Over the last couple of months, I've really tried to switch things up on Instagram and move away from the beauty flatlay's. You guys know that I love my beauty treats but I'm slowly moving away from all of that and focusing on becoming an established mummy/family blogger because that is my main focus on life right now. One thing that I love doing is taking photos of myself and Archie, I find these photos do really well on Instagram and they are great keep sakes for the family photo album. Whilst these kinds of photos are my favourite, they are by far the most difficult to take and I'll warn you now sometimes your photos shoots will be a complete fail. Trust me, I have an album on my laptop with hundreds of crazy blooper photos. Trying to take a photo of a toddler on their own is hard enough as it is but taking a nice photo of you and a three year old who isn't sleeping and refuses to sit still is a nightmare.
As most of the photos that you see of myself and Archie over on my Instagram are taken by myself, I thought today that I would share with you some top tips and things that have really helped me to take those photos. Plus a few of you have been asking how I take these pictures and if my three year old really sits still for the camera (he really doesn't).
Have a vision before you get the camera out; You know when you look at your feed and think 'ah a nice photo of me and my toddler would look great next to this one', well when I think this I often used to whip out the camera, balance it on something and hope for the best. Whilst shooting on a whim like this can sometimes work, I find that I only have a few photos to work with and they never look quite right. Shooting in the moment is great if you have someone else like the hubby on hand to get behind the camera and shoot when he sees a moment between you both. But with James working full time, its up to me to take the photos in the week, they are often shot indoors and shooting spare of the moment tends not to work for us.
What I try to do now is think how I want the photo to look, where I want it shot and what I want Archie and I to be wearing. I really love it when we are wearing similar items of clothing in our photos and I'll often pair us in matching jeans or the same shade of top - It always makes any photo of us look a million times better and it's perfect if you working with a particular colour scheme on your Instagram - Just pick the colour clothing that will work with your feed.
Once I've decided how I want the photo to look, I will wait for the right time in the day, one where usually there is a lot of natural light and set up the scene. You will often see certain props in our photos like flowers, photo frames, throws etc, this just adds to the overall photo and for me I love little details. Along side setting up any props, I'll also set the tripod up, adjust any camera settings and use my phone as a remote control so I can see exactly how the photo is going to look.
Bring in your toddler; Whenever I'm planning a photo shoot for us I always let Archie know before hand. I'll ask him if he wants to help mummy take some photos and usually he's up for it as he loves the camera. And when I say he loves the camera, he would much rather take the role of photographer than actually be in the photo. One thing that really helps me to calm Archie down when he's getting too excited and won't sit where I want him too is let him hold my spare camera remote and let him pretend that he's taking the photo. Yes, you may see it squished in his hands in some of my photos, but making Archie feel involved in the process really helps and I'm so happy with the outcome of the photos that I take no notice to him holding onto something so small.
Before we start taking any photos I'll often tell Archie in simple terms my vision. So if I want a photo of us cuddling, I'll ask him if he wants to give me a cuddle which he's usually happy to do. One thing I've learnt is that toddlers are a lot more clued up than we give them credit for, so it really helps talking to them and get them involved in the process. I don't want anyone thinking I'm forcing my child to take photos with me, but as you know most toddlers love doing what they see grown ups doing. For instance whenever I'm cleaning Archie will always ask for a clean dry cloth so he can do some too. It's the exact same when we are taking photos together.
Have fun and let your child express themselves; Some of the best photos I've taken of Archie and I are the ones where I have fun with him. I'll often make him laugh, pull some silly faces and just do what we do everyday when we are messing around. Whenever we take this approach there are a lot of photos that are blurred, have crazy faces and are just unusable. However in-between the moments of fun make sure you have your remote at the ready because I find this is where the magic happens and I'm able to take some beautiful photos of the two of us. Toddlers love climbing on you, so once they've done the climb and are quite happy to have a little slumped down cuddle, make sure your ready and take the photo. I promise you that you will have some amazing photos that you will be proud to frame around the home. And it really is a case of the more you take photos the better the both of you will be in front of the camera.
I found whenever I took the approach of trying to position Archie where he was sat still directly in front of the camera, he would have one photo taken then get bored, whinge and wine which would then make me feel slightly stressed. This approach is a recipe for disaster and you won't get those natural looking photos you're after.
Be prepared to give up and try again; Toddlers don't always want to play ball, no matter how fun you make things and the last thing you want is to force a photo. A lot of the time Archie just wants to play with his toys and when I ask him if he wants to take a photo he will say yes, but bring all of his toys with him. A lot of the time this does not work with my vision and that's ok, we take the photos anyway and I tel myself we will try this photo again another day.
I never put any pressure on myself or Archie to take that perfect photo and if he's not feeling it one day then thats perfectly ok. It's not giving up, it just wasn't meant to be that day and it's always ok to pick up the camera another day and try again. Remember taking photos of you both isn't a chore and shouldn't be stressful.
Don't feel guilty if you sometimes have to bribe your kids; Whilst I would never force Archie to take a photo, there are some occasions when we are mucking about and he just gets way too hyper and excited by the whole thing. Sometimes, just sometimes I'll ask him to calm down and that if he helps me with this photo we will go to the park afterwards or do something that he will really enjoy doing. Again, its not every often this happens as Archie loves photo taking time, but if he is just running riot by the sight of a camera a little bit of bribery goes along way and it's a win win for the both of us as we will do something that's also really fun afterwards.
So there we have it. It's nothing ground breaking but these little things really work for us. Don't get me wrong I am no pro at taking photos, but I am getting better at it and I really want to capture more magical moments of Archie's childhood, especially where mum and dad can also be in the photos.
If you try any of these tips then please let me know how you get on and if you have any of your own then please share them.
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