Creating perfect images of toddlers, or at least trying to! A Guest Blog.

Photographing toddlers is not easy. It takes me at least 15 attempts to capture just a single acceptable image of our little one!

Susan Reneé, Kingshill Studios

Read on to hear some top tips on photographing your toddlers from professional newborn and family photographer, Susan Reneé.

When the world isn’t at a complete standstill and we are living our normal lives, I work part time for Susan at her gorgeous studio, Kingshill Studios. I say ‘work’ but there’s yet to come a day where I feel like it’s a thought to go to work or do any work, so I am truly very lucky that I get to do something that’s so enjoyable whilst earning to support our family.

I spend my working days talking to parents-to-be about the arrival of their new baby, or families about what to wear and what to expect when they come along for their studio session. What sounds bad about that?!

Susan has kindly agreed to share some words of wisdom for this post, so that you can try and create some fantastic images of your little ones to remember them at this funny time in our lives…

Firstly, why?

As a mother of two myself, I know how quickly the years pass us in the blink of an eye. My two boys are both young men now and it’s a struggle for me to convince them to get behind my camera. So take advantage of the time you have before you have to resort to bribery to get them to model for you – but even that doesn’t work for me!

Also, it’s important to have memories, even in these difficult times. Even though we all want this whole thing to be over already, please try to take a few minutes to slow down and create.

Follow my tips below and you’ll learn how to improve your photography skills whilst documenting your time at home during the current lockdown. I hope that these will become special memories to look back on in the future.

The beauty of doorways

At the weddings I photograph, I nearly ALWAYS use doorways to frame my subject or use the lovely flattering light that comes from having top shade. It softens the way the light falls on the face, even on a very bright day.

Avoiding the sun in their eyes

Make sure the sun isn’t shining directly into your doorway. If it does, either wait for a cloudy day or move your little one behind the line the sun makes on the floor. Move them further in and watch how the light falls on their face. If you put them too far in, the portrait will be too dark.

Clear the background of as much clutter as possible and turn off any other lights, so that you’re just using natural light.

Snap away!

Find the right spot in your house, and then snap away. Create a short sequence of photographs. These can be portrait or landscape. Don’t use your camera’s flash.

Get full-length shots and photographs of the face only. Try to get a few different expressions – and remember, the subject doesn’t have to be looking at the camera for a portrait to ‘work’ or be perfect, natural is just as good too.

You could also ask your little one to make some faces, to help create a fun, natural collection of images.

Select & Edit

Go through your photographs and choose your favourites. Edit them all in the same way using the free Google Snapseed app. Click here for a tutorial we found to show you around it if you have trouble.

Present & Share!

Whether you want to showcase one of your images or a collage, there are some fantastic apps to help you do so, Layout by Instagram or the Unfold App are two that create fun collages and are relatively easy to use.

Cherish

And there you have it! Memories to cherish for many years to come.

I’d love to see it if you attempt to create some images of your little one’s using Susan’s tips above, please tag us both @the.lawrences and @susanreneephoto so we can see your gorgeous portraits!