Hey, thanks for popping by. I hope that you are safe and well, staying home and not going stir crazy during this lock down Covid 19 period where the most overused word of 2020 has been ‘unprecedented’!
Whatever your circumstances are you will be reading this because you want to take better pictures of your children and want to capture all those funny, loveable and emotional moments that are happening all around you 24/7. So here are my top tips for getting better pictures of your younger loved ones, many of which can be used for the bigger humans in your family too..
1. Connections
Many people think that a good photo has to be the subject looking at the camera with a big smile on their face. Wrong! The best family photos ALWAYS show emotion and a connection, whether that’s with you, someone else or something else. If a photo can take you back to a place in time and more importantly the feeling you had when you took it then it’s a winner.
If you want a natural smiley photo then you have to create a situation that makes them laugh… things that have worked for me are singing their favourite songs with the wrong words, making up silly games and when it comes to my 5 year old anything about poo makes him giggle! The WORST thing you can do is ask them to say ‘cheese’ because they will just look like they are constipated!
Your children will always remember how you made them feel and you will only get the emotive images you want by creating an environment where they feel secure. Your images will be beautiful when your children are feeling happy and loved. It’s not about shooting the perfect picture but about capturing beautiful moments… and that includes the moments where your child is wearing the t-shirt you dislike or hasn’t cleaned their nails, where their hair is out of place and their hands are dirty.. because this is your child and this is their reality. THAT is beautiful. THAT is them.
Don’t underestimate the power of ‘non smiley looking at the camera photos’… think paparazzi style, capturing them as they are in their moment, playing, sleeping or even transfixed to the TV… once you realise that the children don’t have to be looking at you you will be able to put your energies into thinking about how to compose the photo and that’s when you will get better images
2. Action
Your children will only be this age at this time. They will have so much personality, humour and passions that are really important to capture. If they insist on carrying around a dirty old teddy then keep it in the photo because this is THEIR story and by taking photographs you are making sure it is told. They love football then document this; first time cooking - snap away etc... Just keep on taking photos and capture it all…
3. Quality not Quantity
I bet you have thousands of images on your phone, many taken at the same time and almost looking identical, some blurry and some that maybe you don’t even like that much. Out of a 100 images there may only be a handful that you love, would put on your wall and want to share over and over again. But we keep them because they are of our children and when we keep so many images in one place it becomes habit to continue taking pictures in the same way we always did. I treat my family phone snaps like my professional ones and I always do a cull… I delete anything that’s blurry, with closed eyes, weird expressions that I don’t like and anything that bores me because its a duplicate. Then I go through and only edit / share the ones that my eyes keep going back to.. it could be one that makes me laugh, or I like the angle, or maybe the shadows interest me. But I don’t edit them all.
If you can’t bare to delete them, put them in a folder so you can return to them at a later date, but move them so that you only have images you really love left on your device. In fact you should be moving them off your phone regularly anyway incase it crashes and you lose the lot… can you imagine losing all those memories.. that would be awful… so go and back them up now!
4. Focus
I see so many blurry pictures on social media, images that have all the emotion but you can barely see them because they aren’t in focus. Phones and everyday camera will automatically decide where the focus should be and if there’s a lot of background stuff in your photo, the focus could be miscalculated. With the new features like portrait mode on phones it’s getting so much easier, but if you don’t have this you can tap your smart phone on the subject you want in focus. Don’t leave it up to the phone to decide.
Your pictures could also be blurry because your children are fast.. on a camera and some phones you can play with shutter speed, but as this isn’t a photography lesson I’m not going to go into that, all I will say is that when I’m taking images of fast moving children on my DSLR my shutter speed minimum is 1/350. In bright conditions it will be much faster. However if you don’t have the means to control your shutter speed don’t worry.. try to gain focus on an object where you know the child will be next to and wait until they get there, then snap on burst because one of them is bound to be in focus. My own phone is rubbish for this so I always manipulate a situation where my 5 year old stays in one spot.. like colouring or playing a game, something that keeps his attention for a minute or 2.
5. Light
Have you ever taken a photo and it’s really grey and grainy? This is because there’s not enough light and your image is underexposed. Have you ever taken a photo where it’s super bright? This is where there’s too much light and it’s over exposed. Getting the right light is key to taking a good photo. If you are using a phone you can tap on the screen on any area to change the exposure. Top tip… always shoot for the highlights.. so tap on the brightest part of the image and you won’t get a photo that comes out white. It’s easier to bring back the shadows in editing than the highlights.
