The year 2020 hasn’t been the favourite year for any of us. I am sure many of you wouldn’t even want to remember that it existed. But amid all the pandemic situations, we cannot deny the beautiful moments we all spent together with our families. Earlier we used to rush our ways to school and offices, now all of that is happening at home.
It is definitely challenging to manage everything, but at the same time, we all got to bond more. We got to see our kids more, and I think this is enough reason to definitely include the memories of 2020 in your family album.
Clicking pictures and capturing moments shouldn’t be that difficult and to help you with the same, I am here with 6 easy-breezy tips! As a natural light outdoor photographer, I use them extensively to capture kids, families and their bonds together.
The tips below are not specifically for a professional camera, but you can apply these on any kind of camera that you own. The idea is to think differently and capture more real moments beautifully.
Don’t Let Them Know It’s A Photoshoot: This is really important since once you tell them you are planning a photoshoot, all they hear is you are making them do a Task! Instead, just take them out to your balcony, society park or any safe place nearest to your home, saying “Let’s go out to play!”. This will instantly cheer them up and make them ready for cute pictures in their best of moods.
Let Them Be Real: Many of us (including my own father) have a habit of saying “Smile please!” before every picture. This can be an excellent old trick for simple happy portraits, but kids kind of hate it. They would love to do the opposite and might even turn cranky when forced to pose.
Well, give them space, let them be real. Keep the portraits for the end of the shoot and begin with candid impromptu clicks. Observe their behaviour and capture innocence. It will take some practice and some blurry shots too in the beginning, but that’s okay 🙂
Play With Them: Every time I meet a new kid, I need to make sure he/she likes me and treats me as their friend. For this, I say let’s play a game like -'Why don’t you jump, and I will count to 10 or let’s play peek a boo,' etc. You have the benefit that they are already friends with you, and you even know their favourite game to bring out that beautiful giggle.
Plan Multiple Small Sessions: Don’t turn the whole playdate into a photo session. That might work once but not every time. Also, if you plan multiple short photo sessions, you get pictures in different settings and dresses. Keep the first half of the outing for pictures and play along for the rest of the time.
Click In Manual Mode: This might sound scary, I totally get it, but it can bring a lot of difference to your pictures. If you are using a Phone Camera, then switch to manual mode in settings. Another option is installing Adobe Lightroom app and using the in-app camera. Once you are at it, adjust the Shutter speed accordingly. If your kid is continuously moving, try and not go below 1/250 (250th of the second).
Play with the aperture to create that blurry background and also keep a check on ISO. Higher the ISO, more the grains in your image. Learn some of these terms and implement them in your pictures.
Dressing Up According To The Background: When you are clicking outdoors, the prominent colours in your background are green and brown. Dress up your kid in a contrasting colour like red, pink, blue and so on. This will make your child stand out from the background and at the same time, will make your picture very colourful.
KSP Team
Mansi Zaveri
Shumee Toys
