I've always loved photography and for many years I even wanted to set up my own darkroom and develop my own black and white rolls. Although I still like it very much, I married a professional photographer, so he's in charge of taking most of the photos in our house.
Luckily, I have learned many tricks from him and, now, I get to share them with you–so you can always take great pictures of your kids. Before going into any details, let me emphasize that in this digital age you don't have to worry about the quantity of pictures you take, as we do not use rolls… so take many, many photos. My husband usually takes hundreds of photos and, of these, only a few come out really well.
Read below for my fool-proof tips:
1) Not all photos have to be modeled. Many times, the best photos are those taken candidly, without your children even noticing. Maybe you can capture your daughter playing with a favorite toy, or when eating or even sleeping. This way, you will have a really nice memory of her, in the most natural possible way.
2) Don't forget the details. Photos don't always have to include the entire body of your children. A close-up of his eyes or, if they are still babies, of their hands or feet can also be wonderful. I love to take pictures my son's gaze because he has big eyes and very long eyelashes.
3) Find the best light. Pictures will come up better with the light of early morning and just as the sun sets. Other times, the light is very strong and will cause a lot of shadows. This doesn't mean you can't take pictures at other times other than early morning, or late afternoon. Just remember to use a manual flash ,even if it seems weird.
4) Take a good look at what you're framing. Sometimes, for wanting to capture a moment, we are not aware of the all the things included in the frame of the photo. That is, we don't realize that maybe there is a tree in the distance that seems to be coming from the head of one of our children. This can be fixed by simply moving the camera a bit, and framing the picture differently.
Image via Thinkstock
