The chat I hosted at the Motherhood this week about taking great photos of your kids was really fun. I enjoyed my co-hosts (Stacy of Kids Stuff World, Jamie of See Jamie Blog and Jamie Worley Photography, and Jacquilyn of Jacquilyn Avery) and the participation of all those who attended. The chats on the Motherhood are informative and QUICK — and you don’t have to use speakers or video cameras to participate; just your keyboard and 30 minutes of “chatting” online with others about a subject that interests you.

Just in case you missed the chat, here are my notes below. I’m infusing the post with a bunch of favorite pictures that demonstrate a few of these points. {I heart peekshurs, in case you didn’t know that already.} You can also log in to read the thread at the Motherhood and their blog post they put up after the talk was over. They listed a few awesome comments that were made by my co-hosts with even more links and tips! We had such a great group with good ideas!

HEATHER’S TOP TEN KID PHOTO TIPS:

#1 : FRAME your shot.  Make sure the light is not too harsh, clear the clutter from your background – those are things that can’t be fixed easily in Photoshop… the aim is to try and take your BEST shot inside the camera.

#2: Get to know your camera. Read your manual. Get informal lessons from others who use your camera type if you are the SEE IT rather than read it type.

#3: Look at other people’s photos for inspiration. Keep a folder of favorite pictures you want to try and mimic with your children for fun, or just take some notes and use your imagination. (Stacy – @steet on Twitter – had the super tip of using Pinterest to store your photography ideas. I do this, too.)

#4 : Get yourself in some of the photos or you’ll regret it later. Don’t feel sorry for yourself that no one else in the family thinks to take pictures of mom – be assertive and ASK someone to take a picture!

#5: Take photos of them with the things they love, doing what they love. This is a great way to memorialize the moments that make life and your unique kids special.

#6: Look for a different angle. Always shoot more than one shot of the same picture Sometimes just getting down on your kids’ level or getting a picture of the scene from a new vantage point will make your photo pop.

#7: Take some silhouette and profile shots. It used to be popular to have a dark photo with the light from the side, and to draw silhouettes and mod-podge them. These are coming back in style and there are some great iPhone apps that allow you to make the most creative photos from empty silhouettes filled with photos.

#8: Play with photo editing. It’s not that hard. iPhone apps are super fun, and easier than learning Photoshop. I’ve printed many an iPhone photo out and framed them in my house. Even with a lot of editing, the quality is good enough for framing! I recommend checking out Alli Worthington’s e-book to learn about iPhone apps, workflow on editing, and for more tips on how to use your camera phone with the best possible results. Almost every photo app I use is included in her visual guide and many that I don’t even have yet.

#9: Don’t miss the action. Learn to pan (follow a moving subject while allowing the background to blur), learn about shutter speeds, get your kids running, laughing, doing whatever quirky thing they do. This is another reason why our DSLR cameras aren’t always enough.The iPhone is revolutionizing photography because it is always in your pocket.

#10: Make collages to tell stories. You can make collages on Picasa, on iPhone apps such as Diptic, and on BigHugeLabs.com from your flickr photos (the two collages here were made on the iPhone with Diptic and uploaded straight to my Flickr account via Instagram so I would have them available for blog posts like this one).

#11: Make friends with your iPhone and load up on photo apps.  Read my blog post on Instagram and after you go sign up for it (you can do it on iPhone or Android, so you have no excuse), look me up. I’m @sprittibee on there, too. I use my iPhone camera more than my DSLR because it is always with me. I like to upload a couple of “best shots” from my day every day on Instagram, and I love taking the monthly challenges to grow my skills with iPhone photo editing and just photography in general. The more you practice, the better you will get.

Want to grow your photo skills with extra practice? Try these:

Photography Challenges and Memes
Monthly Challenge on Instagram (iPhone) : FatMumSlim Blog : http://fatmumslim.com.au/
Weekly iPhone Instagram Collages : Dawn Camp’s Blog : http://myhomesweethomeonline.net/
Sweet Shot Tuesday : Kent Weakley’s Blog (linky) : http://kentweakley.com/blog/
Wordless Wednesday : Wordless Wednesday Blog : http://wordlesswednesday.blogspot.com/
I Heart Faces : weekly challenges (due monday or tuesday) http://www.iheartfaces.com/

And in case you need some basic Photo help, here are a few recommendations to point you in the right direction:

Recommended Photo Hosting (and great places to gather ideas/inspiration):
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/
Pixosphere http://www.pixosphere.com/
Picha Global http://pichaglobal.com/

Recommended Photo Back Up:
External Hard Drive (do not back up on CDs – they go bad! Ask me how I know!)
Drop Box http://db.tt/beiHFrG0 (referral link, gives me more space if you sign up through it)
Carbonite http://www.carbonite.com/en/ (not a referral link, I’m going to do this soon!)

Recommended FREE Editing:
PicMonkey.com : http://www.picmonkey.com/
Fast Stone Image Viewer : http://www.faststone.org/

Recommended Software (what I use when doing a professional photoshoot):
Lightroom – you can get it for under 55$ right now (price subject to change) at Amazon with a teacher/student discount! That’s a steal for an Adobe product that photographers use! It doesn’t do everything that Photoshop does, but it does a LOT! I love it.

Now get out there and take some pictures. The more you take, the better you’ll get!

{ It’s fun to “shoot” people. }

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