How to Take the Best Fall Pictures - Contributor Post

It's full-swing fall, and here to give tips on taking great seasonal pictures is Alex Nguyen from Alex Nguyen Portraits!

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Here in the Pacific Northwest where I live, it is definitely fall. When I walk my kiddo to the bus stop in the morning, if it's not pouring rain on us we like to play the crunching-as-many-leaves-as-possible game. Fall is also my favorite time for outdoor pictures. The scenery is beautiful, there are so many opportunities between apple picking in the orchards, pumpkin picking at the pumpkin patches, playing outside in the leaves, or just dressing up in halloween costumes. Here are six easy tips to keep in mind to capture those moments with your own kiddos.  

1. Keep it simple.

I think everyone has seen the Pinterest picture of the baby in the pumpkin. I'm here to tell you - it's NOT THAT EASY. Instead, put an adorable pumpkin hat on your baby, and snap a picture that way. Here I put my baby in a basket to make sure he didn't crawl away. WAY more comfortable than trying to squeeze him into a pumpkin.

 

2. Pull Out Props!

These are apples from our yard, but you can try to find an U-Pick apple orchard near your area, and take some adorable pictures as well.

This was super easy, I just put apples 0n the ground and set my kiddo down to sit among them.

3. Sibling Poses: make them laugh

For my two boys, I had them lay down, then told them a joke while I took a picture above them. It cracked them up, and I got some cute smiles out of the deal.

4. Don't forget to capture the funny moments as well

my youngest really wanted the apple my husband was eating, and pulled his arm down to grab a bite. I snapped a picture while I was laughing because it was totally his personality.

5. Always have your camera on hand!

We were walking at an outside mall when my boys started throwing leaves at each other. It was super cute. For this picture, I had my husband throw leaves on the boys while I snapped pictures

I had taken my kiddo to the park, and saw these beautiful leaves. We weren't dressed up or anything, but it was too pretty to not try to get some pictures. I had him throw some up in the air to get the falling leaves pictures.

 

The red leaves made such a pretty contrast to the green grass, so I also had him lie down for a few snaps as well.

 

This was totally unplanned, but look at how wonderful the pictures turned out. Since we weren't dressed up, neither of us were stressed out about messing up the clothes, or getting dirty in the grass.

This was on a different day, and we found yellow leaves for a background. Again, no stress, just had my kiddo lie down and snapped a shot.

6. Don't forget to take costume pictures when your kids aren't trick or treating!

My youngest was Captain America last year, and he *loved* his costume and wore it everywhere. We went to the park, and I got some of the cutest smiles ever on camera.

  

Picture taking doesn't need to be planned, with dressy outfits, and stressed out parents or kids trying to keep clean. It can be spontaneous, and fun, and joyous as well. Always keep your camera on you (even if it's just a cell phone), and look for those moments to capture. Hope these fall picture taking tips helped!

 

How to Take Photos of Your Child Outside - Contributor Post

The ever talented Alex Nguyen of Alex Nguyen's Portraits has agreed to give an outside candid photo shoot tutorial for me!

Most of the time, if your child is like mine, he's running around outside while you're trying to capture a good picture of him. Here are some easy things to consider and keep in mind to get better pictures of your cuties. This doesn't guarantee non-blurry action shots (that's another post!), but it should help you get out of the cheesy-smile rut, and deliver some sincere, cute pictures of your kiddo.

TIP) Check Your Background. Are there lots of things around, will your kid still be the focus, or will the eye go to someplace else? Maybe just turn around and see if there is another direction you can face. This was facing our house. You can see our deck, the shed, and all sorts of things in the background. My kiddo is kind of lost in everything else going on in the picture. I just looked to another part of our yard instead for pictures.



TIP) Shake The Sillies Out. Let your kids be silly! You get some pretty awesome personality shots. Plus, it takes the pressure off of them performing for you, and it takes the edge off of you that they're not looking at the camera, making faces, or whatever. I told my kiddo to make the scariest and silliest faces he could for me, and this is what I got.



