Due to their playful nature and unpredictability, kids often make perfect photography subjects. Every picture with kids is unique and will have a way of brightening your day up. There’s also the fact that kids grow so very fast – a few years from now, pictures might be the only way to fully remember what your child used to look like. Here’s how you can take some incredible pictures of kids. I was on a photo shoot in Boca Raton and shot some great pictures of my cousin’s kids.
• A simple fact to keep in mind when photographing kids:
most of them hate being photographed. Depending on their age, kids might find the act of being photographed weird, scary, annoying or simply intrusive. They don’t usually enjoy posing, either, which is why you’ll have to come up with ways to photograph your kids without them even realizing it. A smaller camera will help a lot here, as will a good excuse to stay in their vicinity while they’re playing or doing some other picture-worthy activity. Heck, when all else fails, you might have to resort to hiding from them.
• We mentioned kids don’t like posing, but that’s actually a good thing:
the best pictures of kids are taken while they’re doing their thing. Wouldn’t you rather have a picture of your kids playing and having fun as opposed to just standing there and staring blankly into the camera? Don’t try and force your kids to pose for you. Instead, make yourself a spectator in their world and take pictures during the best moments.
• Timer or manual photos? Because kids love action so much, photos taken with a timer might miss out on some important moments, but they’re also the best way for you to take pictures alongside your kids. To get the most memorable kids photos, you’ll need to drink some coffee and man the camera for what could be hours, waiting for the goofiest thing you’ve seen all day to come along.
• Speaking of settings, you’ll generally want to lean towards high shutter speeds. These will let you capture quick action, and we all know there’s no shortage of it when dealing with kids – running, jumping, fighting, rolling… Be careful with shutter settings that are too high, though, as they might give the picture a distinct blur(unless that’s what you’re after, of course). If your kids are playing with toys or reading, a slower shutter speed will do just fine and will make everything more vivid.
• Flash is yet another setting to consider. Pictures without flash miss out on a lot of details, and you don’t want that when taking long-lasting photos of your kids. Flash will brighten up their faces and show their distinct facial gestures and grimaces, but be careful – it will also alert them to the fact that they’re being photographed. Your flash photo might be the last one in your covert kids-photo-taking session, so make it count.
• Always be ready! Since kids are so unpredictable, you can’t expect a good photo session whenever you fancy. Ideally, you’d always have a camera with a quick auto setting ready so that you can capture a spur-of-the-moment photo. This is another reason why a smaller camera is the best choice for kids photography.
