– Surrey Family and Child Photographer –

I’m a family photographer in Surrey and my boys have just finished their half term. I’ve been seeing lots of pictures of wonderful family days out on my FaceBook feed which prompted me to write a blog on my top five tips for taking better photographs of your children.

Number one – bend your knees and move!

I see lots of images of fun family times all taken from a standing position looking down on the situation, which makes for a rather uninteresting view point.

Get in on the action and get down to their level, by simply changing your position and getting lower you’ll see an immediate improvement in your images.

Number two – never say the word ‘Cheese’

The moment those words pass your lips you’ll get exactly what you ask for, one of the cheesiest grins ever.

Instead of using these dreaded words, try asking them to:

• remember what they had for tea yesterday and come up with something silly like ‘Worms and mash!”
• see who can laugh the loudest
• shout a naughty word at the top of your voice
• get them moving! Try capturing them running or jumping, inevitably you’ll capture laughter.

Talk to them…Talking to them will take their mind off the camera and get them engaged with you.  Remember whatever you do to make them laugh, it’s usually just after the moment has happened that you get the gold.

If you are trying to practice with your ‘big camera’, it can be challenging to get your settings right and engage them at the same time (it’s a bit like learning to drive). So make sure you are all set up before you get them in front of the camera.

Want to take images you are really proud of but don’t have time to read the entire manual? Check out my ‘Beginners Photography Workshops’

Number three – get out of direct sunlight!

Some might think that gorgeous bright sunny days are fabulous for beautiful photographs… think again… In fact most professional photographers will feel like this when the sun is shining!

With beautiful sunny days come really strong shadows and bright very distracting highlights. That can lead to very unflattering photos.

 

On bright sunny days head for some lovely open shade (‘open shade’ means that when you look behind you there is a lot of blue sky!). The light will be much more even and you won’t get that those horrible bright spots on their faces.

Number four – remain calm

I know this can be a challenge! This shot was actually captured with me screaming my head off at the boys… Although you ‘can’ capture some wonderful expressions in circumstances like this, I’d definitely recommend staying calm and making it fun!

We all know how this one works… let’s face it our children know exactly which buttons to press! When you get your camera or phone out, keep it fun! Yes I keep saying that word don’t I!

Number five – check your background

Make sure you look at the whole scene, check you don’t have anything sticking out of their heads or perhaps you spot a lovely moment but you are surrounded by piles of washing and it looks like a bomb has gone off! Get in closer, crop out the noisy messy surroundings and focus on your child.

 

If you know how to control your aperture, you can also use this to blur out any distractions in the background.

I hope you found my five tips helpful! Above all, keep practicing!

Longing to take beautiful images of your children? Pine over gorgeous Instagram images and wish you could create them with your new camera? Then check out my beginners workshops!