I wanted to do a series of pay it forward posts, on how you can get better photographs of your own children. Does that sound mad, well I know you won’t be investing in thousands of pounds worth of camera equipment and years of training, so of course I would love to capture your little ones in the studio or running about in the sunshine with you. But like me I bet you want to take photos ALL the time. I love taking photographs of Mia, what parent doesn’t. I have plenty of so so photographs that I literally captured in the moment on my phone – none of which will win awards but I love them because they are “her”. But of course being a photographer I know a few tricks. So I plan to post tips for you every week, if you have any questions you’d love me to answer, comment or let me know on facebook. You can see links to other posts and tips in a special album on facebook.
Back to this weeks post. That really hard one, how to get your children to smile at the camera. It’s a real tricky one, I’ve jumped up and down and sang nursery rhymes (poorly) and they work sometimes. Ideally you take a photo away from the distractions of toys and television. But my magic trick is a lens buddy. Its great to get attention exactly where you want it. And if you have a camera with a lens you can make your own, you just need a scrunchie and head to hobbycraft to decorate it with goggly eyes, or funny shapes. If you don’t want to make your own (or are very good at crochet) you can also buy lens buddys on ebay and etsy too. I’ve seen all sorts I love my cookie monster one. (pictures of mine are below)
Or if you have a iphone or compact without a lens, then break out the sticker book. You can buy lots of easy peel stickers so they dont ruin your phone (Mia’s favourite peppa pig magazine comes with easy peel stickers every week). Make sure you stick the stickers by the lens and then instead of asking them to look at you or the camera you are asking them to look at your new goggly eyed scrunchie creature or peppa pig rather than mummy.
I use it for all toddlers in the studio and even used it to get Mia to smile at me (see below), which trust me now she’s two hardly ever happens! And dont worry I know it can be hard when they are your own as they tend to be better performers for other people (even for a baby photographer in Essex). My little girl knows how to get me to perform jump up and down and sing then only smiles at the cookie monster!
