7 mistakes Parents commit when photographing their children

There are countless opportunities for you to take snapshots of the most wonderful moments in your children’s lives. Just make sure that you avoid avoid some of the most common mistakes that parents commit when photographing their kids.

7 mistakes parents commit when photographing their children

There are countless opportunities for you to take snapshots of the most wonderful moments in your children’s lives.

However, if you look at the photographs that you have of your children, you will notice that a lot of them are not really good. But you know that they have the potential of becoming fantastic photographs.

If only you can avoid some of the most common mistakes that parents commit, then I’m sure that you can come up with excellent photographs of your children.

Kid photography mistake 1: Not bringing a partner

Many parents think that they can go alone when photographing kids. But experienced parents will tell them that it takes more than one person to take excellent photographs of kids. If it’s daddy who wishes to take the photos, then mummy can act as the assistant.

By assistant, we mean someone who will make sure that the children will not run around or do anything unnecessary. The assistant will actually be like a "bouncer" who will make sure that the kids stay in place all the time.

Kid photography mistake 2: Not preparing “bribes”

In relation to the first mistake, parents usually forget to prepare "bribes" that will make their children stay behaved during the photo session. I’m not advocating the use of bribery to make kids behave but when I use the word "bribe" here, I mean things or toys that can keep them from exploring the things that they see around them.

Noise-makers or colourful pictures can actually keep children’s attention. But promising them a treat after the photo session is sure to keep toddlers or preschoolers behaved.

Kid photography mistake 3: Not prepping up the kids

One thing that parents forget when photographing their kids is to prep up their kids for the actual photo session. What parents can do to prepare their kids is to have a practice session at home. In this way, the kids will get used to the idea of daddy or mommy taking their picture.

This will help them not to feel shy or uncomfortable during the actual event. This can also help parents practice taking nice shots.

Kid photography mistake 4: Not being patient

Another big mistake that parents commit is trying to make children go with their schedule and becoming impatient when children do not follow their lead. We are aware that children have moods.

Trying to force a child to pose when he or she is in a bad mood will only result to disaster. So parents have to be flexible and sensitive to the moods of their children if they want to get good photos.

Kid photography mistake 5: Not focusing on the subject

Professional photographers believe that less is more. However, we see a lot of parents taking pictures that show too much clutter in the background.

Before capturing that special moment, make sure that you focus on the subject and find a simple background. When people look at the picture, you want them to look straight at the subject not the background.

Kid photography mistake 6: Not knowing how to use flash

If you’re not a professional photographer, then it would be better if you don’t use any flash at all. Using a flash can bring too much flat light on your subject making them look really flat. It would be best to just use natural light.

But of course, if you’re indoors you need to use flash which makes it necessary for you to learn how to use it correctly so it will make the picture look natural. To be able to do this, I guess you have to enrol in a photography class.

Kid photography mistake 7: Not taking more than one picture

In this day and age, most cameras are digital which means that we can take as many photos as we want without extra cost. We also get instant feedback even if we’re still in the field. Because of the ease of getting feedback immediately, a lot of people are content with just shooting one photo or if they shoot multiple photos, they usually delete the ones that they "think" are not good.

But we all know that we can only tell whether a picture is good or not when we see it through a large screen. So instead of deleting the "not so good" pictures immediately, why don’t you just keep them until you’ve seen them all on a computer screen?

Written by

Karen Mira

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