Tips for taking natural photos of your children

1. Prepare specific strategies: There is a “recipe” for capturing authentic moments. For example, there’s a recipe for capturing blanket forts, which suggests building a blanket fort with your child in front of the window of the brightest room of your house in the late afternoon. Set yourself up for specific moments like these; don’t just wait until the moment happens and then race to find your camera.

2. Give them something to do: Ask your children to show you something, a toy and offer them an object for them to hold, anything to shift their attention away from the camera.

3. Hold the camera low (below eye level): Practice shooting with the camera away from your face. Holding it at chest level or waist level to shoot whilst engaging with the child from a distance will usually mean that their eyes will still look as though they’re looking directly at the camera. 

4. Get them talking: This one holds true for adults too, but it’s a great tip for improving the photos of your children, especially younger kids. Ask them a question and wait until they start answering it before raising the camera to your eye. Or even take a quick snap of them thinking. When the child is talking or thinking they’ll be distracted from your camera, which should allow you to get a natural looking photo. 

5. They don’t need to smile:  “Cheese” is a word that makes professional photographers cringe, and it should be out of your vocabulary too… unless you’ve got the biscuits out! If your child isn’t smiling when you come to take the photo, don’t worry – take it anyway. Show how they look normally, not how they look when they’re told to create a fake smile, which is basically what “Cheeeese” accomplishes! 

If you really want the smiling shot, you’re going to have to make them smile by talking about their favorite animal, food, tv show… or start being silly to get them laughing.

6. Embrace Motion: Ask them to run and jump into a pile of pillows, or jump up and down. Photograph the action but also photograph the moment they collapse to the ground with joy and a huge smile. Movement and motion are go-to whenever a need a smile or an authentic emotion.

Learn more: 8 Tips for Documenting Your Children