River Family Fall Photoshoot
Something that is worth saying about family photography is that getting good photos of young kids is not always easy. Especially from the age range of about 1 year to 5 years. Toddlers often have a mind of their own, and when they’ve made up their mind that they don’t want to do something, or they are upset about something, they can be really stubborn about it.
I am here to tell you that it is still not only possible to get good photos of your child, but it is totally worth it to capture their personality and I am going to share a few tricks I have up my sleeve to make it happen.
I shoot fast and I shoot a lot of pictures. Toddlers can have a mind of their own and they can also be fickle and so their moods can change fast. Crying one second, laughing the next, I’m there to capture that brief laughter. If your child starts crying during your session, don’t stress about it. Chances are we can redirect their attention and their mood will change.
Distract, distract distract. I’ve found that if a child starts to get upset, it doesn’t help to keep pushing them, but rather if we can find a way to redirect their attention and distract them from whatever is making them upset, we can still catch some beautiful moments. As the photographer, I do my best to suggests things and try things that might help, but you as the parent know your child best. Come prepared with some of their favorite games or things you do to make them laugh.
Change poses fast and play. Children of a young age have short attention spans and so as soon as I realize that I’ve lost them and they aren’t happy doing what we’ve been doing, then we move on. For example, if the child doesn’t want to be held anymore, then we move on and we try a walking pose or we play a game, or we sit down. The goal isn’t to force them to do a specific thing and chances are, the more you force the worse the outcome will be, but rather to capture their personality and what they like to do.
It is totally possible to capture good photos of young kids and I guarantee you won’t regret taking the extra effort to capture your family while your kids are young.
