Anna Says - How to Get Children To Smile At The Camera

Taking photos of children can either be a simple joy or a big fat pain in the big fat butt. Trying to co-erce a smile from a grumpy baby is near impossible. Crazy six year olds don't always want to pose and do a proper smile and don't get me started on three year olds! 

But having photographs of your children at different stages is important {here is where I could share that there are very few photos of me as a child, as I am the youngest of four etc etc, but I won't...}. I did a bit of surfing and came up with some great tips on how to take nice photos of your kids. Oh, and you will get a peak at how the 'Cool Kids' are shaping up.

Photopoly is a great website for all sorts of photography things. I gleaned these 6 tips from their site, they made a lot of sense to me....

1) Make the camera an everyday device

I have to say that I have noticed our children are much happier to have photos taken since my camera has been out and used more and more. We also take photos on our iPhones and with my compact Fuji all the time, so it is something that is just a natural part of our family life.

2) Bend Down, Stoop, Crouch, Kneel

Get down on their level. It just makes sense to make the experience as natural and organic as you can make it. You want relaxed happy faces, not fake, threatened ones. Clearly, I need to get better at this - no photographic evidence! Ha ha!

3) Take Advantage of Good Light

We have taken some stunning photos in the late afternoon/early evening when the light comes in at a low angle. It makes for photos full of halycon moments. The light at the beach is amazing too!

4) Tweak Your Composition

Instead of thinking that you need to have a head and shoulder shot against a white wall - try to fill the frame with your child - close ups and super close ups can be truly cute! Also, take note of what is in the background, if it is too busy, you lose your child in it. Photopoly suggest grass or trees as a background. If you can use a wide aperture and get a blurry background, you will also get the same effect.

5) Don't Make Them Pose For You

Keep it natural. I like to think of taking photos of my kids like a trip to the zoo - I take photos of them in their natural environment and doing their own thing.

6) Take Age Into Consideration

Taking photos of crawling babies is hard. You have to take lots of photos to get that one decent picture. We have lots of photos like the one below, BabyCool doesn't always smile nicely for the camera! But, he was enjoying his first birthday cake! With digital technology, we can afford to take twenty photos to get one good one. 

More Ideas....

Some other great ideas could be to get your kids to act out emotions. I got this idea from the fabulous blog - Be A Fun Mum.... Try - happy, sad, scared, thoughtful, princess etc... There are some more great photography tips on this blog. Click HERE to read more....

I then used the program 'Picasa' to make them into these collages. Picasa is a free download and allows you to edit and do cool things with your photos.

And finally, to wrap up... 

Here are some more B style tips...

1) Take your photos OUTSIDE - get some colour and life into those backgrounds! Try photos in the rain, on a windy day, with leaves etc etc.

2) Don't always take photos of your kids when they are looking at you. Photos of your children looking at something or enjoying life are wonderful. This is one of my very favourite shots of BabyCool - it is his first experience of sand {this was taken seconds before his first TASTE of sand ;0) }

3) Use your phone to take photos and then get some good apps.... I love Instagram, Bokeh Booth and Diptic. There are hundreds of them. Such a great way to add filters and fun to your pictures. The photo below is of Miss Z at a wedding, filtered through Bokeh Booth for iPhone.

Go out today and take some photos of your little cherubs. There will never be another today and....

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.

Eudora Welty