Some of you are coming back from Thanksgiving vacation a few weeks back to discover that the family pictures you took were less than stellar examples of kid photography. Fortunately, you still have time to rally before Christmas, the premium moment for kid pictures all year. This time be prepared.
Kids and Animals
Working with kids and animals have gotten many Hollywood directors and photographers to consider a career in real estate, so don’t feel bad if your turkey day photos weren’t that great. It’s a tough shooting situation, even for pros.
Do
– Plan picture time just before meal time. The kids will be dressed for dinner, still relatively clean, and animated in anticipation of eating.
– Have a supply of toys on hand, particularly anything small that walks, rattles, or makes noise. Wind up toys that walk around are perfect.
– Ask the older kids to help with the younger ones. In my experience kids respond better to their older peers than whoever is taking pictures.
– You can also use the older kids as translators for the younger ones. A lot of time you as an adult might not understand what a child is saying, but the other kids will know.
– Put the wind up wiggly toy on your head when you’re ready to shoot. You’ll have about 10 seconds of full attention.
– Pictures when they’re engaged in an activity are almost always better than posed pictures.
– A puppy or kitten will almost always provide a great group shot.
Don’t
– Don’t have another adult standing behind you trying to help. That’s almost always more distracting than helpful and it’s really annoying to have a choreographer standing behind you.
– Don’t try to pose kids, it almost never works. It is better to get involved doing a song they learned in school. It puts them at ease, gives them an easy task they can manage, and gets everyone smiling.
– Don’t drag it out. You have maybe 10 minutes of quality shooting time before someone starts getting fussy.
– Don’t let kids wear shirts with logos or printed designs. Bright, bold, solid colors are best.