Kids grow up fast and are always on the move, which makes it hard to remember every special moment they have. To capture these moments, parents can spend money on professional photography sessions or they can learn a few of the techniques used by the pros to take high quality photos of their children’s life as they grow. Here are a few simple tips that will help parents to create a memorable photo collection.

Lighting

Lighting plays a huge part in the quality of photos, which is why you see so many professionals with tons of lights in their studios. Parents may not have access to a studio full of lights, so to remedy that issue, we have a couple of tips that make it seem like you do. When taking photos outside, do not use front light. If the light source is behind you, shift the angle you’re taking the picture from to the side. This allows shadows to give the subject texture and produces nice looking photos. Back-light situations are not as bad as direct light, but you will need to set your flash to go off to capture a nice picture.

Photo courtesy of Darin Collison Photography / Instagram

ISO Settings

Most parents set their cameras to auto mode, which is okay for general photos, but we are trying to create a collection of great photos. The ISO setting on your camera relates to the sensitivity of it in different lighting conditions. In dark lighting situations, it’s best to use a higher ISO setting to increase the camera's ability to capture light. The opposite is true for bright light situations. Most cameras in auto mode use an ISO setting of 100. When you start playing with these settings, you’ll notice an instant improvement of your photos.

Shutter Technique

Another thing that parents can learn from the pros is how to snap a picture. Because kids have the ability to move so quickly, parents often hurry up and click the button before a moment is missed. This doesn’t help parents get the shot they wanted. The fast click of the shutter button causes photos to blur. To avoid a bunch of blurry photos, learn to squeeze the shutter button. This keeps the camera from jarring when it’s clicked. Learning this technique will quickly improve your photos and give you plenty of quality pictures to add to your photo books.

Photo courtesy of Two Bright Lights

Resolution Settings

Not every camera is set up to take high quality pictures right out of the box. You should find the resolution settings for your camera and make sure the highest setting is selected. This will reduce the amount of photos you can save to your SD card, but it will ensure that you have an image that can be processed without losing quality. If you’re not sure how to change these settings, refer to the owner’s manual for the camera.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The last tip is to practice. If you do not familiarize yourself with these techniques, you will not capture the moments you want with the quality you expect. Here’s a practice exercise you can do to get more comfortable with your digital camera and start taking better pictures of your kids while they are growing up. Shoot one object 100 times. This will give you the opportunity to play with different angles, different lighting schemes and different camera settings. The nice thing about digital cameras is the fact you can discard photos at anytime, which means you can take pictures of whatever you want at anytime. Remember that practice makes perfect and have fun.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lee Photography