4 simple tips for taking awesome photos of your kids (part 1 of 4)

My child is famous on facebook.

There’s probably many reasons for this: 1) he’s an incredibly good-looking baby; 2) his mother is a photo-fanatic; 3) his father is almost equally enthusiastic about snapping away; 4) we have a lot of friends in various locations around the world due to our work; and 5) neither my husband or I live near our families so they have to stalk facebook to get their baby fix.

But I also like to think I can take a decent photo.

Truthfully, I was much more confident in my photography back in the days of film {gasp} and I have never really learned—yet—how to edit digital photos beyond a few simple things like adjusting the exposure or contrast or cropping. (But this is one of my goals as soon as I’m able to afford a decent computer to edit on.) 


So that's my disclaimer to say that I’m not pretending to be an expert on this subject! In light of that I’ll leave the technical stuff for someone else to tutor you on and we’ll stick to the basics here.

But I am convinced that anyone—with any camera—is able to take decent photos with just a few little pointers… so let me pass on some of the most useful (and easy) ones I know to you.

Oh, and I should say here that you can take great photos with a small “point-and-shoot” camera. Of course your photos will look better with an SLR camera… and they’ll look waaaay better if you have an SLR camera and a good lens. But even a simple camera can take great shots if you pay attention to lighting, composition, and settings. I will cover these over the next three days, and on the fourth day we'll finish with some editing tips.

Today's focus: Light

1. If you can, turn the flash off. Try to use as much available light as possible without using the flash. Flash photography can make a photo look very “snapshot-ish”, unless the flash is diffused or the photographer really knows how to work it. (In saying that, some cameras have awesome built-in flashes.) Use sunlight, use lamps, use ceiling lights. If you can avoid using that built-in flash… do. BUT, as with anything, experiment. Try taking the same photo with the flash turned on and off and see which one looks better. (Hint: one time not to take this hint is when you’re outside and you’re getting harsh shadows on a face. Turn the “force flash” setting on and let the fill flash make those shadows disappear.)

{although this is a cute photo, the flash makes it look very snap-shot-ish... not so great.}

{compare the flash photo on the left with the natural light photo on the right.}

2. Avoid harsh direct sunlight. If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you may have noticed that a lot of my photos of Levi are in the same places: on the orange and white bedspread, on the white couch in the office, or on the gray carpet in his room. That’s not because these are the most “beautiful” places in my house… it’s because they have the best light. They all have big windows with lots of natural light coming through without harsh overhead light casting bad shadows.

{plenty of natural--but indirect--light causes a nice, soft glow
and creates some light and shade without harsh shadows.}

3. Find a place that will give you good “catch light”. Have you ever seen a photo where the subject’s eyes look a little bit glossy and there’s a speck of light visible right in the eyeball? This is called “catch light”. When you are able to put your child in a place where the light will reflect off their eyes like this, it will instantly add “life” to the photo. (For amateurs like us, this works best when using natural light, not flash photography.)

{catch light will bring life and emotion to a photo - see the "sparkle" in his eye here?}

{catch light brings the eyes alive.}

4. Experiment with different types of lighting. Try turning the lights off and then using one source of light (a window or a lamp) to cast light from only one direction. Or try doing a silhouette with minimal detail. Use your imagination and play with light to give you some different, creative shots.

Look at how natural light is used differently in each of these shots:

{from the side.}

{from behind.}

{from behind and reflected on the wood floor in the front.}

{from the front.}

Other posts in this mini-series:

• Part 1: Lighting - How to use light to take the best photos possible. 
• Part 2: Composition - How background, framing, and placement of your subject effects your photos.
• Part 3: Settings - How adjusting your camera settings can create different effects and feelings in your photos.
• Part 4: Editing - How using simple editing tools can help your photos go from good to great. (A guest post by Mandy from A Sorta Fairytale.)

Dear friends, do you have any photography tips related to lighting to add? Have you learned something today and taken a great photo because of it? If so, leave us a link in the comments so we can come and check it out!

constantly clicking,

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adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2010 
do not reproduce without written permission