3 Tips on how to take better photos of your kids.
Hi. I’m Michael Iorio and I am a teen & children photographer in South Jersey. I wanted to write a little article on how you can take better everyday photos of your kids at home. I am a parent myself to a teenager. I can remember when my daughter was younger before my professional photography days, taken photos of her with a point and shoot camera. I look through these photos today and I wish I had known more than I know today. Maybe I would have gotten some better photos.
Today it is easier than ever to capture photos of our kids with the evolution of the cell phone camera. Some phones today do a great job of mimicking some of the features of a dslr. My I-phone for instance has a portrait feature that blurs the background out creating a, well a portrait like image. However, there are still things you can do when taking pictures with your camera phones or even your own dslr’s to improve the quality of your photos. Below I have listed a few of these things for you try at your own leisure.
1. Lighting is the key to great photos.
I’m sure even if you are not a photography enthusiest, you’ve heard the saying. Photographers use light. This was something that took me a while to learn. Our eyes are much more advanced then cameras. Cameras need more light then we do to properly see what we can see. However, all light is not the same. Bad lighting can ruin a great photo opportunity. What we are looking for is soft light. An overcast day is excellent for providing soft light as the clouds diffuse the the direct sun light. But there are other ways you can find soft light if the sun is out.
Have your kids stand under an awning, or under a tree right at the edge of the shadow of the tree. We don’t want to put our kids in direct sunlight. Aside from the light being too harsh, you’ll find their eyes squinting in the photos trying to block out the bright sunlight.
2. Composition
Composition is an important factor when trying to take better photos of your kids. Your probably saying, my kids wont sit still for photos though. I feel your pain. When trying to take photos of young kids, there is no denying, it’s hard to take a good photo because they don’t want to sit still. If you have more than one kid, then you really have your work cut out. Unless your proficient in photoshop and can start face swapping images to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. But were going to keep this article for everyone.
So what can you do ? Change up your angles, stand over them and take photos of them looking up for an interesting look. Lay on the ground and take photos of them standing over you. Get creative ! Make it fun for them to try and keep their attention. Have them make different faces. Take a lot of photos. One of the great things about digital is you can just delete the bad ones.
3. Make it fun for them !
We touched a little on this before, but kids attention spans only last for so long. From my experince, kids like to have their photos taken, until they don’t. Typically you do not have an infinite amount of time to take photos of your kids. So make it fun. One thing I do is I keep props around. Glasses, flowers, feathers, fake butterflies. Let your kids play while your photographing them. Mix things up to keep them interested. You’re never going to take 100 pictures of your children sitting still looking and smiling for the camera in one sitting. I would suggest starting with still photos, and when their attention starts to go off, try something different. Give them a pair of sunglasses to wear that are too big for them. Have them make funny faces. Show them the photos as your taking them. I think you’ll find that you will have grabbed their attention again. Then just go with it.
Final thoughts
I think these 3 things should get you off to a good start in taking better photos of your own kids. Before writing this article I researched what other photographers were saying on this subject and I found a lot of contradicting topics. So I wanted to keep this simple, and these are really the basics when trying to take good photos. Of course, this will not replace the work of a professional photographer. But it will help you in capturing some everyday pictures of your little ones in between your sessions with your family photographer.
If you have enjoyed this article and found it helpful, please check out my work at Miorioportraits.com and subscribe to receive more articles like this one in the future. You can also visit me on Instagram @mviorio or on Facebook at Michaelioriophoto