How to Shoot Your Kids: 8 Ways to Get Knock-Out Family Photos

· by · in Parenting, Photography. ·

One of the keys to success in taking photos of your kids is, simply, to take lots and lots of them. In these digital days that’s no longer a problem or an expense – shutter away like mad and discard all but the few best. If your camera has a continuous shooting mode so much the better, although you’ll have to wade through stacks of very similar shots to find the perfect one. Besides taking a ton of pictures, though, there are some simple techniques for getting interesting and flattering photos.

Use a shallow depth of field. If your camera allows you to set the f-stop, use a large aperture (small f-stop) like f/2.8 to blur the background, making your child stand out without all the clutter. A large zoom lens can achieve the same effect, particularly if your subject is fairly far away from the background. If your camera doesn’t allow you to set the aperture, try maximum zooming on ‘portrait’ mode.

Choose an unusual angle. Sure, you could get a shot of your daughter standing smiling in front the Eiffel Tower, and that’s fine. But also try looking at the scene a bit differently. Get low, for example, and shoot her from below with the tower soaring above. Or maybe instead of her sitting on a wall next to the Seine, you could get a shot of her reflection on the water’s surface. Look for interesting compositions.

Don’t pose them. A friend of mine in Japan once showed me the album of his family’s European vacation. It was comprised entirely of shots of his family, in every possible permutation, standing in front of famous monuments making peace signs. After about the 600th it became somewhat monotonous. Often the most memorable pictures are candids, snapped at unsuspecting moments while the family goes about its business. Kids will often stop whatever they’re doing and mug for the camera when they see it aimed their way, but if you just keep shooting, or wait a bit before you shoot, they will generally tire of the game and go back to acting naturally. That’s when you pounce.

Get closer. Fill the frame with your child, like John Wayne in a John Ford movie. Or focus instead on one small area, like your son’s hand in his father’s, or his cheek on his mother’s chest. Intimate details often reveal more than you’d think.

Get farther away. Shoot your child as a small part of a large landscape. In this case it’s not a portrait you’re looking for, but an evocative mood which captures the essence of the scene. Try placing them off in a corner with the landscape stretching out before them, or as a small figure receding into the distance.

Pan your camera.  Have you ever taken a picture of your child in a flurry of action that looks, in the photo, awkwardly static? A perfectly still photo of your son whizzing by on his bike captures that instant, but it doesn’t capture the dizzying motion of the moment. Instead, try setting your camera on the lowest shutter speed the scene will tolerate, and panning the camera along with your moving subject. This takes practice, and often a lot of trial and error, but what you’ll end up with is a fairly clear rendering of your child with a blur of motion in the background. The key here is to time the movement of the camera as closely as possible to the speed of the subject.

Avoid flash whenever possible. Cameras with build-in flash hit your subjects with a blast of light from straight on, often washing them out and eliminating fine details and warm light. Without a lot of zoom, about 1/60th of a second is the slowest shutter speed you can use and still get a sharp image without camera shake, but if you can take the shot without flash it will render results closer to the original scene. The exception may be when your subject is severely backlit, in which case the flash will reveal the person in deep shadow and often create a sharp, vivid image.

Use the light to your advantage. Landscape photographers have one golden rule: Shoot in the early morning and late afternoon or evening. Harsh sunlight directly overhead creates unflattering shadows and ‘cold’ images, while the golden, slanting light earlier and later in the day brings out the best in your subjects. Or shoot your family backlit without flash, making them silhouetted against the sun. You won’t, of course, get details of their faces, but you can achieve some remarkable effects.

Use some or all of these techniques, think a bit about the shot before you take it, and you’ll find that your family photos have never looked so good.

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151 responses on “How to Shoot Your Kids: 8 Ways to Get Knock-Out Family Photos”

  1. My parents ALWAYS pose me. I really want a picture of myself doing something or at least somehow not aware of the camera. :(

  2. Thanks for the comments, foolishlife! My least favorite family photos are the posed ones. We somehow all just seem to look ridiculous, and my older son and I simply can’t manage smiles on command. Mine always comes out as a lopsided smirk, and my son’s is a clearly-artificial wad of cheese.

  3. Thank you for these tips. Candids are better, my friends and family don’t know how to pose so they always look awkward. They look better when they are relaxed and smiling naturally.

  7. It’s fun to let the kids “take pictures” too – with a little guidance (and secure grip on valuable cameras) you can get a kid’s shadow from their vantage point or see the world through their eyes and at their height… makes for a great distraction during long tourist queues as well.

