How to Capture the Cutest Children’s Portraits: 10 Tips | 8 Poses

There’s nothing quite like children’s laughter filling a room with happiness and joy. As a parent or guardian, you want to be able to capture these moments so you can remember them forever.

In this article, we will discuss how to photograph children and take natural, relaxed and beautiful portraits together with the different poses for children’s photography.

How to Photograph with Children?

Children's photography can be one of the most rewarding yet challenging types of photography. However, there are tips you can follow to help make the process go more smoothly.

• Speak their language: Use simple words and sentences that they will understand. This will help get them to cooperate with you.
• Get them comfortable: Let them play around and get used to you being there with a camera. Once they are more comfortable, they will be more likely to cooperate.
• Make it fun: Kids are more likely to cooperate if they are having fun. So, make sure to keep things light and playful.
• Be patient: Children can be unpredictable, so it is important to be patient. If you get frustrated, it will only make the situation worse.

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• Play with them: This will help them feel more comfortable with you and make them more likely to listen to you.
• Avoid tiring them out: They will be less likely to cooperate if they are tired. So, make sure to take breaks often.

10 Tips for Children’s Portrait Photography

There are many things to consider when taking children's photography to get the perfect portraits. Here are ten photographing techniques to help you capture the best children’s portraits:

1. Get down to their level

Get down on your knees or sit on the ground so you’re at their level, as photos taken from this angle look more natural and appealing.

2. Use props

Props can help add interest to photos and make children feel more comfortable. Try using teddy bears, balloons or flowers.

3. Use soft natural light

Soft light from a window or outside on an overcast day is ideal for taking portraits as it creates a lovely soft glow.

4. Choose a perfect location

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Choose a good location whereby the children can run and play around. This will help them relax and feel comfortable in front of the camera.

5. Shutter speed

Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open. Kids move around a lot, so you'll need a fast shutter speed to freeze their movement. A slow shutter speed may result in blurry photos.

6. Capture the ordinary

Capture everything that happens, even if they seem normal, because these are the moments that the family will cherish for a lifetime.

7. Vary your shots

Try to take a variety of shots, close-ups, mid-shots and wide shots. This will give you more options to choose from when you’re editing.

8. Take candid shots

Candid shots are unplanned, natural photos that capture a subject in their everyday environment. Try to take candid shots of children rather than posed shots. This will help capture their natural energy and personality.

9. Make their faces the brightest in the photo

Move until the light is on their faces and then take the shot. This will ensure that the focus is on them, not the background.

10. Capture their emotions

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Emotions make for the best photos, so try to capture the children laughing, playing and being themselves.

8 Poses for Children’s Portraits

There are a variety of poses that you can use for children’s portraits. Here are 8 poses to consider for your  children's photography:

1. Lying on their tummy

In this pose, get the children to lie on the ground with their heads in their hands or even lie down to rest on their arms. This is an excellent pose for all children. It works equally well for both toddlers and older children.

2. Looking over the shoulder

This pose is perfect for when you want to capture the child’s personality. Ask the child to stand with their back facing you and then lean their head over their shoulder to look back at you.

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3. Jumping in the air

This is a great pose to capture the energy and spirit of children. Ask them to jump on the spot or off something such as a bench and shoot from a low angle to make the jump more dramatic.

4. Simple headshot

This is an excellent pose for when you want to capture the child’s features. Ask the child to stand or sit, look directly at the camera, and then take the shot.

5. Look up

This is a great pose to use when you want to capture the innocence of childhood. Ask the child to sit down on the ground and look up at you while you look down at them and take the shot. The look-up pose is often perfect for cloudy days when you are struggling to get light in your eyes

6. Sitting criss-cross applesauce

This is an excellent pose for when you want to capture the child’s personality. Ask the child to sit on the ground with their legs crossed in front of them and their hands on their knees. Then have them look up at you and take the shot.

7. Cuddling a soft toy

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This is an excellent pose for when you want to capture the child’s affection. Ask the child to sit down and cuddle a soft toy or stuffed animal. This pose won’t work beyond a certain age. It works great with younger children and does not work with older ones.

8. Lying on the back

This is also an excellent pose for when you want to capture the child’s innocence. Ask the child to lie down on their back on the ground and have them look up at you, and then take the shot.

Conclusion

Having known the tips to work well with children when taking photos, the several techniques to take perfect children’s portraits and the different poses for children’s photography, you are now ready to capture the cutest children’s portraits.

With some practice, you can take exceptional children portraits that the parents will cherish for a lifetime.

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