How To Take Better Photographs Of Your Kids

Today we’ve got fabulous photographer Samuel Docker with us for a guest post on how to take better photographs of your little ones. It was Elle’s first birthday this week and once she was in bed, I sat down to look at the photos I’d taken to document the day and honestly, they were pretty awful. The intention was good, and the subject is beautiful (even if I do say so myself!) but capturing a still image of a constantly moving thing is a lot harder than it looks! And I’m sure lots of you have the same difficulties…so I’ll pass you over to Sam, who is going to share some of his tips as a photographer and a Daddy to two lovely little ones, and hopefully, we’ll all be capturing better images in no time!

Sam’s Background

A quick bit about me – I’m 32, married to a beautiful wife called Jemma, we live in Derby, and we have 2 incredible children, Betsy and Buddy! Buddy is the newest addition at 4 months old. We also have a Chihuahua called Dolly.

It took me a little while to find photography, certainly as a profession anyway, I was always that friend who insisted on taking pretty bad pictures of everyone though, so I wish the 30 year old me could have had a word with the 20 year old me and pointed that young kid in the right direction a little sooner. But nevertheless, I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason, and although I never studied photography, I spent 10 years picking up other skills that would eventually be beneficial to my new found career 3 years ago. I studied Creative Product Design and Marketing (yes, that’s a degree!!!), but it wasn’t for me. I always had a huge interest in the arts and graphic design, but actually ended up running an online fashion business for 6 years, not quite on the scale of ASOS, but it was a good education into business, marketing and ultimately, photography!

I found wedding photography as I’m sure a lot of fellow peers do, I took a camera to a wedding! From that day, everything changed. I’ve now shot around 150 weddings, travelled all over the UK, I’ve been to France, Spain, Italy and even the Philippines to shoot weddings. I could never have predicted that 4 years ago, but I genuinely adore everything about weddings and the people and moments they contain. I’m a keen people watcher and love to be in the mix of a wedding.

Indoors V Outdoors

Ok, so you’d be hard pushed to find a photographer who would disagree with this statement, if they do, I’d question if they’re even a photographer, but light is your very best friend! The difference between most amateurs and professionals is purely that professionals know how to look for light, and more importantly, how to use it. There are many different forms of light, some more tricky than others to manage, but they all have their own unique benefits. Harsh sunlight for example, probably the toughest to shoot in, can create high contrast images with deep shadows. Most photographers, if it’s possible to control the sun, would ideally shoot in the golden hour, the hour building up to sunset when the light has a soft orange glow. Cloudy days provide soft and even light which allows you to shoot from any angle with relative ease.

Shooting Indoors

This is a different challenge to outdoors, as light is usually more limited, but that shouldn’t put you off. The first thing I’d recommend here, is that you ditch the flash! Direct flash from a phone or compact camera is purely designed to fill the frame, but it lacks power and control, so images tend to lack depth as the shadows are removed. Instead, look for pockets of light, and try to expose for that. The shadows in your image will give it depth and make it feel much richer. This image of Buddy for example, was taken during his lunchtime snooze, his pushchair in our dining room, with just a tiny bit of soft light coming in from a side window, no flash, I just noticed the light falling on his skin and exposed for that.

Equipment

I get asked about kit all the time, not a wedding goes by without someone saying; “I’ve got £200-300, what camera would you recommend”, it’s fine by the way, I quite enjoy chatting to guests about cameras! That said, my answer to the above is “have you got an iPhone”?!! Genuinely, spending that sort of money on a compact camera feels like a waste of money given the recent advances in technology that phones pack these days. Unless you’re going to spend £600-£700+ for an entry level DSLR like the Canon 750D (remember you’ll need a lens as well!!!) or Nikons D5300, I really would just advise you save your money, or buy the latest iPhone, if you don’t already have one! For those of you looking to make the switch to a more serious level of photography, the Canon or Nikon would be a great start point.

In terms of lenses, this can be the really expensive bit, but also the most important. I’d strongly advise starting with a 35mm, this is considered to be a focal length that is close to how our eyes perceive the world, something like the Canon 35mm f2 or Nikons 35mm f1.8 are both excellent start points.

For those of you with bigger budgets or wanting a smaller compact system, then the Olympus OMD or the Fuji X series are both incredible pieces of kit.

And finally, for those wanting to stick with the DSLR format, the Nikon D750 is groundbreaking in its performance and price, Canon’s equivalent, the 5D MKIII is considerably more expensive.

Camera Settings

So, you’ve invested in a decent camera and lens, but you’re not too sure what to do next? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. The first thing to remember here is that we’re shooting digital, so the results are instant, and you can therefore play around with it, and you need to play around with it! You need to stop shooting automatic and start to understand what happens when you change those settings all by yourself! If you’re at that stage, brilliant, you’re in for an amazing journey, there’s going to be loads of rubbish photo’s along the way, but it will all be worth it, trust me! It’s almost impossible for me to start to educate you here, it will take much more than one blog post, but I can’t recommend Cambridge in Colour enough, this is where I went for my education. I’d read an article, with my camera in hand, and then I’d practice, practice, and practice some more. Don’t be afraid to get things wrong, it takes time, and you have a lot to learn.

General Hints & Tips

Always have a camera close to hand – kids, and moments involving your kids will happen quickly, you’re not always going to capture everything, but if you keep the camera near to the living room, and take it with you on family walks rather than stashing away in the office or stuffing it into your bag, you stand a greater chance of capturing those moments. Over time, you’ll also develop your skills as a photographer and…

…your ability to spot an opportunity – try not to force shots or moments, if you’ve got kids, things will happen! Just be ready to recognise when to grab that camera (see above hint!) This shot of Betsy is one of my favourites. Obviously her 3rd Birthday, she was just sat in her PJ’s, probably watching Topsy and Tim, and playing with her new umbrella!

Get down to their level – perspective is a hugely overlooked element of photography, most amateurs are guilty of just shooting from their standing position. Throw that idea out of the window and get down on the deck! Become a kid yourself, it’s great fun!

Don’t forget the other family members (I had to get Dolly in here somehow)…but seriously, if you’ve got pets, give them some attention too, they also make great subjects for practicing your new theory from Cambridge in Colour.

Go on holiday – if you need an excuse to book an all inclusive holiday to the South of France, this is it, you have my permission!

Instagram and Online Backups

I love Instagram! It allows me to save and store those images I capture on my phone. We live in a digital age, and the idea of losing all of those memories terrifies me. If you don’t already, you should make sure you have all of your images backed up, ideally to the cloud. Google Drive and Dropbox both offer free storage options, so you’ve no excuse!! I also prefer to use VSCOcam for editing my phone pictures over Instagram.

Remember to capture the ordinary day-to-day moments…

The beautiful family moments…

And all of those crazy family moments too!

Final tip, and one of the most important – PRINT YOUR IMAGES! You can’t beat holding a picture or glancing at a frame as you walk up your stairs, you have been told! I love Simlab for their lustre prints with a white border, amazing value and quality, far superior to the high street. Photobox for wall art is amazing. Origrami, although based in Australia, are amazing for your Instagram prints, but Photobox and Polargram both offer excellent UK options.

A massive thank you to Sam for putting together this post for us, we hope it helps you to take better photographs of your babies! And if you’re looking for more tips on printing them out – make sure you read the comments on one of Charlotte’s previous posts – there are some great recommendations there.