Taking pictures of your children can be fun, overwhelming, challenging, rewarding, exhausting and everything in between. In the beginning they grow so fast you almost feel like you can’t possibly take enough pictures to capture all the cute things they are doing and document their ever changing features. Then you have so many pictures you have no idea what do do with them so they wind up sitting on a hard drive waiting for attention. So you start to wonder if you need all those pictures, what you’re going to do with them, and if the ones you are taking are good enough. Well, we have some tips that will hopefully alleviate some of these concerns and make taking pictures of your kids fun and NOT stressful.
Shoot Freely
First things first. It’s okay, in fact it’s encouraged, to take lots of pictures the first two years. This is when the changes are happening on a weekly and monthly basis. The best way to organize everything is by month. If you break it down further it gets too overwhelming and if you break it down any less the changes are too significant so just create a folder on your computer for the year (2015) and then 12 folders – 1 for each month. We don’t use any fancy software like iPhoto to store our photos, just basic folders named accordingly. If you do want an extra backup, SmugMug vault is a great option. If you are looking for a more advanced option of culling and storing photos, you can check out our blog post that details our post production process here.
Hire A Professional At Least Once
We hired the lovely Erica Bartel to shoot our newborn photos and it was worth every penny. There’s something very special about that first month and you will cherish those photos forever.
Invest Wisely
It’s natural to want to go out and buy the best equipment so you can have the best photos, but it’s completely useless if you don’t know how to use it. Having an infant is also not the best time to learn a new hobby as most of your time and attention will be devoted to this new life consuming your every ounce of energy. That said, your iPhone is the perfect camera. It’s always with you. The specs are as good as any point and shoot (if not better). If you are interested in something a little more efficient that won’t break the bank, you could get away with a Canon T5I body and one nice prime lens, like this 50mm f /1.8 from Canon. It retails for $399 and will provide more than enough quality. The lens will make all the difference so avoid buying the bundles you see on Costco and Amazon, they only come with kit lenses.
Be Creative
At first there isn’t too much you can do with your little one, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative. One easy way to document the growth of your baby is to place them next to a stuffed animal or something else that will remain constant. As they get older you can do fun things like throw them in the air, incorporate their new friends in the pictures (elmo), and make little timelapse videos.
Let Them Be Kids
I know every once in a while you need to have them sit still and smile, but it’s way more interesting to photograph them doing kid things and just being themselves. There’s nothing more authentic [ see photo above for a prime example ] .
Print Photo Books
We’ve printed a few photo books from trips we’ve taken and from other various events, but we definitely need to do more. It will help you feel like the crazy amount of pictures you’re taking are getting to good use. Plus, it makes for a great read on the nights when you feel like you are going crazy. Somehow looking back at pictures your cute innocent little baby makes you forget about being woken up six times between 12:00 and 3:00 am.
Some of our favorites » Artifcact Uprising | Social Print Studio
Start A Blog
We blogged monthly about Harper for the first six months of 2014 (need to catch up the last six months) and it’s provided a nice way to use the pictures and acts as a little journal for everything you’re doing as a family. Trust us, if you don’t take pictures and write the stuff down you will surely forget. It takes effort, but it’s worth it.
Do you have any more questions or want more advice on photographing your kids? Shoot us an email or comment below!
