If there is one thing people love, it’s taking pictures of their children. You can never have too many pictures of your child growing up. They are cute as heck as babies, rambunctious as toddlers, fascinating as adolescents, temperamental as tweens…well you get the picture. Then there are the annual class photos to document their physical development each year, and once in a while we all like to have professional pictures taken of the kids, or the whole family. Don’t pass that up. Nothing means more when your kids become adults than looking back on a professionally done family photograph! However, if you’re considering taking a few photos yourself, here are some tips for photographing children, from your Dallas photographer.

Be Quick

Kids can be fidgety and energetic and don’t usually stay in one place for long, so you need to be quick when photographing them. Here are a few suggestions:

• Make sure everything is in place and ready to go before adding the kids to the setting.
• Use a faster lens such as an 85mm.
• Shoot at home. Children are more relaxed in their natural environment.
• Don’t change their environment too much.
• Make it fun. Children like friendly and funny, and it’s a great way to put them at ease.

Making it Pretty

Here are some tips for making it pretty:

• In order to defocus the background and drop shadows behind them, place your children six or more feet in front of the background.
• You can freeze their movements with the use of a flashgun. An adjustable one that can be aimed at the ceiling or walls is worth the investment.
• To create more lighting at the “sweet spot,” cover colored ceilings and walls with white sheets and bounce the flash off the ceiling. To accomplish this, start with the shutter speed at 1/25th sec and the aperture at f/4.
• Try to utilize window lighting. It’s natural, directional, and attractive.

ABOUT YOUR DALLAS, TX, PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER:

Doug Davis has been producing professional, engaging videos and product, food, and lifestyle photography from his Dallas, TX, studio for more than 20 years. D-Squared Studios is located at 4312 Elm Street, Dallas, Texas, 75226. Contact our office at (214) 746-6336 or email Doug at doug.davis@d2studios.net.