Capturing Your Child's First Years
One thing I've learned as a new parent, is that the old saying is true—kids really do grow up fast. Blink and they're no longer in diapers, and they want to do everything themselves. Between adding the additional work and responsibilities of raising children and the lack of sleep in that first year, the memories can become a little blurry!
Even with the best intentions, sometimes even important things get put off or missed —even pictures of our precious little ones. I'm guilty myself, having only photographed my daughter “in-studio” once in her first year of life. Fortunately, due to my occupation I'm able to capture the everyday cuteness fairly often.
I'd like to share some of the essentials to capturing those moments. I will not, however, try to turn you, with one article, into a professional studio photographer, but rather help you capture the precious moments in your lives together.
The most important element in capturing those great moments in our children's lives is easy to overlook—always have a camera handy. We can't predict when our kids will decide to be adorable. The top shelf of the bedroom closet in a camera bag is not what I would call handy! On a desk or counter away from the reach of kids out of the camera bag is better. While extremely convenient, cell phone cameras have not yet reached a printable quality. Using a camera that is not a cell phone will yield a much higher quality image. I always use the highest quality setting on my cameras because I never know when I'm about ready to capture something I'll want to hang on the wall.
Light is key. It's also the hardest thing for folks to be aware of. A bright, window lit room without direct sunlight is best. Without a bright room you'll be forced to use your flash, which should only be used in dimly lit situations or when the kids are in nonstop motion. Also, it's important not to use a flash when facing a mirror or window where the reflection will probably trick your camera and ruin the picture.
Anticipate. Once children are mobile, adorable pictures happen quickly! Is the kiddo heading toward your dog with a bonnet in her hand? Is your toddler going to eat an incredibly messy food? Set them up with good window light before giving them the food and the stage is set.
Watch the background. Clutter, things that appear to be sticking out of your children's heads, things or clothing with words or cartoon characters on them all tend to distract from the cuteness of our children’s’ adorable faces. Sometimes you just have to go with a poor background because if there is any change or delay, you'll miss the moment. In a situation like that, the next hint will be your best solution. One mistake I often see is when people include more background than subject. When the subject is small like a child, including a waterfall, pool, and plants in the shot may be pretty, but it's not about the waterfall—is it? Just include enough of the background to see where they are, but not enough for the viewer to wonder which is the subject of the photograph.
Tighten up. The easiest way to improve a vast number of poor pictures is to just zoom in! A picture of a child sitting on the floor looking cute can be great unless the photo shows a tiny, cute child and a room full of distracting clutter. Only include what is pertinent to the photograph.
Don't make cheese balls! As a professional photographer, there are few things harder to deal with than a child that has been taught to “say cheese!” for the camera. Instead of seeing their natural cuteness, all we see is what resembles a child sitting in the dentist's chair showing what a great job they did brushing their teeth! Instead, be silly, or let them alone to be themselves. As they get older, they'll probably tire of your antics and taking them to a different goofy photographer will give them someone else to laugh at. Sometimes I feel like I could have a monkey standing on my head and my daughter wouldn't care—as soon as my camera comes to my eye, she looses interest. She's seen all my antics.
Don't wear them out. If you're trying to set up a cute photograph with a little one you have a very short period of time before they will tire of you. Forcing them to perform like a circus monkey will rarely benefit in the end. Keep staged photo sessions natural, fun, and short.
Some important closing thoughts:
First, new parents tend to take a lot of pictures of their firstborn children, but later children tend to be photographed far less. Try to remember that it's not just for you that you take pictures of your children, but also for your children's memories, and for their children as they become more interested in the lives of their parents when they were younger.
Second, if you like to play with image editing software, be careful not to overdo it with filters and selective color such as making everything black and white except for a flower. As people we tend to be attracted to color, so to have the flowers color while the child is in black and white draws attention to the flower and not the child. This downplays the child and makes the flower more important.
Third, I fear this will be the age of lost pictures. The majority of parents today are photographing their children and loading the photos onto their computers—end of story. Computer hard drives will ALL eventually fail. The question is will you have additional copies of them or will you lose several years' worth of your family memories that your children will never have to pass down.
Fourth, go bigger! A 4x6 or a 5x7 is great for a desk, but for a wall an 11x14 or larger can be a real focal point in a room. A guest shouldn't have to stand 18 inches from the wall to see a picture. The pictures should be viewable from the natural standing and sitting positions of the room.
Last of all, if photographing your children is not your passion or “thing,” find an experienced professional with reasonable rates. Look for a photographer that is passionate about their work! If you find a photographer that you like, many times they'll have multiple session packages to help you capture your child's first year at least.
There's a reason why when a house is threatened by impending disaster, folks grab their family photographs and not their new mixer! Don't let the groans of an older child keep you from capturing the memories with your camera. They'll thank you for it down the road.