    • Thanks for the comment, swimalong. We got our older son an inexpensive point-and-shoot last year, and he really gets into taking his own shots. Never given it to him in a queue, but that’s a great idea that I’ll have to try.

  8. Pingback: How to Shoot Your Kids: 8 Ways to Get Knock-Out Family Photos | Field Notes From Fatherhood | Seven Topics·

  9. Excellent reminders! It’s easy to get so caught up in the “I need to get a picture of them at Disney, in the school play or whatever” and forget that just a few extra seconds of thought can make the difference between a snapshot and a photograph. Good info!

  18. i love this! very well thought out and going to be quite valueable to so many families im sure! well done!

  19. Thanks, Natalie! The whole “Freshly Pressed” thing has brought an incredible amount of exposure. My blog is only three weeks old, and prior to being pressed I had something like 300 visitors – I now have over 20,000!. It’s freaking me out a bit, I must confess, but it’s great! Love the shots of the turbines. Look forward to seeing more of your blog, and thanks for your comments!

  20. Congratulations on being “Freshly Pressed”, I have been too this week – what an honour. I love this post and I am going to certainly try some of your tips on how to take better pictures of the family.

  22. Excellent tips! I learned on an old T70 and want to upgrade eventually. A little frightened of the extremely technical DSLRs but am tired of changing lenses and waiting so long to see the pics. I assume you are using a DSLR… if so, which one? Congrat’s on being FP’d.

  27. Great post. I have also found that taking lots of shots works. You’ll get a bunch of boring shots but in there somewhere will be the prize. I like to use the sports setting (because lets face it kids can’t stay still) and continuous shot. I’ve had some great results this way. I can’t wait to try some of your suggestions though.

  28. Awesome advice! I can’t wait to practice on my own kiddos! Thanks for the great post! : )

  32. Great tips! I’m guilty of the perfectly posed family photos, I’ll have to stop that now lol :)

  37. BRILLIANT SERIES. I love the shots in a swing and the one flying a kite. It must be such a joy to capture kids and watch them grow. Thanks for sharing.

  39. Hi there,

    A very good post! We own a Nikon D80 and I have been using my baby as a model but not I am quite clueless how to use many of the features. Your blog has made me want to try out some tricks and then it can be used not just for kids too!

  40. This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this. My dad would film every birthday, Christmas and special occasion. His favorite trick was telling my sister to “Say hello to everyone” (meaning for whoever would be watching in the future) while in her pretty party dress, and she turned around and said “Hello ever- dad, there’s no one there!”

  42. Great tips for any photography but especially great for shooting kiddos!

    My dad was a videographer, and his favorite trick to get good shots of our face was telling us that there was a bunny rabbit in the camera. Now, as I child I fully believed this was FACT. I swear, I have seen that bunny. But strange childhood beliefs aside, it got great shots of us looking deep into the camera with looks of wonder and charm in our eyes. A great trick. :) Thanks for sharing your tips!

  46. This is a great post. I absolutely suck as a photographer and my husband is constantly trying to get our older daughter to say “CHEEEEESE!” As a result, my blog is mostly devoid of photos. I’m looking forward to trying out these tips this weekend and getting some great family shots. Thanks!

  47. Once your kids are old enough its fun to change it up and let them have reward time with a simple (older?) digital camera. They take pictures of what they see and what is important to them. And what I find enjoyable is the pictures they take from their point of view. They maximize their reward time of 15 minutes with the camera — and by golly some of those pics are great fun! Esp the ones they take of each other. Sweet, silly, strange, always epic. And they are from a height and vantage point that is unique! And the 70-80% that aren’t keepers –click click delete. Just makes more room for next time around.

    • My son plays with an old iPhone of ours, and he loves to take pictures with the camera app. I was just looking through them today, and what getting such a kick out it. He’s 6 and there’s lots of TV screen stills, picture of his toys, and pictures of his feet. Just great!

    • My oldest son is six and last year at his summer school they did a week of digital photography, so we got him an inexpensive point and shoot. Lots of pictures of his Lego Hero Factory creations, but he’s also really into nature photography, particularly bugs. Good fun!

  48. Thanks for the great tips! I’ve been trying to improve my photography skills so I can add a more personal touch to my blog with pictures I’ve taken myself, so this is a really helpful blog post :)

    • Thanks for the comment, Andrea. It’s really nice when you hear that what you’ve written can actually be useful. Happy shooting!

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