How to Take Professional Looking Portraits of Your Children
Our children are beautiful and we want our photos to reflect that! We try to catch that precocious look in their eyes or that sweet sleepy smile right before bedtime, getting just the right shot. Taking photos of our children is a way of preserving that moment in time, to look back on as they grow, oh too quickly.
We’re so lucky to share some valuable tips from professional photographer, Jacenta Grover. In just 4 steps, you’ll be taking photos like a pro.
Do you own a DSLR camera and struggle with taking portraits of your children? I am here to offer you a few tips to capture them beautifully!
Step One: The Mode!
Put your DSLR camera in Manual mode. I know this sounds like a super scary thing to do, but I promise you will get the best photos! By putting your camera in Manual mode, you get full control of all of the settings.
Step Two: The Settings!
You want to keep your shutter speed around 1/500 or higher. Children are quick and by keeping your shutter speed faster you will be able to capture those quick moments. Depending on how much light you have available depends on where you keep your ISO. If you are outdoors you will want to keep your ISO around 100-200 as long as there is plenty of light. If you feel like your images are too dark to work, you can raise your ISO.
The f-stop is what determines how much of your image is in focus. The lower the f-stop the more blurred your background will be, the higher it is the more in focus it will be. I like to keep my f-stop as low as possible, depending on which lens I am using.
Step Three: Posing and Backgrounds!
When deciding where to photograph your children, you always want to keep the background in mind. I love shooting later in the day because the colors you get at the sun is getting lower are just beautiful! You always want to pose with their backs to the sun, no one wants harsh sun on the face with squinty eyes!
You also want to keep yourself about level with them but try not to shoot up at them. Shooting up, on anyone will always give the illusion of a larger or more than one chin and it makes them look bigger. Shooting down at them is always an option as well. Think about how you take a selfie! Shooting down gives you a much more flattering view rather than shooting up!
Step Four: Outfits!
This is where a lot of people run into issues. When choosing outfits try to keep it nice and simple, think of one main color that you would like. For this example, we will say blue. You have a daughter that has a dress that is mostly blue with a mustard yellow flower design on it. For your other children, you can have them wear mustard yellow shirts and blue accessories or blue shirts and mustard yellow accessories. If you choose too many patterned items of clothing it will all just clash. Just remember to keep it simple!
In the end, you just want to have fun! Don’t stress too much about smiles or having them look directly at the camera. Some of my favorite images are of children walking away or turned around, not looking at the camera and looking off, or just sitting there with a serious look! Now go out and capture some beautiful photos!
Jacenta Grover is a professional photographer with a portrait studio located in Oxford, Maine and serves all of Maine. She specializes in and loves shooting Maternity, Newborn, Children and Family portraits. You can find her on Facebook under Jacenta Grover Photography and online at www.jacentagroverphotography.com