TIP) Get Out Of The Sun. Like turning off the overhead light, having the full sun overhead is not your best friend when taking pictures. It creates harsh shadows on your kid, they'll be squinting in the sun, and you get black pits as eyes. You want to find something called "open shade", which is basically like a big, shady spot. Good ideas are under a tree, a covered porch, inside your garage, your back deck, your front doorstep. Here is my open shade. It's the underneath area of my kids' tree house. It's not a very big space.



Here is my kiddo close up in the exact same spot. Notice how sweet he looks?


TIP) Play Games with Your Child. My kids LOVE peek a boo, and hide-and-go-seek. I get the best expressions from these games, especially if they think they are "fooling" me. Where'd he go?


  Oh, there he is!


TIP) Above all, let it be fun for both of you. You want your child's personality to shine through. My funny boy in all his moods.

A Quick Overview:

• Check your background to make sure it isn't overwhelming your child (your main focus)
• Let your kiddo shake their sillies out in front of the camera. Takes the pressure off both you and them.
• Don't shoot in full sun
• Find open shade
• Play games with them
• Let the child have fun, and their personalities will shine through

 

Tips on Taking Photos of Your Children - Contributor Post

The lovely Alex Nguyen has agreed to share some of her expertise, usually on Alex Nguyen Portraits, with us today! Taking pictures of your kids can be tough, especially if you suck with a camera as much as I do. Here's what she says!

Most people assume that you need a fancy camera, or lots of equipment, or intimate knowledge with the words "f stop" and "shutter speed" in order to get that perfect shot of their kids. I'm here to tell that while all that stuff is awesome and groovy, it's not at all needed. You can get that great shot of your kid with your point and shoot camera, and this post is to give you some tips on how to achieve some of that. First of all, all the following pictures are done indoors, near a large window. I set up near our slider, with my kid facing me and the window. You don't have to have a floor length window, any largish window will suffice.

This is my actual dining room. I just pushed table back, and plopped my kiddo in front. Note that it is not a large space, and I have no additional or special photo equipment.



 Also, TURN OFF ANY OVERHEAD LIGHTS OR LAMPS. They will cast an odd, yellowish light on your pictures. If you have a nice, largish window, you won't need additional light on your child.

See this? I call this "Cheesy Four Year Old" smile. This is what you get when you tell your child to "say cheese". You get, a cheese smile. Stiff, unnatural, and while cute, definitely not "him".



 Next, get down at your child's level. Sit down with them if you can. Engage them in some conversation. Don't be afraid to be silly.



 Don't get stuck in the rut of always taking a horizontal picture. Mix it up, and take vertical pictures (up and down pictures) as well.



Don't get fixated on taking the picture smiley picture. Get pictures of their silly faces. Of them playing with a favorite toy, or just being contemplative. If your child is normally serene, capture that.



Don't be afraid to capture the silly moments, sometimes they are the best pictures.



Get close to your child, and fill up your viewfinder with their sweet face.



A quick overview:

for shooting indoors, set your child near a window

turn off any overhead lights

get down to their level (sit down! )

don't say cheese

don't be afraid to fill up the viewfinder with your child's face

remember to take vertical pictures, as well as horizontal pictures

get your child to talk to you

let your child play

take lots of pictures, one of them will turn out

don't get stuck on getting the perfect pictures or perfect smile. concentrate on just getting your child comfortable in front of the camera, and watch the magic happen.

Child Photography

Everyone is sick here (except for me), but that didn't stop them from playing photographer yesterday.

As it's been a while since I've posted their pictures, I thought you might like a peek. This time is different because the child being photographed is being posed and ordered around by the photographer.

They started in the living room.

Then moved on to close ups.

After that, they moved it to the bedroom where they practiced "sad."

Loving the eye-cross. Very effective emoting, Dulce.

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Their Photography Skills are Coming Along

Remember last time I posted about the girls' photography? It had just gone from blurry mess to slightly in focus mess?

They're onto framing subjects now, and I'm pretty sure half the pictures they take are better than mine.

Lilly took this one. She gave Dulce her bear as a prop.

Morning music session.

Sick of me yet? They practice on me a lot. And yeah, I should probably start doing my hair. I guess.

Yes, Dulce cut off her head a bit. But look at the candid shot. Not bad, eh?

Anyway, rechargeable batteries, folks. They're lifesavers.


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