Mamarazzi: Tips on Photographing Your Kids

Like many new moms, my hobby of photography was born right when my first child arrived. I distinctly remember running out and purchasing my first big camera, a Canon Rebel, six-and-half years ago. I justified the expense, simply because I couldn’t get my point and shoot camera to fire quick enough for the rare moment my newborn’s eyes were open.

Hilton Head (166)

Since that time, together with my best friend, we dived into learning as much as we could about our cameras and photographing our children from online websites, books and even taking classes together.  Over the years we have loved seeing our confidence grow and most importantly, the evolution of our pictures since the beginning. While I am far from a professional, I wanted to share the eight bits of advice I learned during those early years that made the biggest difference in capturing my young kids’ lives.

The best part, you don’t even have to have a fancy camera use these tips.

1. Get Low Or Get High

Try not just to stand at eye level and take pictures of your kids…. You will see me on my belly, on a short step stool looking down and mostly squatting very low when taking pictures.

Langenbahn family-51 Carter and Addie-1 (2) Boys On Ground Lake Memorial Wkend Perkins (346)

2.  Stay Still

This was the tip I had to teach my husband when I handed him the camera. He was constantly moving, walking in a semi-circle trying to get pictures from all angles. While I appreciated his desire to capture every angle, I quickly learned that the stiller the camera is, the sharper (more in focus) your pictures will be. I really make a concerted effort to brace my elbows against my body or better yet have my elbows/arms stationed on a table, the ground if I am on my tummy or a low fence post if outside. This is where having a light weight tripod can really go a long way to making your pictures as crisp and in focus as possible.

 3.  Use Natural light

You will hear of some of the best professional photographers advertise themselves as “natural light photographers.” This is because natural light from being outdoors or inside near a big window, will 100% of the time outshine the same picture taken with a flash in a dimly lit room. Get outside as much as you can when photographing your family. The best times are the early mornings before 10AM and in the late afternoons and evenings when the sun is not directly overhead. We call these the “magic hours” and result in the least amount of shadows and squinted eyes. Believe it or not, the best days to take pictures are on cloudy days when the clouds can act as a natural screen to the bright sun. If you do need to photograph in the bright sun, try to find an area that is shaded from the direct sun, like under a big tree or on the side of a building, where the sun isn’t the strongest.

Lake Memorial Wkend Perkins 119 Hilton Head (208)

4. Look for a simple background

It could be a brick or stone wall, a big green bush along a fence or the side of a building. Take a quick glance to insure there isn’t anything distracting in the picture like other people or an ugly telephone pole. Place your kids on a blanket or just in the grass about 10-20 feet in front of your background.

Marizu-15 Volz family-10

5. Kids Don’t Always Have To Be Smiling Or Looking In The Camera

Don’t worry about your kid’s looking or smiling in every picture. If you have multiple kids or child under four years old in your shot, it is a miracle to get them looking in the same direction much less smiling at the same time. You can get some of the best pictures by allowing your children to interact with one another or if it’s just one child, let them inspect a wild flower they found. Tell him to hug one another and just sit back and be ready with the camera.

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The First 3 Minutes Are The Best

In my experience of photographing my three children, the first couple of minutes deliver the best pictures because I get the most genuine smiles. Before we get out of the car, I tell my kids, “Okay, we are going to take some fun pictures… if you smile well and listen to mommy, we will be done super fast and you will get a treat!”  This works fantastically with five and six-year-old.

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Bring a Funny Person To Make Them Laugh or “Smarties” Candy

It helps to have a silly person like their dad or another friend behind you making the kids laugh and smile so you can concentrate on taking the picture. Don’t worry if they aren’t looking directly at the camera. Getting them to look in the same direction with natural smiles on their faces is what you ultimately want! Another idea with young children is to bring bubbles or a toy that will catch their attention when you pull out it of your back pocket. I have found that having the old school Smarties candy readily available in my pocket as the perfect reward for getting eyes and smiles for younger kids. I like Smarties because they don’t make a mess and don’t take a lot of time to eat.

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8. Then What?

Since my best friend and I have invested in some higher quality camera bodies and lenses over the years, I often get asked what someone should buy after they have had a Canon Rebel DSLR or Nikon DSLR for a few years and want to improve their photography? We always say the same thing, if you are shooting on automatic, I would NOT buy anything new. First, we would strongly recommend learning how to shoot in different modes like AV, TV, and ultimately Manual before you purchase anything. That knowledge will single-handedly make the biggest difference in your photography while using your current camera and lens. After you have mastered Manual and way before you upgrade actual camera bodies, the next step would be to invest in a new lens. Our favorite yet reasonable new lens while we were starting out and even now, is the 50mm 1.8 lens that you buy for just over $100. With this portrait lens you will see a big difference in clarity and getting that much sought after blurred background. But remember this is only if you are shooting in AV or other Manual modes.

50mm lens

 If you photographing loving moms find this type of how-to blog a help, I can teach you the basics of shooting in other modes and finally get your camera off automatic for once and for all!

** All photographs are property of Megan Brown or Megan Perkins.**

Megan
Megan is a serious bargain shopper, Boxer loving, research junkie kinda gal. Chances are she can tell you the best item to buy from everything from a baby monitor to a dishwasher. She claims to be the blogger on the team that will never win an award for being an eloquent writer. In fact, she prides herself in graduating from Texas A&M University (’02) without ever having to write a paper! San Antonio born and raised, Megan learned early in life to always learn from others and she enjoys sharing helpful tips she encounters while navigating this ‘kid chapter’ of life. The three little people that gave her the title of mom and thus the inspiration to get out and explore our city, from a child’s perspective, are Carter (2006), Addie (2008) and Delaney (2013). She’ll admit, the third one has been WAY more work than they ever expected but they wouldn’t have it any other way. Her motto now is “What ever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” right?! Megan has a serious to-do list addiction which one day may need intervention; for now, this aliment allows her to accomplish the many balls she has the energy to juggle. She may be an outlier to some but loves working outside the home and is grateful for her working-mom-friendly company and career in sales, which gives her the best of both worlds. Although, Megan will be the first to tell you, without her ridiculously amazing husband and hands-on-dad, Blake, she wouldn’t be able to do any of it. Like most women, half the time she feels like she has it all together and the other part, she’s treading water trying not to drown. But as of now, she wouldn’t change a thing.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Love it Megan! We’ve been looking into new cameras before baby arrives. These are great tips and I’ll probably be hitting you up for more!

  2. These are awesome tips Megan! I am excited to practice with my camera and will definitely be using this advice- thank you for sharing!

  3. Christina… Yes. We took classes at Landers Photography School out I-10 West near Ralph Fair Road. The owner Jim Landers is great and there were all kinds of class options and single day workshops. Last year he did several Groupon coupons or Living Social ones and we were able to take the 5 week classes for half price. The Photography 101 class will teach you to go from Auto to Manual. http://www.landersphotoschool.com

  4. Do you recommend a local class or do any yourself? I use a Nikon D40 (bought it when my kids were born) and use it all the time, but mostly with the auto settings. I know I can get better pictures if I understood how to use all the settings correctly…

  5. Great post, Megan! Your pictures are always amazing and you inspire me to take more and BETTER photos every time I read your blog. And, thank you for featuring my little blonde beauty!

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