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Posted on May 22, 2012

These pictures are quite old, but when I lost many months of blog posts, many of my favorite images disappeared off the blog.  Your photos are always safe, archived and double archived away in case you ever need them again, and this sweet boy just HAD to be re-posed here!  He is too cute to be left off of this photography blog!

Posted on April 29, 2012

The end of April already, hard to believe!  I’m stepping outside of my photography blog comfort zone a bit here and am a part of a fabulous group of photographers doing a blog “carousel.”  We each have a photo-related topic that we love- this month’s theme is informational topics, and are all linking to each other… take a spin through and check out the articles everyone wrote about!  The link to the next photographer’s article is at the end of my post.

My topic – Taking great photos of your own children!

As a photographer, I admittedly go through spurts of NOT photographing my own children enough at all in our little every day adventures (and non-adventures!)  I’ve learned my lesson, and I recognize that Mom snapshots are so meaningful and have an important place in every family’s life, alongside professional portraits!  Those snapshots can be SO beautiful with just a little effort and some extra thought.

Not every picture of your children has to resemble a formal portrait session to be beautiful.  And you don’t need backdrops and strobes.  Here, a few thoughts on what makes casual/candid childrens pictures memorable and special.

1. Expressions.  Yes, cheesy expressions can be cute in their own cheesy way, but more so, real expressions capture who your kids really are, what they really look like, and the faces that they really make.  They’re genuine.  Get creative.  The pouts, the thoughtfulness, the curious expressions… your kiddos are beautiful, but sometimes pictures of them not looking at you can tell so much.  They are all worthwhile, even the quieter ones like this one…

2. Keep it simple.  I know photographers are often known for utilizing “props” but often the best photos are entirely prop free.  Focus on faces, on details, on expressions, actions, whatever is happening in that moment.  No extras needed.

3. Keep an eye on the light.  Every notice how depending on how bright the background is BEHIND your child, it can make their face dark?  Your child standing in front of a very bright background (or window, with daylight) will make their face very underexposed: aka – too dark to see the features on those little faces!  Without using a manual setting and compensating for that, you can easily keep an eye on where your light is coming from.  “Directional” lighting is light that crosses the face from the side; it gives beautiful depth.  With this image, for example, the light was coming from a window to my left, to the left of baby’s head.

4. Get close.  Super close ups are always a hit.  See your reflection in those eyes!  It’s OKAY to crop off the top of a head.  You know what the top of your child’s hair looks like and you have it in many photos… it is just great to sometimes intentionally “chop off” the top of that head and get in closer on those little faces!

5. Get lots of environment.  Kind of the opposite of “get close” and “keep it simple” but if you’re in a special environment, don’t be afraid to pull back – pull way back- and capture it!  Sometimes with great photography, there are lots of telling things in a scene that come together to tell a bit of a story.

6. Capture sweet details and every day  moments.  When my kids have a day off school, we go to Steak & Shake for breakfast once we all roll out of bed.  It’s our thing.  Not something we normally photograph, but when we did, IT WAS ADORABLE!  The little details of our Steak & Shake breakfasts, building the cars, sticking the stickers in the wrong spots, sharing the breakfast milkshake, wearing the hats… priceless!  I know some photographer moms have taken their cameras with them to grocery stores.  Such fun pictures can result from that!  Every day little things, unexpected times to have your camera… some of the best.  Sweet little details definitely have a place in your photo album too.  Things like your kids unexpectedly holding hands, just having a quiet little moment.

7. Light in the eyes!  The light that is reflected in the eyes is what brings a picture to LIFE, we call them catchlights and we strive to keep them there.  Eyes with no patches of bright light in them look empty, they definitely don’t show the incredible magic that lies behind those eyes.  Dora the explorer doesn’t have those big white reflections of light in her eyes for nothing!

8.  Shoot from unexpected angles (both from the camera’s standpoint and get the kids a little crazy!)  Get high, get low, throw in a little camera tilt if you’re feeling it.  Flip the kids upside down or lie them on the grass… Do something outside the norm to add some fun variety to your pictures!

9. Get off-center. The rule of thirds tells us that the focal point of the image should NOT be centered.  I break this rule sometimes (or a lot!) and I’m fine with that too, but it can be a good one to follow as well.  The “negative” (empty) space in an image can really draw you in and add a element of unique beauty to an otherwise common photo.

10. And sometimes… forget about technical perfection.  Technically perfect photos of your kids are beautiful.  Technically imperfect ones are beautiful.  Sometimes a little motion blur or overly “bright” parts of the photo are simply outweighed by the beauty of it.  A perfectly exposed histogram should have all levels of brightness.  Let it go.  Exhale and enjoy the moments of what you’re capturing.  This gorgeous image has the little girl’s hair overexposed, by standards of technical perfection.  Is it not beautiful anyways?

That does it for my 10 tips!  I hope they were useful and interesting to read about… lots of these images could fall into more than one category of my examples… I could go on and on with several more but I tried to select a few solid, basic ones.  Be sure to check out the next photographer on the blog carousel, the amazing Danna Bowes – Calgary baby, child and family photographer, she has an amazing way with newborns and little ones as well as capturing the beauty of moms with their children.  Enjoy!

Posted on January 25, 2012

Aaaand, to follow the last two posts about this gorgeous toddler… here he is, as recently as late late year.  Gorgeous boy.

Posted on January 7, 2012

Here it is, towards the middle of January of 2012.  Amazing what kinds of craziness, opportunities, and joy a new year brings.  Heck, every minute of every day can bring new craziness and opportunities but the new YEAR just seems so magical.  Here’s to a beautiful month for all of you!

This is one of my favorite images of 2011, favorite because it is a gorgeous picture of beautiful children and favorite because I love these children dearly.

Before I lost the last years worth of blog photography posts (oh, about 190 posts and…) I had a glorious story and entry on these kids with a beautiful photography video/slideshow… I must see if I can dig that up.  It would be worth it.  Happy January!

Posted on December 28, 2011

To add on to the beautiful family pictures from my last post… family in Hudsonville for outdoor professional photos… simple, dreamy light, dreamy mom and baby.

Posted on December 24, 2011

Best wishes to your family for a happy holidays. I’d love to be your maternity photographer or create some amazing newborn portraits for you in 2012. There would be no greater gift than to get to know and photograph many more family photography sessions in 2012 with children of all ages. Enjoy the holidays!