Whether you’re a professional photographer, an enthusiast or a parent with a ‘point and shoot’, photographing your own children as they grow can be deeply rewarding. However, kids are always a challenge to photograph. They move extremely fast which as a photographer can get incredibly frustrating, not to mention leaving you with lots of unusable images. They rarely take direction on where to sit or in which direction to look and finally, you are 100% reliant on the child’s mood at the time of your photo session. Needless to say, photographing children can be hard work. So what can you do to take better pictures of your own children at home?
When I started writing the first draft of this blog post it was purely intended to be general ‘photo tips’ for parents who’d asked me for advice. However, there’s already lots of great children’s photography advice online – get down to the child’s level, remove background clutter, get in close, take lots of pictures, make it fun, be patient etc – so I started to wonder what useful information I would be able to add.
So, I’ve decided to write a series of posts, primarily focusing on the things I find help me during my own shoots as well as photo opportunities you can create in your own home. Hopefully by concentrating on one scenario at a time I can explain the process better and as a result, hopefully help you take fantastic photos of your own kids. So, with that brief introduction out of the way I wanted to kick things off with my favourite place to shoot.
When I walk into a client’s home for the first time I generally have no idea of where I’m going to shoot their pictures. This can be a daunting prospect. However, I always go in with the knowledge that there’s one place in every home that I can (almost) always rely on for shooting some great images – the bedroom. Double beds are a fantastic place to capture cute pictures of your kids. Why? Beds are soft, so apart from having someone on hand to prevent your child ending up on the floor you don’t have to worry about any bumps and bruises. Also, younger babies who can’t quite sit on their own can easily be propped up with pillows.
Rather than just sitting your baby on the bed and seeing what happens there are a few things you can try to increase your chances of getting some great shots:
- White bedding acts like a reflector, bouncing light around your child and helping to reduce shadows. White bedding also helps you achieve a simple, clean look to your pictures. If you don’t have any white bedding then just remove your duvet cover and pillowcases like I did for two the pictures above.
- Avoid harsh/direct sunlight streaming through your windows by shooting in the morning or on a cloudy/overcast day. This will give you softer light and shadows. I occasionally hang diffusion material over client’s windows if this can’t be avoided.
- You may need to move your bed to get the best light from your window. This can be trial and error depending on the size of your room and position of your window. Try to get the light to fall on the front and slightly to one side of the face, this will give you nice catchlights in the eyes and create nicer shadows.
- Have someone stand to the side of the window to attract your baby’s attention when needed. This should help to keep them looking in the direction of the light.
- If you have a DSLR then definitely try and get out of Auto mode. You’ll need to take control of your shutter speed to increase your chances of getting sharp images. Kids are quick so if possible I always aim for shutter speeds above 1/100.
- Try and exclude any clutter in your photos like bedside tables and lamps.
- Try different angles. Standing over your child while they lie on the bed with their head poking out of the duvet can look adorable. This doesn’t always go to plan though [scroll to bottom]…
- Don’t be tempted to turn on your bedroom lights, you might think that having the extra light will help but your bulbs will more than likely be tungsten and this won’t look great mixed with natural daylight. If it’s a dull outside you might be better waiting for a nicer day, or a better time of day.
- Turn off your camera’s flash unless you are able to get it off your camera, bounce it or balance it properly with the natural light.
Most importantly, have fun! Most of the children I photograph love playing on the bed and in my experience, if children are enjoying themselves you will get good pictures. If you find any of this useful I’d love to hear how you get on so feel free to let me know or post a link to your own pictures in the comments.
by Alan
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