5 Tips for Taking Better Pictures of Your Kids
September 21, 2010 | Filed Under cuteness, tips | 4 Comments
So, it has come to my attention that not every parent in the world is (or lives with) a professional child photographer.
I find this to be simply SHOCKING! What are you people *thinking*?!?
In all seriousness, I know that, as much as my clients would love to have me following their children around every single day to capture every single cute thing they do (I’ve been asked, though, and it’s awfully flattering! ;-), that’s just not feasible. So, for those 364 days out of the year when you *don’t* have a family photographer, here are a few tips to help you get shots that you love…illustrated by my (almost)daily shots of a kid that *I* love.
No. 1. Pay attention to the light.
This could really be called Number Zero, or A-Number-One-Most-Important-I-Am-Seriously-Not-Kidding-Around-Here-People…photography is about light. Seeing the light. Playing with the light. Figuring out where it is, what it’s doing, and how to use it to make better pictures. Find the light in your home, notice when your kids are playing near the windows (one of my favorite spots is just inside our front door):
Experiment with backlight, with side light…once you’ve ditched your flash (see tip #2), you’ll start finding the spots where you get sweet images that just glow…and you’ll probably find that your child gravitates toward those areas to play. When you’re outside, pay attention to where the sun is, and try to avoid taking pictures when there are harsh shadows on your child’s face (you won’t like the result, I promise).
You’ve probably heard of “The Golden Hour”…that hour just before sunset (or just after dawn), when the light gets all buttery and juicy (yes, this I how I think about light…it makes me salivate)…try going for a walk with your kids and your camera after dinner…see how different the light is from the middle of the day High-Noon-Shootout-On-The-Playground:
You’ll be shocked at the difference in the images (which is why I will almost always push client shoots as late in the day as little schedules will allow – the light is just sooooo much better and we have more flexibility in our locations). If you do end up in a situation with harsh overhead sunlight, you can consider using a fill flash (just about the only time I’ll break my no-on-camera-flash rule), or looking for some open shade.
No. 2. Turn off your flash
On camera flash = pretty much evil. And not just because it gives you those oh-so-attractive I-made-a-deal-with-the-devil red-eye shots. Using your on-camera flash is pretty much guaranteed to kill any spontaneity and naturalness that you might have found in the image. “But I don’t have a fancy dancy $2700 DSLR with a super fast lens!” you say? Well, that’s a pointy point…and I will confess that most of my camera upgrades have been a result of my quest to push my usable ISO value (the equivalent of film speed) up…but, honestly, I find that I’m happier with a grainy (aka noisy) high ISO shot (yes, even from a point and shoot), or an aperture priority shot (when you turn off your flash and tell your camera to shoot as wide open as it can go) that has a bit of motion blur because the shutter speed was waaaaay low.
The image above is a case in point – I shot it back before I had much of a clue about photography, before I even owned a DSLR. I love the image. Love it, in all its unedited, un-color corrected, un-noise-reduced, blurred glory….and not just because it contains a baby in a Star Trek uniform….I love it because it’s the moment, and there’s no distraction of a flash, no harsh light….and my muse was a FAST crawler! I’ll take that shot over one where my flash went off and I have a deer-child in my headlights, startled and grimacing and definitely NOT being all cute and natural like she was just a second ago. So, turn off your flash. Practice having a steady hand, bump up your ISO (or put it on auto), and see what you can see…which brings me to:
No. 3. Get down on (or even below!) their level
It’s a wonderful thing to get down on your child’s level…sit on the floor….even lie down across the carpet…get as low as you can, and shoot up at them…see the world the way they see it, and put them in their own context. It will give you a wonderful perspective on how they see the world every day, and how they fit into their universe.
Now, this is a grain of sand piece of advice, and might actually better be titled Pay-Attention-And-Vary-Shooting-Height-And-Perspective (which our editorial board nixed after heated debate because it really doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, and I really can’t blame them).
I say this because some of my favorite pictures of my muse are from directly above, looking down…it’s often a view of her that I see, and it really speaks to me of her intent engagement with her own world…at her own level. Plus, she’s got these flipping AMAZING eyelashes (don’t they all?!)….which is a neat segue into…
No. 4. Love every bitty bit
When it comes to my muse, I love all her little bits….I love her hands, her feet, her wispy hair (especially wispy beach hair), her eyelashes…even her belly button.
As a parent, you love every grubby, sticky, freckly wonderful bit of your child…so document it. Get the chubby hands, grabbing a crayon for the first time. Get the way he curls his toes around one another when he’s eating spaghetti. And, yes, grab the bare tushie shots as he runs shrieking away from changing table.
In addition to being some amazing blackmail fodder for their teen years, these little closeups will be Exhibit A when you go to make the argument that time goes by WAY too flipping fast. “Freeze her in butter sauce,” is what we say in our house. Every bitty bit.
No. 5. NO CHEESE!!!!
Sometimes, at the beginning of a family session, I’ll be hanging out with a 6 year old who will be laughing and giggling…and, as soon as I pull out my camera, I’ll see a huge change in her expression…for a moment, I’ll worry that she’s in pain…and then I realize, no, it’s just the dreaded “cheese smile.” So I put my camera down and we have a conversation wherein I reveal the shocking secret that You Don’t Always Have To Smile In Photos. SHOCKING, I tell you!!
