For our first Photography Tip Tuesday, I decided to share some tips on something that I do quite often…Photographing Children. As a former Preschool and First Grade teacher, children are my passion, and I absolutely adore everything about capturing their little personalities, even though it can be challenging at times. There are a few things, however, that you can do to make this job a little more successful.
Here is my quick list of tips to make photographing children a little easier:
*I tried to use as many examples that I’ve taken of my own children as possible, so that you can see that I have to use the same tips (and work twice as hard) with my own kids!*
- Be Quick!
- As many moms know, children have very small attention spans. Mix that in with forcing them to do something that they don’t necessarily want to be doing, and that makes their attention span even smaller. Plan for the “photoshoot” with your children to last 10-15 minutes max, or else give them a little break and come back to it. After 10-15 minutes, they will most likely loose interest and/or get fussy (my children are more like 5-7 minutes!). With the photo shoot below, we did the entire session (two group shots, plus individuals), in less than 10 minutes…and that was pushing it.
- Get Silly 🙂
- This is pretty self-explanatory, but don’t be afraid to act completely ridiculous behind the camera. I always wish that I would have had a video camera on the parents behind me during photo sessions, because they are acting a fool to get those genuine smiles. However, it works 99.999% of the time! I use singing, jumping, toe touches (if I’m feeling especially limber), putting crazy things on my head, “falling” down, etc. to get a genuine reaction.
- Lower Your Expectations
- Kids will surprise us sometimes, but most times, we have this picture perfect idea of how photoshoots will go with our children, and they rarely meet our *my* expectations. Now, I go into photoshoots hoping to capture however they are at the moment, whether cranky, silly, sad, happy, grumpy, excited, or wild and try to not worry about the picture that I had in my head of how I hoped they would behave.
- Capture Natural Expressions
- This can definitely be easier said than done, especially if they are in that lovely “cheeeeeeese” phase. Refer to #2 on how to get these natural expressions, and to, hopefully, combat the “cheese“. Sometimes, I’ll tell kids to say “stinky feet” or something else silly, and they usually laugh because it’s unexpected. Often times, especially with toddlers (12-24 months), they don’t love sitting still for pictures, so I’ll just follow them around and snap shots as they play for the most genuine expressions.
- Give them Something to Do
- A trick that I, and many other photographers, use to get kids to stand still for a minute is to give them something to do, typically with their hands. I’ll have boys put their hands in their pockets, and they usually love it, not to mention, they look adorable at the same time. I’ll also find a flower or leaf (or a small toy in the studio) for the kids or babies to hold, which makes for a few sweet shots as well.
- Bribes
- What kid doesn’t love a good bribe?!? Make sure they are at the age where they “get it” though. Typically, I start using bribes around 2.5 years old, otherwise, they don’t understand cause/effect and will want whatever is offered riiiiiiight now (which can end in a giant fit–not that I know from experience though…). I bring a treasure box to all of my sessions with children of this age group, but for my own kids, the promise of a trip to the ice cream store post session works wonders! Find out what works for your kids 🙂
- Get Creative with Angles
- One of the best things about photographing children is you don’t have to worry about only sticking to flattering camera angles. This leads to the ability to get a little more creative with the direction that you are shooting. Try shooting from above, from the side, or even from below looking up at the child. One of my favorites is shooting from above and having them look up at my camera to capture their big, sweet eyes.
- Get on their level
- If you aren’t going for a different or creative shot, make sure you get on the child’s level so that you aren’t shooting the tops of their heads. I spend most of my sessions squatting or kneeling so that my camera is eye-level with them. Typically, I also get completely on the ground for at least a few shots to get details of their little feet or for an even lower view point.
- Fill the Frame
- There are so many ways to compose a photograph, but I love to fill the frame with the child when photographing little ones. Unless I’m photographing my own children, clients are paying me to capture their child. This means that they want me to create a way to stop time and remember their babies the way that they are now, and filling the frame with their adorable little faces helps achieve that.
- Don’t forget the details!
- Like I mentioned before, make sure you capture the little details. It’s the little things such as their little curls or chubby fingers/toes that I want to remember as a mom. I always make a point to get a few detail shots with each session (as the kids allow) to capture these precious features that disappear all too soon.
Photographing children is challenging, but so rewarding. Capturing these sweet little individuals is my favorite part of this awesome job. If you have a photography tip that you’d like me to cover in this blog series, shoot me an email at kbgphotography@hotmail.com, and I’ll feature it!
KariBeth, owner and photographer of KBG Photography, is a proud member of NAPCP (National Association of Professional Child Photographers) and is based out of the Northwest Atlanta, Georgia area. KBG Photography primarily serves, but is not limited to the following cities: Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Vinings, Roswell, and Atlanta.
