How to Take Great Photos of Your Child

Children are naturally photogenic. Ive worked in studios and children are so easy to photograph. What I hear from parents is that they dont think that their kids are that easy to photograph. Thats only because they dont know some basic tips.

1. Young children especially infants take beautiful photos while they are asleep. Keep the light natural avoid flash if at all possible. Keep the image tight on the child and crop out distractions. For infants when theyre awake youre better off having another person in image, it gives the child someone to interact with and you can crop the shot to keep the other person out of the image or you can keep the adult and child in the photo.

2. Toddlers look best when they dont know that youre taking their photo. Candid shots are the way to go for this age group. Keep your camera handy and when they start doing something cute snap the photo quick. Remember your child doesnt have to be looking directly into the camera to take a great photo. Dont ever say to the toddler, Oh how cute, now look here. It wont happen.

3. Children ages 4 plus are really good at sitting for photos. But if youre going to dress them up make sure that they are comfortable and dont put them in some outfit they hate, it will show in the image. Crop tight on your subject, keep the light natural, and if youre using a toy to get their attention make sure that it makes them laugh and doesnt scare them. (I learned that lesson the hard way.)

4. Older children are really good at dressing up for photos. The hardest thing will be getting a natural smile from them. Say, cheese is a sure fire way to get a fake smile. Most of us learned young to smile automatically at that cue. Here you have to get silly. One time I was working with a young boy and his older sister. She was a natural smiler and loved being dressed up. He was not happy and kept pulling at his tie. His mother straightened it for the tenth time. I posed them and addressed the young boy I said, Now on the count of three I want you to say, I hate this tie! His sister smiled surprised at what I said, and he grinned. I took the photo. He then screamed, I hate this tie! Again both smiled wide and I took a second photo. The images turned out beautiful.

I hope these tips help you to take better photos of your child. With a little practice and a few tips youll see better family photos immediately.

If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

MORE RESOURCES:

Photoburbia.com, a New Online Community for Photographers, Kicks ... - MarketWatch

The best word to describe photography products - Core77.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/01/help-key-why-when-and-where-should-you-buy-a-dslr/cid=1276609365ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEUGzKOBidElBJl3psUxxhDlx8dcAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=DQUyyPGiUp8Jimgurl=www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/d3x-11.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2CrunchGear/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/the_best_word_to_describe_photography_products_11879.aspcid=1276609365ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEw3um5KFVgMAKPJXeXrZFJ4tBe1gThe best word to describe bphotography/b products/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCore77.com,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobr7 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b but we love the new term they#39;ve used to coin the camera, which so handily encompasses most bphotography/b accoutrements: quot;Fexpensive.quot;/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/01/help-key-why-when-and-where-should-you-buy-a-dslr/cid=1276609365ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEUGzKOBidElBJl3psUxxhDlx8dcAHelp Key: Why, When, and Where should you buy a DSLR?/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCrunchGear/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276609365hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Open house for photography and multimedia program at KCC - Battle Creek Enquirer

New York: Photography - ARTINFO

Holiday Faires: Local arts and crafts abound - Part II - Ukiah Daily Journal

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_11112487cid=1276249059ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNGwBggRjuhvQIhR4DTPGdq58jGPTAHoliday Faires: Local arts and crafts abound - Part II/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fUkiah Daily Journal,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr9 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The quot;Church Street Galleryquot; will open with a showing of Liden#39;s travel bphotography/b on Friday Dec. 5. On Saturday, Dec. 6, the Ukiah Valley will be filled b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-1fd=Rurl=http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11107694cid=1276249059ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNHQrKVvNg1-ZenO6L_jlI5YuYWXxAMonterey Museum of Art free to public in December/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrContra Costa Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276249059hl=ennobrall 3 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

New photography exhibit to open at MoR - Bo Zone

Photography Competition Grand Prize Is $50000 - Designer Today (press release)

Miley Wants A Career In Photography - Cinema Blend

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600447/20081201/cyrus__miley.jhtmlcid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEjO1VFl1GlEXmpTgA7ZTT9ppm5zAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=LDF4ukk3QoEJimgurl=www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/c/cyrus_miley/news_120108/281x211.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2MTV.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://www.cinemablend.com/celebrity/Miley-Wants-A-Career-In-Photography-13714.htmlcid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNH5PhjOljVXUrYlW9rCpkZOSLBFHwMiley Wants A Career In bPhotography/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCinema Blendnbsp;-/font nobrNov 30, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1According to TransWorldNews, Miley talked about her desire to attend art school, saying, “I do want to come to London to study bphotography/b. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-1fd=Rurl=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600447/20081201/cyrus__miley.jhtmlcid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEjO1VFl1GlEXmpTgA7ZTT9ppm5zAMiley Cyrus Says She#39;d #39;Love To#39; Work With Controversial Vanity b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMTV.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-2fd=Rurl=http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00020242.htmlcid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEeBD17vE8QwpkC4FASdyjaa51sgAVanity Fair Topless Pics Scandal Inspired Miley Cyrus to Be a b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAceShowbiz/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-3fd=Rurl=http://www.examiner.com/x-759-Photography-Examiner~y2008m11d29-Miley-Cyrus-wants-to-be-a-photographercid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNHjmO-_05HOB_SVKpo1ku9wzUr3rQMiley Cyrus wants to be a photographer/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrExaminer.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-4fd=Rurl=http://www.jewtastic.com/posts/54051cid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNG-CN7-W6GtkrwuvkaOMuadS54T6gnobrJewtastic/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-5fd=Rurl=http://www.infosjeunes.com/Miley-Cyrus-Photographer-in-the-Making_a145341.htmlcid=1275807526ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNHips4DGj1bwoedVVSLpPKH7OEAvgnobrInfos Jeunes France/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1275807526hl=ennobrall 7 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Local Artist Showcases Photography - KHTS Radio

