Don’t Say Cheese! How To Take Better Pictures of Your Kids – Part 9 – It's All In the Details
by Cody Johnson | Feb 15, 2012 | Advice
This is it. The last installment of our "Don't Say Cheese!" series on how to take better pictures of your kids. I will leave this one pretty simple. You know your kids better than anyone out there. You know how special they are and you know their personality and all the little details that make them who they are. CAPTURE THOSE DETAILS. Because as they grow up those details will either disappear or change. This could be their freckles, hair cuts, new shoes, dressing up for Easter, a smile that has a few teeth missing. The list depends on your child.
Capture those details that make them unique from the time they are born until they move out of the house. You will have an amazing chronology of your child's history. The best way to capture these details is: Get In Close! I also call this "Getting Intimate". This can be getting physically close or using a telephoto lens to get in close. The sooner you can start to take close up photos of your children the more comfortable and used to it they will be as they grow up. I'm not saying they won't be annoyed by it from time to time...but you know what...that is another fantastic detail to capture...their annoyance.
Get close ups of feet, hands, and especially their face at least once a year. Some of the photos I have taken as a portrait photographer that have been parents favorites is a full frame shot of their child's face. And they don't always have to be smiling. If they are missing a few teeth (to the tooth fairy...not in a fight) then you may want that smile. But that is the whole point of this series...capturing your kids in their everyday environment without a forced smile. If you love making photo albums or scrapbooks or even having us print your pictures on canvas then photographing your child's details of what makes them unique along with a normal portrait can fill up a yearly photo album or scrapbook or makes for a great wall collage or put all those photos on one canvas as a canvas collage. Doing that once a year and you will have a living timeline. Using the canvas photos to decorate their room or a special wall in your home is a fantastic decorating idea.
One last little note. Have your camera ready...any camera. The best camera is the one in your hands at the time. So whether it is your smart phone, point and shoot or your DSLR. Have it ready to go at a moments notice because you never know when that moment you want to capture will happen. On the playground, soccer practice, at the amusement park, swimming at the pool, or their first guitar lesson. All of these moments are opportunities to capture amazing photos of your child in their environment, living life. All the details make up your child's personality so get in close and start snapping...and remember all the other tips you have learned over the course of the "Don't Say Cheese" series.
Thank you so much for following along and I really hope you learned and are confident to go out and take photos you are proud of.
crop the photo so all you see is the eyes.
One of my favorite photos of my Godson. Close up capturing his wild hair.
Parents you, know you get this look. Might as well remember it for all time. Even though it is probably burned into your memory already.
Going to the ice cream shop is a great opportunity to get some detail.
For newborns, it's all about the detail...especially when they are asleep and you can put them in any position you want. Get photos of their feet, hands, ears and lips.
Freckles...need I say more.
Sucking on thumbs or fingers is definitely something you want to capture...plus with an expression like that makes for a family favorite photo.
Going to the pool this summer, bring the camera. Just make sure they don't pull you in with your camera.
Being silly or hiding from the camera? Perfect. Shoot it...it's still about them!
Bubbles and young ones are a perfect combo.
Another good detail to get is the shoes. Lots of interesting ways to photograph these.
