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01. Find some light

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Most of us have a window in our front room or kids' bedrooms. It doesn't have to be huge, it just needs to give you some light to work with so that whoever you are photographing has enough light on them to prevent that grain in your image. 

 

We want to try and avoid using the built in flash. This gives harsh light and awful shadows which makes your photos very unappealing. So find that little sliver of light and make some magic happen! 

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02. Get down on their level

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Shoot at their level. If they are sitting on the floor, sit down as well. This keeps your photo looking more natural because we are looking at them from eye level. This will give you beautiful foreground in your images and keep the focus on them.

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03. Give them something to do with their hands

 

Give them something to do with their hands that will keep them still for a moment. This can be playing a game, with blocks, or simply give them some fruit snacks... hey, this is real life + ya gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. 

 

 

04. Keep them moving

 

Kids attention spans aren't long and if you are trying to make them sit while you try to capture that perfect shot, they are going to get bored. Instead, tell them to dance, get their wiggles out, or tickle one another. Have some bubbles, sidewalk chalk? capture them while they create.

 

This keeps it fun + you will be able to capture their authentic smiles and true personalities. 

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05. Take more photos than you need

 

Now, for those of us that have been taking photos for a long time, we may not need to take quite as many. For those of you just starting out, take more than you need especially with kids because you never know when they might have moved right when you were snapping and you'll end up with a blurry photo.

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06. Get Outside!

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I don't know about you, but my kids love to play outside. I try to keep a plethora of things for them to do because we all know that they get bored with one thing quickly so we need to rotate sometimes! 

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A few things my kids love are: 

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Bubbles

Sidewalk chalk

Climbing trees

Playing in the sand

Dancing in the rain

Riding bikes, trikes, + their Easy-roller

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They tend to head outside + get in their groove and it makes it easy for me to capture them in their element. I don't do a lot of directing when I'm just photographing lifestyle. If they do something I like, I will sometimes say, "That was a cool trick, can you do it again?" They are always happy to oblige! 

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The best thing you can do is just keep practicing and pretty soon it will become second nature + your kids will stop worrying about the camera and that's when you will be able to capture the real moments.