Please please PLEASE don’t ask your child to say “cheese”…the result is never pretty (see above)….and more importantly, it’s never *real*…and real, authentic emotion is pretty much essential to a meaningful portrait. A real smile? It’s breathtaking…it makes your heart go pop (even when you’re being lazy and letting your camera choose the autofocus points so her hat is more in focus than her eyes ;-):
I would ten million billion times over rather have a real, serious, contemplative look over a fake smile. If you have a serious kid…let him be serious. Capture him just as he is…and if you want a smile, say or do something funny. Talk to him about his latest obsession (right now, with my Muse, it’s Tom & Jerry). Connect, and document the real moments, as they happen…you’ll treasure the result, I promise…even if there’s no cheese in sight.
And when those *real* smiles appear? No substitution will ever do.
And there you have it…my first 5 tips for taking better pictures of your kids when I can’t be there. I hope that this will be helpful, as you attempt to navigate those perilous professional-less waters of your everyday photographic life.
xoxo,
Lilia
p.s. Silicon Valley and SF bay area families: fall is booking up fast – if you’re planning on doing family portraits with me before the holidays, now is the time to call or email!
A Very Scooby Christmas
January 29, 2010 | Filed Under cuteness, life | Leave a Comment
My muse…and her mama…rockin’ it holiday style ;-)
That is all.
xoxo,
Lilia
Change is good!!!
September 10, 2009 | Filed Under cuteness, life, news | Leave a Comment
Hi gang,
I know it’s been awfully quiet around here, but I promise, I have lots and lots of pictures to share! :-) In the past two weeks, I have:
:: shot two maternity sessions and…
:: one family session, and…
:: photographed a major event at full circle farm, AND…
:: had my FIRST NATIONAL PUBLICATION (in all caps, because, well, NATIONAL!!) …I’m planning to blog it tomorrow, but pick up a copy of this month’s Kiwi magazine and flip to page 25 if you’re curious. :-), AAAND…
:: PACKED AND MOVED!!!! (that’s in all caps with four exclamation points because, well, it’s MOVING!! (for the curious, we moved from the Sunnyvale side of the Mountain View/Sunnyvale border back to Mountain View).
I have learned that:
:: I have the best family and friends in the whole wide world
:: I have too much stuff, but that I *am* capable of getting rid of it!
:: seeing my work published never ever gets old
:: sunset at the farm is glorious (oh, wait, I already knew that ;-)
If you’re still curious about what I’m doing, here’s what’s coming up: I have 4 sessions to proof, and two to peek (one already peeked, and one I won’t be for privacy reasons) and a bunch of images from the farm to share, plus my own personal “ack! I need my camera now!!!” stuff ;-)…so lots of eye candy coming your way this week, I promise!
To my dear, patient clients – thank you so much for being so understanding as I get my life back out of boxes and ticking along again. Please do email or call me if you have any questions, as always!
I hope you enjoyed the above shots of my muse in her boxes…now, I am off to get a few more things ordered before it is time to head home!
xoxo
Lilia
p.s. I know it seems like it’s nuts to think of it, but my holiday deadline is coming up – sessions must take place by November 5th to have guaranteed holiday turnaround! September is mostly filled up, with just a couple of slots left, and October going as well, so if you want holiday pictures, please fill out the contact form on my main site so’s I can get you scheduled! I will be announcing some limited edition holiday mini sessions to take place in October, and slots will likely go fast, so if you’re interested, please include a note in the comments field so that I can add you to the interest list for those!
love + peace
March 13, 2009 | Filed Under cuteness | Leave a Comment
So, we have a saying amongst my scoobies: “that was a TOTAL ‘leggo my eggo’”…which bit of nonsense refers to the time that my bff suddenly realized (when she was, like, 13 or so) that the aforementioned phrase was a pun on “let go of…” and that the phrase actually had a meaning other than the silly rhyme with the name of said toaster waffle (we’re not going to talk about the fact that that may or may not be a brand-fail for the Eggo marketing team ;-)…and the phrase has now expanded usage to apply to any situation wherein you suddenly realize something about something that should have been obvious from the start…and that is what this image is for me…the above image, which I COMPLETELY ADORE, features what is quite possibly the cutest little shirt I’ve ever seen (the front has a heart and a peace sign, and I just absolutely love it), and I had a sudden “leggo my eggo” moment a few months ago when a friend pointed me in the direction of the amazingly cute nina + tom…and I suddenly realized that the shirt was not (as I had assumed) a super-hip holiday card from a couple named Nina and Tom to their circle of good friends whom they love more than paper can say, but rather a really awesome, local, right-in-line-with-so-many-of-my-philosophies-in-the-world, right-on business that I filed it away in my “ok, gotta do a blog post about that soon” file, which, as you can see, I opened up today!!
Whew!! So, anyway, that was all by way of saying, if you show up for your session in a Nina and Tom shirt, I will probably go “squeeeee” and jump up and down and maybe give you a hug. :-)
xoxo
Lilia (who is clearly a bit punchy after a long day, but definitely ready for girls night out at our fave mexican restaurant, baby!)