Letting Your Kids Call the Shots: Tips on Getting Great Photos of Your Kids!

In which Meg Kelly Anderson, World-Premier-Mom-With-Camera gives us advice that even BETTER than telling your kid that if he doesn't come out and let you practice taking some photos of him, his cat will probably get eaten by a coyote!!  (Sorry for the tiny pictures on that one.  I didn't know any different back then.)

Meg is not only a great photographer, she is one of the nicest, funniest people on the planet.  So stick with her and improve your own awesomeness!  

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I'm a busy mother of three, trying to balance all different aspects of life.  Photography is my passion.  Jill has graciously allowed me to share my favorite tips on her blog.  In a perfect world I would have a professional photographer capturing my fabulous children in various poses and outfits on a daily basis.  Sometimes the photographer would do some lifestyle work from a discreet distance.  The kiddos wouldn't even know they were there.  The catch lights and skin tones would be amazing. 

My budget brings me back to reality.  Therefore, I try to snag some nice shots on my own.  And we ALL know that our children behave better for other people than they do for their parents, so this can be challenging.  I have done the begging, threats and bribing.  It's a hit or miss, often resulting in stilted smiles and eyes that aren't looking at the camera.  Loving my children as I do, I still can't erase these C+ images from my files.  They are all keepers.  But that's a discussion for another day.

One thing that has really helped me to achieve better cooperation from my kids is to get them on my team.  We are partners in crime.  I ask them for input on their clothes, shoes (or lack thereof) and background location.  It often helps to allow them to pick a special toy to join them in the photo.  Within reason they also choose the hair style and pose.  This has resulted in some fairly funny stuff.  It has also brought about some of my very favorite pictures.

The other day my five-year old came into the room wearing a cowgirl outfit and asking if she could model for me.  Music to my ears!  She told me she wanted to have her hair in two braids, although this was rather like trying to tie a bow with a two-inch ribbon.  Her hair is a big short and fine for braids, but we made it work.  She asked if cowgirls rode cows, and I broke the news to her that they rode horses.  She found her favorite stuffed horse, I grabbed my big reflector and out to the back yard we went. 

Here were Hannah's perfectly imperfect ideas for posing:

This was my contribution.  I know because I always tend to get in too close:

If I ever hit it big, I still plan on having our own personal paparazzi running around the house, along with a maid or two, of course.  Until that happens, I'm so grateful that I have figured out a way to capture these fleeting moments in time.   I can happily report that I now have a photo of Hannah taken just moments after she learned that cowgirls do not actually ride cows.

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Thank you so much Meg!  I love the post and it was SO GREAT to see you and your gorgeous models yesterday!

More Posts in the "Tips for Improving Your Photography" Series:

Five Tips for Better Images (without buying stuff)! by Megan Love

Food Photography: Helping Food Look as Great as it Tastes! by Valerie Laramee

*All pictures by Meg Kelly Anderson except the random little boy with the camera at the top, which I got from Dollar Photo Club because there was room to put all the Pinterest-y information!*

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