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.hometownstation.com/local-news/artists-photography-showcase-2008-11-24-11-58-2.htmlcid=1276108819ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNF4JnnJGU6X21IpGXInEMtXrh6kXwLocal Artist Showcases bPhotography/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fKHTS Radio,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 29, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Close-ups and landscape photographs with a high level of contrasts and unusual perspectives are what defines Fisher#39;s bphotography/b. Each picture is printed b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/6452/cid=1276108819ei=l5g0SfP_M4Gi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNFXtKWWixqh8vDgxRTlLHKNT6g1UgArt in the Afternoon/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrSignal/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276108819hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Christmas books: photography - Telegraph.co.uk

Photography - Google News

RELATED ARTICLES

Infrared Photography and the Car Thief - Successful Digital Imaging
Infrared photography is sometimes placed on the outside edge of the mainstream photographic world. To the uninitiated observer infrared photography conjures up television images of car thieves speeding away from police helicopters during the dark hours of the night, only to be caught hiding beneath bushes beside a darkened home as their hot bodies light up the camera monitor in the police chopper like Bedouin camel herders atop a Sahara sand dune.

The Primer on Digital Camera Printers
Once you have clicked photos through your digital camera, then the next step is to turn these 'virtual' images into real photos. One way is to send the memory card to a digital photo laboratory and get the images developed there.

How To Avoid Or Reduce Red-Eye
Photography with the aid of a digital camera is beyond doubt very fascinating. However, it also has many a nooks that the users of the digital camera must be aware of and also must be well educated to deal with in order to produce good photographs worth the most prized digital camera.

Digital Camera Reviews and Ratings De-Mystify the Choices
Shopping for a new digital camera can be quite frustrating with the hundreds of choices available. Digital camera reviews clarify this confusion by comparing camera features and options, then rating how each camera compares with similar models.

Why 1.5 Megapixels is Enough
Dots Per Inch is a useful measure of relative resolution. But if you don't know the image size in inches or some other measure of size, then the amount of dots per inch doesn't mean much.

Where to Find Cheap Disposable Cameras
There are many kinds of disposable cameras. All disposable cameras are already inexpensive, but there are some that are even more of a bargain than others.

How to Buy Wholesale Disposable Cameras
Wholesale disposable cameras are disposable cameras bought in quantity. Bulk disposable cameras are the best single-use camera deal online.

Where Do Great Ideas Come From?
At a Photo Club meeting I attended recently, the President made a comment on another meeting he had attended, where someone in the audience asked the presenter where to find good subjects to photograph. The presenter in question started giving specifics instead of identifying the core issues in question, Attitude and Perspective.

Seven Ways for Saving Your Digital Images Forever!
So, you have taken lots of pictures with your new digital camera, the memory card is full, and you are wondering how to store and archive your images.1 Buy another memory cardThe method of storing your images with least effort is to buy a new memory card and keep your images on the first card.

Using Film Speed Effectively (Black & White Film Thoughts)
It's hard to find sometimes but it's making a resurgence, black and white film. If you've never used this film now is the time to try it out.

Tame Those Memories
Family vacations, summer weddings and family reunions are in full swing, and the warm memories and envelopes of photographs are ever growing! You certainly intend to organize them -- but the boxes in the attic are full of intentions, and now the photograph CDs are being to pile up! What can you do to stop the madness?Step 1: Decide why you are saving the photographs. My mother- in-law, for example, wants to ensure them for future generations, which means acid-free paper and detailed labeling.

Diffusion & Softening of Digital Photography Images
Like many people who've made the switch from film cameras to digital, I've discovered that the lens tools I once used so effectively on my cameras to soften, diffuse and vignette my images for quality "finished" professional results won't do for digital what they did for film.I'm sure it's arguable by some that their diffusers still work fine, and I too have discovered that some tools still work okay under some circumstances; my Ziess Softar #1 seemed to offer decent results when photographing a single subject in the studio but I knew that the black netting diffuser that I used with my Lindahl Bell-o-shade no longer worked on the Nikon D70 zoom lens at the wider angles without showing lines in the image.

Photography - Rules of Composition
Composition is defined as the combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole. In photography that definition is very important in taking quality pictures.

Stitching Memories
Sometimes, usual photographs look so common and boring. Converting your pictures into charcoal or oil painting is a welcome change but then, a lot of people have been into these crafts already that there are times when these portraits too, look clich�d.

The Venice Rookery
Love is in the air at the Venice Rookery. The birds (and the bees) are there doing the thing they are so famous for, and you can take pictures of it! Seriously, though, the Venice Rookery is an ideal spot to photograph birds mating, building their nests, fighting for territory and feeding their chicks.

The Mysterious Powerful Element of a Picture That Sells
A photo buyer calls for a picture of pigs. It could be about anything.

Optimize Your Photos for the Web
It doesn't matter if your emailing photos of your grandson or putting images of your latest product on your online store. Too many people don't consider optimizing their photos for the web.

Is your Digital Camera Compatible With Your Computer?
So you recently bought a digital camera or perhaps your thinking about it. And perhaps you may be wondering how many pictures will your computer hold? First you need to answer a few questions to come to an accurate conclusion.

Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with Your Digital Camera - Part II
Night photos can take on a somewhat magical quality you may find lacking in normal daytime photography. Amazing night pictures certainly can attract attention.

Disposable Cameras for Weddings
Disposable wedding cameras (also called single-use cameras) will never replace a professional photographer, of course. But they could save money on the overall photo budget, provide memorable fun for you and your guests, and occasionally turn up a priceless casual shot.