A Novice Level Guide to Capture Kids Photography

Just like wedding photography, kid’s photography is getting popular these days. Kids move around a lot and they easily express their emotions and needs which makes it tough to capture them. Despite being a challenging process, they can be photographed easily. 

There’s a lot to consider whether you want to pursue a profession in portraiture or simply want to record memories with your own family. Here are some practical and technical kid’s photography tips that can help to capture a good image.  

Practical Tricks to Capture Photography of Kids 

Kids often start to act unnatural when you point the camera towards them. While photographing the kids, remember persistence and patience is the key. Here are practical tips to assist the photographers to capture the kids in their element. 

1. Get down their Level 

It is much obvious that you are going to be taller than the subject. Try to take the picture of the kids from their eye level. This means you have to bend down or even lay on the floor to shoot a perfect picture. If you’re photographing more than one youngster, stand at the same height as the tallest of them. 

You can get inventive with your compositions to enhance your child’s size by shooting upwards from a lower level than their eye level. 

2. Impromptu Shots are the Best 

The best part about capturing the images of the kids are often improvised. When you ask a child to do something they usually become recalcitrant. In that scenario let them be carefree and wide. Trust me, you will get the best images with wide smiles. 

Let them do whatever they want either dancing on the couch, jumping on the bed or anything that sounds mischievous will make them happy. 

3. Goof or Joke Around them 

Before you start clicking the image of a child, try to build a rapport. Introduce yourself, give them a high-five, chat with them, and so on. This makes the child feel at ease as you shoot them, and you may talk about their favorite things.

While photographing the kid be goofy or joke around to make them laugh by singing songs or dancing with them. This helps to click amazing pictures. 

4. Capture their Photos with Friends or Toys 

Suppose, you are having a hard time capturing the photo of the child, then include their friend or favorite toys. Try letting the kid interact with their friends while you fully focus on them. 

Including their favorite toy during the photo-shoot session so they can play and remain preoccupied for a fixed period. Things like plastic balls, bubbles, or wagons are always good with the kids. 

5. Do not Tire them out 

Time is precious when photographing children, as they have the shortest span of attention. Pushing a child beyond the point of capturing the image does not benefit anybody. A tired kid becomes uncooperative when they feel grumpy and annoyed. If you know the camera gear workings and how to take the quality of the photo, then you will be able to shoot and move. So you can get unique images and photographing the kid will quickly end. 

6. Play Ticklish Games 

The ticklish game works with every age to make them laugh or smile. Having a parent, sibling, or grandparent tickling the children makes them laugh along. You can get super natural-looking photos. 

Ask any parent or grandparent to lift them in their arms to get a smile or act like throwing kids in the air always get child smile. No matter how annoyed they are, the kid’s mood will uplift.

7. Accessorize Them 

Accessorize kids with different items such as sunglasses, funky hats, or jewelry to look funny and cool. Dressing up the children from age 4 to 11 adult’s clothes and accessorizing them by making it look humorous and cute. 

Technicality and Camera Setting Secrets to Capture Kids Photography 

Apart from keeping the kids happy during the photo session, it is necessary to have a basic knowledge of the technical aspects of kid’s photography. Here are a few points. 

1. Shoot in Continuous Mode 

You can miss out on a cute moment or laughter, in a matter of seconds. So, it is advised to keep your camera in a continuous mode at all times. Hang onto the shutter button for a few seconds to click on the perfect picture. 

Suppose, you are using a DSLR to capture the kids, then make sure your shutter speed is high (faster than 1/200 or 1/500 if they are running around) to avoid any kind of blurry images. 

2. Focus on the Eye of Subject 

Whenever you click portraiture, the key focus is always on the eye of the subject. The eyes must constantly be in razor-sharp focus, and ideally, they should reveal largely the iris/pupil rather than the white area. The eyes in photos attract the viewers and make the image instantly more alluring. 

Suppose, you want to make your child’s eyes stand out, try and get a “catch light” in them. This trick can be used when light falls on the kid’s face that highlights the eyes. 

3. Recommended Lens 

You do not need any expensive gear to capture kids’ photography. However, investing in the great lens has its benefits. Here are the optional lens for DSLR users. 

• 24-70mm f/2.8 

This lens is great for kids’ photography, especially when they move around so fast. This lens allows taking the alternate between wide and close shots with ease. 

• 50mm f/1.2 

50mm f/1.2 has an amazing depth of field and aperture allows you to shoot in the low-light location. This lens is ideal when you want to fill the frame with the subject and blur the background to make the subject pop. This focal length achieves the ideal blend of wide and telephoto angles, resulting in striking portraits with a hint of the surroundings.

• 35mm f/1.2

This lens is perfect, when you want to take family portraits or kids’ photos with their parents or siblings this lens is a good choice to capture the surroundings. The wide aperture has a stunning depth which will keep the subject on focus including the surroundings. 

4. Consider the Lightning 

The light can make or break the photography. Pay attention to the direction of light, the color of the light, the hardness of the light, and more. Making some minute adjustments such as the direction the child is facing can make a huge difference. 

Photographing the kids in an outside location, during the golden hours can make your image look dreamy and wonderful. 

5. Post-Processing 

Kids are moving faster and you often have seconds to capture a specific moment, action, or expression. In that case, capturing a subject with a clear and sharp focus becomes the priority. You can always crop and recompose later in post-processing and it also gives a chance to play in a unique framing and composition. 

Bottom Line 

The number one objective for photographing the kids is to make it fun for them. Once they are enjoying themselves, you can capture priceless and amazing images. Children are best snapped when they are smiling, laughing, or playing in their natural setting, therefore the photographer must be prepared for impromptu moments. I hope the aforementioned tricks can aid you to capture kid’s photography in a unique and fun way.