Taking pictures of your wiggling, fast, adorable, crazy munchkins can be a really big task! Today I am sharing five tips on how to take better photos of your KIDS in action or for posed shots! 

Now, God willing Ev and I will have children someday, but for now I resort to taking pictures of my very sweet and adorable honorary niece Jaselynn. Here we go!

 

1. Get on their level: This tip is an oldie but a goodie! This allows them to look up at you casually & engage with the camera. Your window of opportunity is pretty slim when it comes to kids at a young age. If you can catch them doing something adorable, kneel down/lay down to their level. Start by asking them questions about what they are doing, this will get them warmed up before you actually start taking photos. They will naturally look up at you and the camera, and get more comfortable. Once you do this, your window of opportunity is there! Once you’ve engaged them say something like, “Jasey, say cheese!” Boom – pure adorableness!

2. Clear your background: It just took me a few seconds to clear the couch of unwanted distracting items. Instantly it took our photo from kind of messy to a better photo of Jaselynn. Your kids will play wherever, you know that, so setting them up to play in ideal lighting and with a non-distracting backdrop will help you create better photos! Compare these two photos, which one is more appealing?

 

3.  Be positive with your words: Kids are always learning and growing and they respond really easily to the way you speak to them. When trying to get them to do a specific action, such as sit on rock, encourage them immensely to do that action. “Jasey you are the best at sitting! Can you show Auntie Mary how you sit on the deck like a big girl?” She sits. “WOW! Look at you big girl!! You are so amazing!” They will most likely do what you ask & smile really big when you tell them how good they are doing!

4. Give ‘um the finger:  No, silly not that finger!! These are kids for gosh sake! 😉 When I am shooting large groups of people, let’s say a bridal party, and there are little kids who aren’t necessarily paying attention to the camera I give ‘um the fingers! I put my non-shooting hand right above my camera lens and say, “Jasey & Jimmy, are my fingers waving at you?!” Those kids will immediately look up at the camera! Just be careful not to overuse it because you know kids, they will start giving you the finger back 😉

5. The biggest tip I have here is to BE PATIENT! This is especially important if you have kids under the age of six. It takes a lot of energy to capture those high intensity little bodies! Be patient and don’t force them into anything. Be okay with just capturing the moment as it happens and not so much on getting the “perfect” picture. Ten years down the road you are going to love that picture of your oldest scooping dirt into his sister’s pail, wild hair, dirty faces and all more than you would love a image you forced them into posed. 

So take photos often, your picture perfect moments are already happening around you! They won’t be little forever.

 

Big hugs!

XO,

Mary

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