fbpx

With these confinement days looking so much like each other, time quickly goes by and kids grow up.
Although these days life seems to be upside down, let’s take advantage of the fact that we are more at home to photograph the little ones.

Here are some suggestions and tips to photograph the kids at home:

Genuine smiles and laughter

We always like those pictures where we strategically catch someone smiling. However, when we try to do the same with our children, with so much agitation, we end up asking them to smile…and we get pictures with a forced smile and that expression “okay but hurry up I want to play”, right?
One trick I often use during my sessions is to make the moment a kind of game. For example, “the serious game” (whoever laughs first, loses). What’s more tempting for a child than to be told that he has to get serious? It’s certain that sooner or later, he won’t hold up and it’ll have a laugh!
Another trick is to ask children to think of an ugly face to show us only when we say so. Now take the opportunity to shoot during the countdown. (The expressions “preparing” for the grimace will be delicious!). Three, two, one… an ugly face! – which will most likely end in a big laugh.

Window light

Find the places in the house that have a soft and directional light. To find this light we should place the photographer next to a window where the sun does not hit directly, or under the pleasant white light of a cloudy day – great for photographing.
A diffuse and natural light allows you to define the features of the face and the textures smoothly. Try placing the photographer under various directions of light, (coming from the side, from the front), and realize how the direction of light influences the photo you are taking.

Other angles

Instead of photographing the little ones from your angle, try to put yourself at their height. Sit down or lie down next to them and photograph them at their height, or even from a lower angle. This way, toys and the whole surrounding environment will become more interesting. Moments like crawling, the first steps, or simply sitting around playing are so good to try this suggestion.
Photographing from a lower angle up allows a perspective that the child is smaller than everything around him.
Photographing from the top down can result in curious pictures: with little babies who like to be on their stomachs, or with kids playing on the floor and looking up at us.

Straight lines

This is a detail to which we do not always pay attention and which we only realize after photographing. Photographs where the background has straight lines (vertical or horizontal – by the presence of windows/doors/furniture), should maintain this orientation, because our immediate instinct makes us turn our head slightly to “correct” this inclination.
A correct position when we hold the machine/phone and take into account the lines present in our field of view allows this rotation not to happen so often.
However, there are exceptions. Often the dynamism caused by the inclination of the lines in the background can give more energy to the photo and there is no reason for any correction.

Natural frames

In composing a photograph I like very much to use elements that can serve as natural frames.
With the child/ parents focused as main elements, the elements of the environment itself, (doors, furniture and decoration), closer to the photographer and around the photographer, are blurred. This allows us to capture images as if we were peeking through the elements of space, forming a natural frame, which makes the image more enveloping.

Good photos!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.