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Taking Good Digital Photos Of Your Kids
I think I still have some old rolls of film lying around the house undeveloped. It seems like an age ago but in reality it wasn't that far back that taking a photo and getting your hands on the end result were often far apart, and on occasion that final step never seemed to happen! Back then taking a picture was often a case of lining your subjects up a taking a couple of shots in the hope that one of them would produce the result you wanted. However, as a regular recipient of little stickers on my photos when I picked them up from the development shop the art of taking a good picture looked like it was going to elude me.
That all changed four years ago when I got my very first digital camera. All of a sudden I could point and click to my hearts content and immediately see the results which ushered in a period of great experimentation and after a whole lot of trial and error I think I've finally got the hang of how to take a half decent photo. I'm not a professional photographer, just an amateur that likes to have keepsakes to remember things by, especially my kids and those of my friends and family. Hopefully some of these tips will help you improve the pictures you take but if you have any other suggestions on how to take a better photo, please feel free to email me.
Tip 1- Choose your camera carefully.
This is absolutely vital! A good camera can make the world of difference but doesn't necessarily have to break the bank. Initially, the most important thing to check with digital cameras was the resolution it shot with the higher resolutions costing a lot more. However, as technology has advanced the camera companies are now turning out even the much cheaper models with ever higher resolutions. In my opinion, if you're just a happy snapper like me then 3 million pixels is more than enough!
For specific recommendations, this is one area where I really do think it's good to defer to the experts so I'm going to point you in the direction of a couple of sites that run regular reviews and round ups of digital cameras. They are free to access apart from the time it takes out of your day to read them so half an hour of your time at one of these sites should be more than enough:
Cnet
Trusted Reviews
PC Advisor
For what it's worth, my current camera is a Canon Digital Ixus 750 and I love it!
Tip 2 - Lighting
Most modern cameras have an option to let the camera decide if the flash is needed or not but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give some thought to positioning of the lighting around your picture as it will still have a massive impact on how your picture comes out.
There's no perfect answer when it comes to light and it can quickly get complicated which is something I prefer to avoid! Nice and simple photography thank you very much. Therefore I just try and pay attention to where the lighting is coming from and most importantly of all, ensure it's not directly behind my child. Also, early morning natural light has given me some of my best and favourite pictures!
Tip 3 – Get close!
Close ups work fantastically well with babies and toddlers... plain and simple.
Tip 4 – Backgrounds don't always disappear into the background
If you have the chance, think about what else will be included in the background of the photo. Although you can crop them using software afterwards it's much easier to tidy away anything lying around on the floor at the time if you get the chance. You don't want a great picture ruined by the surroundings which aren't even the focus!
Of course this isn't possible when you're trying to grab a moment but if you have time to think before you shoot then don't just think about the main subject of the photo.
Tip 5 – Take lots of pics
We're all familiar of the image of the paparazzi camera bulbs flashing continuously as they chase after celebrities. They're the pros and they know that you can never take too many pictures in pursuit of the perfect one. The beauty of digital photography is that any you aren't happy with, you can just delete with the minimum of fuss! I normally end up deleting about 80% of my pictures simply because they are duplicates of the same image but the ones I keep are almost always what I wanted as I had numerous attempts at capturing it.
The one limiting factor you may have here is the size of your memory card. Try and buy as big a one as possible or, even better, buy two so you have one to fall back on if the first one is full when you're out and about. However, remember that the higher the resolution of picture you take, the more space it will take up on your card, but also the more detail it will contain.
Summary
Nothing too complicated in all that but I hope it gives you a bit of confidence to go out there and take photos of your kids to your hearts content. After all, a good picture will be a treasured memory for life!
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