Shadows and highlights are good and can give a photo more depth. Don’t be scared of high contrasty shadows, they can make wonderful images, especially black and white ones.
Harsh light (lunch time sun) can be unflattering, cause harsh shadows under the eyes etc. Soft light is early morning and at dusk (golden hour) where the sun is setting and there is a lovely warm glow. Softer light is more flattering but you can play around with both. Many younger children will be in bed at golden hour so you have to work with what you have. I find shooting into the light (sun is behind your subject) helps and it creates a rim of light around my son which looks really good. If I don’t want a high contrast image I might find a shady spot and make the activities happen there.
Not all the moments you want to capture will be in good light as many will be things that happen spontaneously, it doesn’t matter, snap them anyway. Moments beat technical skill for personal pics but when you’ve got both nailed…. boom! You may be able to edit to a way that you like anyway.
6. Planning
Yes I know I said we should be capturing moments so this may seem a bit contradictory. However I plan many of my personal family shots. Basically I create a situation where I can shoot freely and know I’ll have the best outcomes.. so for example last week Mark bought some water pistols and I knew I wanted to capture moments with them. I dressed my 5 year old in my favourite colour and made sure he was shooting from the prettiest layer in our tiered garden. It was a bright day so I made sure my husband was shooting at 45% from the sun and as he did my 5 year old would follow. I shot low down so that I could get rid of all the garden crap from the shot and tried different angles. At no point was I just pressing the button… at every stage I was thinking about what was going to be captured in my frame. At one point the slide was there so I walked up and just moved it out of the way.
So when I say plan I mean... STOP and THINK about what you want to capture, how you want to capture it, get rid of anything in the scene that you don’t want or will distract from your main subject and do all this BEFORE you take your first photo. Then take a test shot to check for the light, that the exposure is right. When you’ve got this you can wait for or manipulate your child into being in the right spot, having fun so they won’t even know its a mini shoot and voila, lush pictures.
7. Composition
This is where you place people and key visuals in your frame. Many shoot straight forward with their subject in the middle of the picture. This is fine but I would like to encourage you to mix it up. Try placing your subject to the right or left of the frame, especially if they are looking towards the direction of space (negative space). Look for triangles of objects. Look at lines that lead up to the subject (leading lines) and think about how your subject is framed. Google ‘composition rules’ and experiment.. work with what you like but keep pushing your boundaries.
8. Some practical tips
Shoot at their level or from above. Try to avoid shooting a child up the nose. This is especially true for newborns.. it’s very unflattering and you will miss focus on the eyes.
Focus on the eye that’s closest to you.
Shoot different angles… straight on is ok but try capturing your children from the side or from above. Side pictures will have great shadows and everyone loves a side profile.
Get close.. with your legs if you are using phone. Phone and compact camera zooms are rubbish.. don’t use them and instead use your feet.. it’s surprising what different feelings you can get from an image from just changing how far away you are.
Shoot through things.. a sibling’s legs, a bunch of flowers, a glass, a window.. create interest and the feeling of paparazzi by shooting this way. You will get natural images and a true documentary feel.
Engage in activities with them and shoot as they respond to you, make it fun
Let them take pictures of you too. Dan took the picture of Mark and I below.
If your picture is flat with no contrast or punch try converting it to black and white and play with the contrast, shadow and highlight sliders on your phone editing software.
Tidy up the environment if you want clean looking pictures
Have fun and try lots of new things but stay focussed.
And for newborns who can’t have a newborn shoot
Don’t shoot up from their nose.. instead shoot down the nose for a flattering peaceful look.
Keep it simple and safe. DON’T try any poses that you’ve seen on pinterest or websites. A professional photographer may still be able to get these for you when lock down is over. Keep to baby lying down on her back or being held. Supported at all times.
Avoid large headbands.. they will distract from baby’s face.
Swaddle your baby to get a lovely oval shape.
Keep to blankets, rompas and vests. Newborn outfits are cute but they don’t photograph very well because most don’t fit properly.
Take a side profile shot and shoot into the light… use a window next to a bed. This will look lush in black and white.
Ask your other half to take a photo of you holding and looking at the baby in a side profile as you stand in front of a sunny window. This will also be lovely in black and white.
If you have a 3 plus month year old try tummy time pictures on the bed.
Here are some of my favourite lockdown pictures I’ve taken
