Today I share with you one more photography tip so that you can use with your kids and improve your family photos. It is an absolute truth that any parent loves to see his kid smiling and laughing. And to take a picture of that, he just asks his son to to smile to the camera (or even say “cheese”). The result of that is always a forced smile, very unnatural that does not reflect the child’s personality at all. So, in this post, I bring you a few ticks that I use all the time when I photograph kids that also relaxes the child as well as the parents and makes them enjoy the session more.
The idea is to turn that moment into some sort of game for the children. Something that results in 90% of the times (depends on the child’s age as well) is to play a the “serious game” which is a very simple game where the first person to show the teeth or starts laughing looses. I, myself, play this game with the child I want to photograph or sometimes ask the parents to enter the game too. What happens to kid when you absolutely forbid him to laugh? Sooner or later he won’t be able to hold and he will give the most genuine laughter there is.
Another thing that I sometimes do is to ask the child to give the most ugly face that he can think about. But ask him not to do it right away. He needs to think first and do it at the end of a countdown (or at the count of 3, for instance). It is very important to give emphasis on the countdown because the anticipation and that smile of someone who is bout to something really funny will give you an amazing expression of your kid. As well as after he makes that ugly face, when he for sure will give you another amazing laughter.
The images that follow are the result of some of this kind of playful moments.
And of want to know more, you can check here all the tips published so far. Enjoy!
