How to photograph your children

Photograph children is always a tough task. Kids are not adults; therefore, does not know how to pose and do not want to pose. How many times do the pictures turn out to be good when kids are asked to smile or pose? It happens too often that parents yield at their kids to smile at camera. You can imagine what the outcome is. Children normally do not want to be asked to say “cheese”. Even if they try, it may not be the best smile they can have. This applies to adults too. Even for myself, I become somewhat nervous in front of camera. I believe that in order to capture the most natural state of children, photographer must not let the children feel their existence. This is the key of taking successful children photo. Of course, this is not the only consideration for children’s photography. They are many details that photographer need to pay attention to. Let’s talk about them one by one.

1. Get familiar with children.
Some kids can be really shy when they meet strangers. It is natural. The only way to overcome their fear is to let them get familiar with you. Stay with the kids for a little while, play with them, talk to their parents or let the parents talk to them about you is a good starting point. When I photograph children, I normally arrive at the location about half an hour earlier to prepare myself and to meet the family. After gaining trust and friendship with children, they are much open and corporative. Lots of times, they will ignore your existence and play by themselves. This is the best time for you to take the shot. For toddlers or babies, photographer can bring some noise making toys to draw their attention; for older kids, it’s better to have them play their favorite toys from home. Once children are happy, bring them outside the backyard or into a room that’s suitable for photographing.

2. Right equipment.
Kids hardly stay at one place for long. Your camera and lens performance plays a crucial role in capture fast moving children. It’s better not to disturb children by asking them to stand still or sit for a pose. Doing so may just ruin their happy mood and get them nervous. Set your camera exposure mode to shutter-priority mode for at least 1/125 second if lighting condition permits, and drive mode to continuous mode. High performance camera and lens are must have equipment to capture the great moments. Cheap camera and lens may not have the ability to track and focus fast moving objects. If you just have a point and shoot camera, most likely, you will not get a clear shot for your kids. I rely heavily on my Canon 1Ds Mark II and L lenses to do the job. I used Canon 20D and non-L lens before trying to catch my son’s movement. I’d say 50% of the images are blurry. With the upgraded body and lenses, I got much better chances of recording clear photos. I guess that the AI of more expensive camera and lens are better than the lower priced ones. For how to choose your equipment, you may visit my blog http://aperturephotoart.blogspot.com

3. Right location.
Once the equipment is ready and child is relaxed, you will need to find the right spot to photograph the child. It’s hard to say which spots are the good spots because every location is different. In general, good photo spot shall have good lighting, less cluttered background, less noticeable to children.

4. Encourage and praise children
When kids are praised and rewarded for certain behavior, they are encouraged to repeat it. After capture a great smile from a child, make sure to give them a praise. This may reward you with more satisfying photos.

5. Be prepared for the moment
It’s hard to predict when a good photo moment may arrive. If you take photos for your own kids, I suggest that you bring your camera with you everywhere your kids go. If there is one great photo comes out from 10 so so photos, it is worth the efforts.



I hope that you can learn something from my experience. Practice is the key to gain field knowledge. Shoot as frequent as you can, you can also be a great child photographer. For some of my children’s photography work, please visit me online

http://aperturephotoart.com/