Below is a blog post from a professional with excellent advice on photographing your children.
I hope you enjoy!
Dr. B
Top Tips for Photographing Your Children:
Have you ever paused when passing by a photograph in a room or an album? Did it bring back the events and emotions around the time or of the event itself? Images are a very powerful tool in helping us remember life’s events in vivid color and detail. Whenever I meet with a prospective bride, we talk about how important photography is. To illustrate how important it is I say, “When you want to show someone your wedding dress, you don’t take it out to show them. You show them your wedding images.” One of the most amazing things to me about the power of a photograph is how I often remember the smells, like the slight perfume of my father and step-mothers home.
So many people, especially moms, tell me they are terrible at taking pictures and wish they were better. Almost anyone can take decent pictures. Today, I’d love to share with you a few simple things to help you capture the wonderful to the mundane moments in your life.
The camera: we really have to start here. It isn’t necessary to own a $5,000 camera to capture your life in images. Yes, they really are this expensive for a decent pro setup! However, the old adage of you get what you pay for definitely applies to photography equipment. My mum bought our kids a $20 adult looking camera to share. We all thought it would be OK for them to use since they were two and pretty careless with valuables. It doesn’t have a memory card, only takes 5 images and they look like the ID images on the back of a Costco card. Now they just use it to run around and flash people with it. Fun, but useless in preserving memories.
There are many many reviews on cameras to fit any price range, and looking online prior to purchasing is a must do for any savvy buyer. Look for features like the best optics (highest quality glass), optical–not digital–zoom, many megapixels {optics are more important though} and the best reviews for your budget. Make sure you are capturing the best quality images your camera can produce. This is usually called the Fine .jpeg setting on most cameras.
The number one tip for anyone photographing people is to get in closer. It might be easier to sit on the porch watching your adorable children run wild in the yard under the sprinkler, but if you get out there closer to them your images will feel like so much more lifelike. Getting up higher, kneeling or even laying down to capture your kids can give you interesting and fun images too.
Visiting a church or national treasure you want to capture your family in front of? Move them close to the camera instead of close to the building or background. Don’t worry about getting their whole body as the face is the most important part making a waist up shot often the best option to capture the people and the background.
On-camera flashes are designed to work best when the subject is between 5-15 feet from the camera. Any farther away just doesn’t work. Any closer and you get the ghost like skin with no detail. There is a solution for the close up flash shots. Take a piece of tissue, a napkin or any other opaque but thin item to place over the flash. The flash will still shine through with the light diffused for a nice soft look.
Above all, have a great time when you have the camera in your hands. Don’t be worried, stressed or demanding of the kids attention. When you relax and have a good time with your camera so will your subjects {eventually}.
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Shannon White is owner of Lifelong Impressions photography. She is wife to a local police officer and mom to three children including 3 year old boy girl twins and a 3 month old boy. She has been a professional photographer for many years and loves to capture her clients personalities in images, is an advocate for families to photograph life as it happens, teaching moms to take better pictures, promotes parents to be “in” professional family images, mentoring new photographers and providing beautiful images to families with a terminally ill family member.
http://lifelongimpressions.com/ shannon@lifelongimpressions.com 919-585-6433
