Photography Club
Say Cheese. Or not.
The Christmas challenge is to photograph our children for the grandparents and for memory sake. We also want to take good family photos – for the Christmas cards and memories.
If your family is like mine, they start to balk when the camera comes out. How can we take photos that can be meaningful without capturing stress or having half hidden faces?
Here’s a few tips:
Have your child or family do something they love or something silly for the camera
Have siblings pretend to strangle each other or put up their dukes for the camera. Have them make a stuffed animal or favorite toy do something silly or pose with it by their face. Let them choose a silly pose. Then ask for a serious shot, too.
Let them do something daring and unusual, like roll in the torn Christmas wrappings or throw them in the air again and again. Maybe they’d giggle about painting their sibling’s face with whipped cream.
Take a photo of them engrossed in their own world
Sometimes stealth is the key – especially if you can get something outdoors or with natural light from a window. A baby sleeping, or eating something messy. A toddler concentrating on blocks. A boy engrossed in a bug collection. A teenager moodily listening to their ipod. They do not need to look at the camera and they don’t need to smile for every photo you have.
It’s also good to get one of them in a sports uniform heading out the door. On the playground hanging from the monkey bars. A teenager with her group of friends holding up shopping purchases and hamming it up together.
Christmas Specials
Use props. Christmas hats. Favorite cookies held up. In front of the tree. For family photos, it’s nice to have unified colors planned (all red and cream, mostly burgundy and olive green, blue tones, etc.). Christmas colors, boxes, trees… all make excellent settings. Consider going a day early before a Christmas market opens to get a shot of the background without the crowds.
Plan well before the shots. Full battery. Flash about 10 feet away even outdoors. Do not stand everyone in a straight line, but have some sit and stand. Turn sideways, arms touching each other.
Say Cheese. Or not.
The Christmas challenge is to photograph our children for the grandparents and for memory sake. We also want to take good family photos – for the Christmas cards and memories.
If your family is like mine, they start to balk when the camera comes out. How can we take photos that can be meaningful without capturing stress or having half hidden faces?
Here’s a few tips:
Have your child or family do something they love or something silly for the camera
Have siblings pretend to strangle each other or put up their dukes for the camera. Have them make a stuffed animal or favorite toy do something silly or pose with it by their face. Let them choose a silly pose. Then ask for a serious shot, too.
Let them do something daring and unusual, like roll in the torn Christmas wrappings or throw them in the air again and again. Maybe they’d giggle about painting their sibling’s face with whipped cream.
Take a photo of them engrossed in their own world
Sometimes stealth is the key – especially if you can get something outdoors or with natural light from a window. A baby sleeping, or eating something messy. A toddler concentrating on blocks. A boy engrossed in a bug collection. A teenager moodily listening to their ipod. They do not need to look at the camera and they don’t need to smile for every photo you have.
It’s also good to get one of them in a sports uniform heading out the door. On the playground hanging from the monkey bars. A teenager with her group of friends holding up shopping purchases and hamming it up together.
Christmas Specials
Use props. Christmas hats. Favorite cookies held up. In front of the tree. For family photos, it’s nice to have unified colors planned (all red and cream, mostly burgundy and olive green, blue tones, etc.). Christmas colors, boxes, trees… all make excellent settings. Consider going a day early before a Christmas market opens to get a shot of the background without the crowds.
Plan well before the shots. Full battery. Flash about 10 feet away even outdoors. Do not stand everyone in a straight line, but have some sit and stand. Turn sideways, arms touching each other.
