How to Take Better Photos of Your Kids
Updated: Feb 22, 2022
Whether you are an advanced shooter with a DSLR camera, or you love taking photos with your phone, we all want to capture great images of the growing children in our lives. Here's some of our top tips for taking better photos of the little ones, guaranteed to improve your images straight away!
TIP ONE
Get down to their level!
Do not hesitate to enter their little world by getting closer to them, and to the ground! The perspective will look better and the interaction you'll experience will be a lot more genuine. Just take a look through some of these photographs taken during our family sessions and ask yourself - “would this photo had been the same if we were looming over and pointing the camera down on them?"
TIP TWO
Shower with praise and watch them bloom...
Interacting with your kids is the best way to get some smiles and emotions. But how can you make it real? The answer - praise. And lots of it!
“Wow you should be a model!” Is our sure-fire line to squeeze out any reluctant sparkle.
Praise their smile, praise their outfit, praise their glasses, or even their teddy bear!Praise whatever you can think of to spark an emotion within. And you'll be rewarded with some genuine expressions of pride!
To keep up the level of fun, you can also use a third party to prompt some serious laughter. Think brother, sister, mum or dad... whoever's around and willing to be on the end of some lighthearted jesting! Ask things like “Who’s the craziest?” Or “What’s the silliest thing that X did?”.
Alternatively, doing a crazy dance behind camera is our foolproof way to capture those real reactions!
TIP THREE
Shoot in the shade
We all love a bit of sun, especially here in Scotland! But it isn’t always the best for photography, especially taking pictures of people.
Why? Here's a little bit of theory: The smaller the light source, the harder the shadows on the face of your subject will be. Harsh sunlight beams from a tiny point in sky. This can be great for your fashion shoots, but not the most flattering for portraits.
Sunrise and sunset are known to be the best times for taking photos, and that's very true. But sometimes that perfect set up, cute or unexpected moment we just HAVE to capture simply won't happen under perfect weather conditions! So if you are taking photos in the middle of the day try and find some shade before you shoot.
And if you really can’t escape the sun, be sure to have it in the back of your subject. This will avoid strong shadows or squinty eyes, and will even create a beautiful rim light - perfect for your little angel!
TIP FOUR
Edit your photos!
This extra step can make people feel uneasy as editing or retouching is often associated with magazine covers that twist reality to make people look 'better' and unrealistic. But when we say Edit here, we’re only talking about enhancing colours and light to make sure that the image is showcasing your little one as radiantly as possible!
There is not really a right or wrong with editing. It's about your creativity and your eye. But here’s a few tips that could help...
Taking photos on your phone? The camera software in your phone is good enough to edit your images!
Below a before and after of a computer edited photo, improved and enhanced on an iPhone.
We added a bit of brilliance, shadows, contrast, brightness, vibrance and we tweaked the white balance (temperature of the light) to make it a wee bit warmer.
The result = Our adorable mum and baby image pops out even more and the photo has a happier vibe.
If you want to take the editing a bit further we would recommend using Lightroom mobile, a free app, where you can create your own presets and have more creative options.
Pro-tip
Use the curve in the “light” tab, place three points at the intersections of the lines (see below) and create an 'S' shape by sliding the points up and down.
This will increase the contrast but also give a “faded” look to the image, which we love!
If you are a more experience shooter and are using a camera we recommend using Lightroom for computers (we aren’t sponsored by Adobe, it is genuinely what we use in our everyday job!) and shoot your images in RAW. But this is getting technical, a quick search on Youtube will tell you all about this, if you're interested!
TIP FIVE
Hire a photographer!
Okay, a cheeky addition to the post. But if you would love to have professional images of and with your children, then we recommend hiring a photographer (or two!).
Our family sessions are a relaxed, stress-free and most importantly - fun - way to enjoy the process. We would recommend doing this once a year to keep track of those little faces growing up (fast!). It could even be a yearly tradition to have your family photoshoot on the same date, or even try shooting in different seasons to have a range of colours on your walls and photo albums.
Hiring a professional will ensure high quality images that you will want to print and send out to the rest of your loved-ones. A photoshoot session also makes a great gift, and what could be better than offering beautiful memories and a fun outing to the whole family!
What’s special about our family sessions?
We work together as a team, so you’re actually hiring two photographers. That's twice the chance to capture sweet moments with a great dynamic - we often get feedback that the session felt more like an outing with friends than a scary photoshoot.
Short, sweet, effective. Dads will love us! 30-45 minutes and you’re done. No stress and no worries about keeping the kids happy for hours.
Get in touch to receive our price brochure and book your family photoshoot session with us.
