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