Photography tips for kids - getting started to take lovely photos for your baby

Photography

2021/03/14

There is no doubt that any parents want to record their children's everyday lovely moments. However, shooting for little angels by your own has never been simple. The below article will share some useful photography tips for kids that help you to take great daily pictures without having to go to the studio. 

Make a thorough preparation

Preparation is always one of the most crucial steps deciding whether a photo session is successful or not, especially when it comes to children. In your plan for a photo session, have an in-depth discussion with your babies in advance. Ask them if there were any particular activities that they are interested in, or where they want to come. You should base on those preferences to make a suitable decision on the time, location and concept of the photo session. Moreover, you’d better have some photographic prop ready so that the children won’t be bored and fuzzy.

Your baby loves animals, for instance, then take them to the zoo, allow them to play with domestic pets or at least prepare stuffed animals during the photo session. The important thing is to make the kids feel comfortable as much as possible and regard it as a recreational activity, not a compulsory miss.


If your kids don’t have a specific favor, consider leisure playgrounds where there are features that perhaps every child feels excited in like Ferris wheels, slides or swings… Colorful flower fields, green parks or streets with trees on either side are ideal backgrounds for inspirational shots as well. Additionally, your own house is also not a bad choice to capture daily lovely moments to make memories of your babies.

 A careful preparation not only makes the kids well focused and comfortable in front of the camera, but we can also be creative to come up with more unique ideas, making the photography for babies will be much easier.

Keep your child full of beans

The worst thing to see during your baby photoshoot is boredom. That means there will be no great shots and the session will have to end soon.
Remember that children always love to play and are afraid of being constrained and forced. Therefore, find ways to prepare funny activities for your child. If you observe that your baby's energy drops, use the fun props you brought along. You can offer small games or challenges such as who poses faster or who has a brighter smile. Every child is doubly energetic for such challenges, so why don’t we take advantage of this to shoot the most adorable pictures? This is one of the best photography tips for kids to achieve more natural and stunning images.

In addition, you can also teach them a few simple tips of shooting to let them see the world through their own eyes. Then show the whole album and allow them to decide which ones will be edited afterwards according to their preference.

Be flexible in the way you take picture

The next of the list photography tips for kids is vary your photography shots. Taking photos from above may create odd angles or disarrange composition balance. Instead of this, why don’t you crouch down to their height and be parallel to them. This makes the kids more approachable. The photos, therefore, become more direct and effective.

To get natural pictures, be sneaky so that the child won't find being taken. Observe their cute activities and capture a moment when she is completely engaged in.

Don't just focus on the face. In usual, the most valuable photos are completely out of focus on a child's face.  Forget about the portrait photography you've been trained. Children are running on the beach? Try shooting from the back to show how beautiful a natural landscape is with a windy sky and immense beach. If your child is playing in the sand, focus on her cute little hands. Be creative and emphasize on anything attractive, your photos will be authentic and have their own signature.

Camera settings tips for capturing moments quickly

Most children are very active and will not sit still for too long, especially those under 5 years old. As a result, they love moving or doing anything more. Try taking pictures of your baby laughing, running, jumping ... to capture the best moments, truly and fully reflect the child's personality. Furthermore, they will also be happy to choose ones among a variety of photo styles.

Nevertheless, this means you need to be ready to shoot very quickly. You won't have enough time to focus on individual shots. One tip is setting the burst mode so that you can capture the whole series of vivid moments. At the same time, turn on autofocus to ensure quality.

Another advice from the most common photography tips for kids list is setting your camera to the fastest shutter speed level and use a high ISO for capturing fast-moving images. This really works for catching photographs of children in action.

This setting, besides, is a convenient and effective way for beginners to get good shots. More information here.

Use a simple background

If you are unsure of your arrangement, a simple background is the best choice. Eliminate the external cumbersome elements, so that the viewers only focus on your baby. The good shooting angle in this case is shooting straight from top down or shooting diagonally 30-45% from the subject.

A background is as simple as a brick wall, or in a park will help to avoid distracting elements in the photo. It will also make the kids feel like this isn't a kind of serious photo session. And then they will be more comfortably expressing styles.

If possible, try a plain background, which means a background with only one neutral color and no other patterns in the back areas. This type is more and more preferable because of its convenience, variation of concepts but still being highly aesthetic.

Make sure of a proper lighting condition.

We all know that lighting is not only one of the best photography tips for kids, but for every shot in every situation as well. Despite that, there are many common mistakes that parents usually make. Specifically, they tend to take pictures of their baby in a dark room and rely too much on the flash, or shoot in a place with strong shine in direct sunlight.

So why are these routines regarded as mistakes? Let me explain. Overuse of flash or bright sunlight will distract or blur, negatively affecting the color of the baby's skin. Furthermore, too bright conditions will cause too large shadows on the baby's face. These mistakes unexpectedly ruin your works and make the whole photoshoot down the drain.

Here are some pieces of advice: First and foremost, make sure of the most natural light when taking pictures for your baby. In the case of shooting indoors, choose a room with plenty of natural light, then try to pull the curtains as much as possible to let more natural light into the room. In contrast, during the outdoor photoshoot, if the sunlight is too strong, soothe by a thin fabric curtain or move into the shade. However, remember to be careful to avoid big shadows on baby's faces when taking pictures.

The light modified properly helps your baby become more photogenic and cheerful.

Focus on their eyes

The eyes are the windows of the soul.  Bright naive eyes always attract attention and easily get viewer’s sympathy.  Make a difference by focusing on the eye in order to express a part of the soul and personality of the subject in the photo.
Direct the camera lens and focusing on your angel's eyes, grab her attention so that those bright eyes are gazing at the lens. Differently, you can shoot sideways and zoom closer to their eyes.

Don’t put the camera down

Remember to keep your camera on for capturing every moment. Keep watching, keep shooting and keep the creativity flowing as each moment is a great opportunity for a perfect photo.

Be patient

Give babies time to familiarize themselves with photoshoot so that they can comfortably perform in front of the camera. In addition, you should expect a longer time than usual, because not all babies quickly get used to the background and a few strangers around.

Epilogue

Apply immediately 9 photography tips for kids above to create memorable and meaningful photos for your child. Try in the next kid photo session and you will see a difference.

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