If you are a photographer by hobby or profession, you probably have experienced how difficult it can sometimes be to photograph your own family.Photographing your own children can be some of the toughest portraits that photographers do.
First of all, they are probably used to you taking a lot of photographs, and they may not be interested in having the camera turned their way. Or perhaps a photo shoot can turn into a power struggle of sorts, which often makes for the least natural-looking portraits. Maybe they just flash the cheesy smile your way, and it’s more work than you think to grab great candids of them. Whatever the case may be, here are some great tips on photographing your children that may turn things around:
1. Give the children some control. As a parent photographing your own children, it can be hard to step away from the “Mom” or “Dad” role. Use this time to play the role of photographer; give kids a little latitude to be in charge of things for a bit. By shifting roles, kids tend to lighten up considerably, which in turn creates considerably better expressions. This can play out in a variety of ways – but one simple way is to let them choose the location where they feel the most comfortable. Another idea is to have them all choose one thing that is meaningful to them – a stuffed animal, a favorite baseball cap, a soccer ball, even a best friend who tags along – and make time to photograph them with that item (or person). Yet one more option is to let them initiate how they may be posed with their siblings – “their turn, then your turn” can work wonders in terms of getting kids involved and interested in posing together for portraits.
2. Don’t aim for perfection. Focus more on a child’s expression and character, and less on making a shot absolutely perfect, and you’ll get a much better image, one that will truly capture a sense of their spirit – which will mean more to you in the long run anyway. Sometimes we can get pretty caught up in trying to everything just right. The concern with that, in practice, is that we can often “leave” our subject to attend to lighting, the technical settings, the right lens choice – and, by the time we “get back”, we’ve lost the interaction or the fun of the exchange.
Which leads us to our next point.
3. Prepare for the shoot in advance.
Determine all the details up front – while still leaving room for spontaneous experiences, of course. You can have much of the decision-making out of the way and just enjoy being with your children, focusing on their togetherness or their individual expressions. Great decisions to make in advance includes which lens – or two – you may want to bring along, what clothing everyone is going to wear, how long the shoot will be in total (sometimes having a clear end point helps everyone to loosen up, especially older kids!), and what lighting you may want to employ.
4. Consider shooting some photographs in black & white. Sometimes a really cute outfit on your child can compete with contrasting patterns in your home decor. Other times multiple children may not agree on what works well for them in terms of coordinating clothing. Maybe each child’s outfit works great separately, but it looks like a whole lot going on when you put it all together. Choosing to shoot certain images in black and white can soften those jarring contrasts, allowing your subjects to be the ones making the most impact.
5. Make The Subject The Subject. Before taking a photograph, examine the foreground and background of your subject and take the time to unclutter your space; the more you remove, the more attention is focused on the subject. Minimizing distractions can go a long way towards letting your child or children stand out in the shot, which is often what matters the most to you – and usually the reason you want to make the effort to photograph your children in the first place.
All in all, it helps to know that sometimes a few additional efforts to prepare for and to consider during the shoot can make a big difference in how the experience of the shoot goes – and how the portraits turn out once the shoot is over. It may take a little more work to photograph your own family, but the long-term payoff is so worth it!
