Children's Photography is No Child's Play

Do you have kids? Well I have three. My first born is 8 years of age, the second 6 and my youngest being 3 (who by the way is turning 4 in a couple of weeks). When I hold up the camera, I no longer have to ask them to smile. Their smiles come as natural as when they see me coming home from work. When it comes to photography, don’t we all wish kids were like that? It is very hard to coax a kid to smile. Holding a camera would either make them grimace or smock. Kids, unlike grownups are harder to shoot. Grownups are more self-conscious and aware of how they look especially in photograph taking that they could adjust their smiles for the camera. This is quite evident as grownups even try to make their eyes bigger when smiles push the cheek muscles and stretch their eyes. Kids on the other hand are sometimes timid and shy or at times have extra energy that either way, it would be very hard to elicit a smile from them, much more for the camera.

The best photography subjects are Kids but children's photography is no child's play.  Even when taking up photography courses, they would explain that though kids are one of the best subjects, they are also one of the hardest photo subjects. Kids have very short attention spans and have to be moving around so often. Keeping them still and  smiling is a very difficult job to do. This we already mentioned about earlier together with children being shy and timid at times giving us either grimaces or forced smiles.

Grimacing and having a forced smile can always be detected when kids are asked to smile or say cheese as their photographs are taken. Capturing a smile in its natural form is easy if you know the tricks of the trade.  It should be spontaneous and has common features like:

A face that is relaxed is one of the common features you have to learn to detect. A relaxed face does not show that the smile is forced as stiffness is not and should not be evident. Natural smiles can be seen with the corners of the eyes and the mouth. The corners of the mouth tend to push the cheek muscles up therefore more often than not it should be slightly wrinkled. Instinct tell us that furrowed eyebrows and stretched chicks are not happy smiles. This would either be a forced smile or a smirk.

Dwelling more on the eyes, a slight narrowing and wrinkling around the eyes accompanies a natural smile. This is evident as the cheeks are pushed upward when smiling. Remember what we said about grownups being too self-conscious earlier that they tend to make their eyes slightly bigger when they smile? A smile has the effect of narrowing the eyes sometimes to a point of losing the eyes entirely.

And also due instinct, kids slightly tilt their heads. The tilting of the head may look good on the photograph but timing is then crucial as the movement may tend to give you a slight blur in image. A couple of seconds delay before taking a child’s picture would ensure that the image is free of blurs. It also ensures that the child’s smile is the best one.

Once you have seen the kind of smile you are looking for, capturing it is what makes it tricky. And as mentioned earlier perfect timing will give your shutter the perfect picture.

Photography Courses will tell you that you first have to put your subject at ease. Regardless of age, when your subject is nervous about something, you would never be able to get a natural smile out of the person. Working with kids means you have to observe their behavior and mannerisms. From there, you’d find out how to make each individual feel at ease.

Secondly, never confuse the subject. Confusion leads to furrowed brows ending in concern instead of a smile. If you have to tell them that they’re smiling correctly, do so in a positive manner. Or try smiling yourself to make the child copy you. For example, don’t tell them not to squint, instead ask them to widen their eyes just a little bit.  Or don’t be tempted to ask them to smile right as this will confuse them all the more as they do not realize the difference of a forced smile and a natural smile.