark the changes in your family, candid shots – and even those posed photos with one child making a face or crawling out of the frame – tell your family’s true story.   Make the “right moment” come to you. Capturing moments and personalities doesn’t mean carrying a camera at all times and waiting until the perfect moment to snap a photo. Instead, think about the story you’d like to tell. My Little Man is the MASTER of odd faces – stuff I’ve never even seen before until all of the sudden he pulls it out for the camera…it makes me laugh so hard – I think some day I’ll have to put them all together in one big collection…maybe for his wedding?  ha ha!  I used to cringe and say ‘darn it – wish he would just smile!’ but now, I love it…I embrace it, and each and every photo makes me laugh hysterically!

AND….want to know a deep dark secret of mine?  I sort of LOVE the crying shots…there’s just something about catching that silly temper tantrum or freak out that makes me giggle (yes I’m a totally mean mommy) but think how AWESOME it will be to pull these out when his first date shows up

Extra Tips for DSLR users

** If your camera is a DSLR and you have the capability to change settings such as shutter speed (and you know what that means), and switch out lenses – here are a few extra tips:

1. HIGH SHUTTER SPEED – Unless you want all of your child candid portraits to turn out blurry, you’re going to have to use a fast shutter speed.  While you can get them to sit still for a posed “formal” portrait, many children wind up looking VERY stiff in these circumstances. They know that you’re taking a picture of them and either don’t smile very much or produce one of those forced “I’m smiling because you told me to” looks.

Since what we’re talking about here is candid portraits, you won’t be asking the kids to pose and you won’t ask them to stop doing whatever is keeping them occupied.  Once a child is in motion, only shutter speeds faster than 1/125th of a second are going to produce clear photos.  If you can’t get a shutter speed this fast (due to dim lighting) then you have to wait for the action to peak.  For example, if you’re taking photos of a child in a swing, take your shots right at the peak of the swing (when the motion stops) rather than in the middle of the swing (when the kid’s going full speed).

2. USE STANDARD LENSES -  A good portrait lens is neither wide-angle nor telephoto, but somewhere right in the middle.  Wide angle lenses (11 to 28mm) distort facial features, and make noses appear much more prominent than they really are.  Telephoto lenses (200mm or more) tend to flatten everything, resulting in a portrait that is less three-dimensional.

This means that the type of lens you want to use for child portraits is right in the middle of this range: anywhere between 50mm and 100mm is ideal.  These so-called “standard” lenses will yield the most natural-looking results and will capture the children as your eyes see them.  I use my 50mm 90% of the time when hanging out with my kiddo.

Hopefully I haven’t completely overwhelmed you with WAY too much information – hopefully I have inspired you and empowered you to get out and try to get some great shots of your little loved ones – and even if they aren’t perfect, they’ll capture a moment that you’ll cherish.  There’s just something about a photo of your own child, doesn’t matter if the focus is a little off, or it’s dark and underexposed (which I end up with PLENTY of the time when shooting my Little Man) – you’ve captured a little moment in time, and a glimpse at their personality that you’ll cherish forever.

Have fun shooting!