Hey everyone! My name is Colleen Gilfillan and I have been an amateur photographer for about 5 years consecutively. Today I’m chatting and telling my secrets to take amazing pictures of your kids! My passion for photography first started in high school when I took my first photography class. It didn’t take me long to realize how much I loved it and that I needed to take all the photography classes that my high school offered, so that’s exactly what I did!
After high school photography was put on the back burner between college and my career. When I became pregnant with my first born I knew I wanted to capture as many of those precious moments as I could. My husband and I bought our first official “nice camera” which was the Canon Rebel T3i. I learned the in’s and out’s of the camera and quickly upgraded my lens to the “nifty fifty” Canon 50mm f1.8.
Best Lens for Child Photography
A few years passed and I was finally able to upgrade my camera body to the Canon 5D Mark III and the Sigma Art 24mm f1.4 lens lives on my camera. There is also the idea that a long lens helps you with child photography and getting in close to them but I love my 24mm!
My children are my muse and the fleeting moments of their childhood is what I want to make sure I always remember. I wanted to give you all a few tips of advice on how to capture these precious moments from different angles and focal points to really be able to tell the story of that moment.
Take Amazing Pictures of Your Kids
1. First and foremost, I always have my camera close and ready to capture an unexpected moment. You never know when something spontaneous and memorable is going to happen! To me, it is in those unposed spontaneous moments that you capture the best memories.
2. I always try and think to myself “What’s the best angle to tell this story?” As you get more comfortable with working your camera, you can begin to anticipate the angle that would tell the moment the best. Some of my favorite angles:
From the ground
From above
From behind
From the level of the child
How to take great pictures of your kids certainly comes with practice and shooting a lot! Keep on shooting from all different angles to keep your practice up.
3. While I am capturing the moment, I also try and capture what exactly that moment is about. For instance, if my daughter is making her dad his birthday card I would take a few photos of her in focus and a few photos with the card in focus to give me detail to the story.
4. Last, but certainly not least, always keep in mind the light when choosing your angle. Use the beautiful sunlight to your advantage to help portray the look and feel of the moment.
–> 5 Places to Photograph Portraits in your Home
I hope that you find some of these tips helpful when capturing your candid moments. Remember though, every photographer starts somewhere! Just relax, enjoy, and don’t be so critical of your images.
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