One of the questions I get asked the most is how do I get so many good photos of my children, Camden and Ella. I am not a professional photographer but I am very comfortable taking photos of Camden and Ella so I thought I’d share my tips with you! I should also say that I got lucky having two kids that don’t mind having their pictures taken and I know this isn’t the same for all kids but I still thought I’d share what I’ve learned.
- Have everything figured out beforehand. If you know you want to take photos of your kids or family at a certain time or place, have everything figured out beforehand…the lighting (natural light is almost always best), the outfits (I’ll share more about this later), and who is taking the photo. I always take a few test shots prior because sometimes the lighting won’t be how you expect. You don’t want to figure this out when your kids are with you.
- Make sure everyone is happy! If your kiddos aren’t happy, the photos will probably not turn out well. Make them laugh and smile by telling jokes, saying silly things, making goofy faces, or even have a dance party.
- Hold your finger down on your camera. Camden and Ella have an attention span with photos of about 2-3 minutes tops, so I hold my finger down and let my camera take 100 photos a minute…usually at least one will turn out good! Pushing someone into taking photos when they don’t want to, isn’t going to benefit anyone.
- Coordinate Outfits! My kids are at an age where they normally don’t care what they wear and still love matching each other (I hope this lasts for a while longer). If I know we’re going to be taking photos or going on a trip, I coordinate our outfits beforehand. I always pick girl outfits first…ALWAYS because girls’ clothing just has more colors, patterns, and styles. So, once I have Ella and my outfit picked out then it’s really easy to find colors for the boys to go with our outfits.
- Teach your kids where to look/look at the lens. A photographer of ours once told my kids to look for the butterflies in her lens and if they smiled really pretty they could probably see them! This stuck with my kids and I still say “smile and look for the butterflies” and they do this 99% of the time. They think it’s fun! Half the time they argue after about who saw the butterfly first.
- Get down to their level and get closer. Backgrounds can be a distraction on your photo or your child could be blurry if too much is going on or you’re not close enough. Sit, kneel, or lay on the floor to enter their world and capture it. Make sure you are focused on them and not what’s going on around them.
- Have an editor app! Like I mentioned above, I am not a professional photographer. I have had zero training on editing photos but I do use a really easy app called Lightroom that helps me edit the lighting in photos. You can even buy Presets on here, all you do is upload the photo and click the preset and your editing is done! Easy peasy!
- Let them be little, let them be them! Capture the real, fun, and silly moments! These are often my favorite photos. I try to keep my phone close by most of the time because you never know when a special memory/good photo opportunity could happen.
It’s easy to get frustrated but try to enjoy the moment…even the crazy ones! I am thankful for all the photos I have.
Getting down to their level is a great tip! I also like the idea of holding your finger down on the camera because my young nieces and nephews move a lot and I often get blurry photos!
Glad this helped! 🙂
You have some great tips. I find making jokes and such usually gets smiles from my kids. They’re teens now, so they can be moody, but a fart joke sometimes does the trick.
Haha! Whatever makes them smile. 🙂
I can be hard to get good photos of kids. I know the struggles as I have 5 kids.
You have your hands full with 5 kids, I’m sure!
Such wonderful tips for getting amazing photos with the kiddos 😉 Such cuties you ahve and I do love the coordinating outfits 😉
Thanks so much!
I’m still working on getting my daughter to look at the camera. It’s hit or miss and then getting her to smile is another issue, lol!
That is definitely normal, haha! Try the butterfly suggestion.
I know I was supposed to get some great tips about photographing twins, but honestly, I couldn’t take my eyes away from those two cuties!
Haha! Well thank you! 🙂
Yes, let them be little. The best photos are those when they have a happy moment and feel natural.
Absolutely!
These are all really great tips! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I will keep this in mind
Glad they helped!
These photos are lovely. I must say you are such a good photographer. I hope I can apply these tips and capture better photos
Thank you!
I still struggle with taking photos with the kids. Thank you for the tips. Getting down to their level and get closer is great advice.
You’re welcome! Glad they helped!
These are great photos of your kids. Your tips are wonderful and it shows they work. Love the ones of them with their donations only lemonade stand.
Aww thank you!
I hold a bag of their favorite treat behind the camera. Kidding!! Although it might not have been a bad idea sometimes, lolol
Wow, such fabulous photos These are excellent tips and I’ll keep them in mind for sure!