How to capture a Natural Smile from your Child
How to capture a natural smile from your child. If you’re a parent you’ll know it well, that cheesy grin that shows ALL your child’s teeth and scrunches their eyes shut!
A natural, happy, cheeky smile from your little one can melt your heart like nothing else, but as soon as they see the camera that gorgeous smile disappears.
So, how do you avoid the dreaded cheesy grin and capture that heart-melting smile?
Here’s my Three Top Tips for taking natural photographs of your children at any age:
TIP 1: Be relaxed
No one likes to feel under pressure and this goes for our children too. Did you know, even newborn babies can pick up on our feelings and body language?
It’s amazing but true. If you’re feeling really anxious to capture the perfect shot your Little One may feel anxious too.
Take the pressure off and make it fun. If your child doesn’t want to join in the photos take a break and try again later, you’ll have more chance of success the next time you try.
TIP 2: Don’t say “Cheese”!
The clue’s in the name and there’s a reason we call it a Cheesy Grin. Best to avoid the ‘say cheese’ approach altogether, you’ll probably get the opposite of what you wanted to capture.
What can you try instead?
Lots of interaction with your child will get you a more natural result, you could even play a game while taking the pictures.
For Babies and Toddlers a simple game like Peek-a-boo works well. You could try singing a song together or for older children ask them to tell you a joke. Usually they make one up that makes no sense at all, but that will have you both laughing! Perfect for a happy photograph.
TIP 3: Smile back to them
Children love to copy so try smiling a big natural smile at them from behind the camera. They will probably smile right back to you!
So now you know how to capture a more natural smile from your child. Family photographs bring more joy to our lives than many of our other possessions could ever come close to, so why not make the very best ones you can!
I’ve been a Baby Photography specialist for over a decade and I love what I do. You can see more of my Baby and Family Photography HERE maybe it will give you some ideas to try with your own Little Ones.
I hope this helps and you have fun trying out these tips!
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