Whether you are a professional photographer or a hobbyist, child photography is one of the most difficult photography skills. However, by following our tips you’ll be a better child photographer in no time.
Set up your camera before you start the photoshoot
Child photography is one of the most challenging types of photography because children tend to fidget a lot and have short attention spans. That’s why you should set up your camera before the start of the photoshoot because children will likely lose interest if they have to wait for you to look through your camera’s settings.
As with most photography, use natural lighting whenever possible
In probably 99% of photography situations, using natural lighting over an artificial flash is the way to go because it will give you the best picture. The easiest way to achieve this is by taking the child being photographed outside during the day – a park is a good option.
Let the child get involved with the photography
If you are a photographer, you probably know that taking photos is way more fun than being the model being photographed. Let the children you take photos of into all the action – show them the screen of your camera as you take photos of them so they are more involved and get excited about having photos taken of them.
Set up your camera for shooting sports
When you take photographs of children there is a very good chance that they won’t be able to sit still for long, which can cause blurry photos if you aren’t prepared. It’s best to set your camera up for capturing fast movements, so pretend you are going to photograph sports and use a fast shutter speed.
Take burst photos to take LOTS of photos
Since children move around so much you never know when they might do something interesting. Set your camera to burst mode so you can hold down the shutter button to take several shots in quick succession.
Let kids be kids and let them play
While there are occasions when you want your child to formally pose for a photo, such as a school photo, child photography is best when you capture children being themselves – that means capturing them when they are playing. When you take photos of a child let them do what they enjoy doing and get your camera out.
Taking child photos the easy way – hiring a CheesySmiles photo booth
Putting on a birthday party for your child? When you hire a photo booth from CheesySmiles, you not only make it easy to capture great photos (because the photo booth does all the work) but the kids have crazy amounts of fun. All of our photo booth packages come with props included for extra fun.
Our photo booths print the photos too, so everybody goes home with amazing mementos.