My Tips For Capturing The Best Photographs Of Your Child ♥

 Since beginning this blog I have found a new passion in the form of photography, I take my camera everywhere with me and I absolutely love capturing memories and moments in time so that they can last forever. I think of photography in quite a romantic and whimsical kind of way, I just find it amazing that you can capture a moment in someones life on camera, as well as their emotions and actions through pictures that can last a lifetime.

The person I love taking pictures of the most is my son. We have little photo sessions together and I try to get as creative with them as I possibly can. If you follow my blog you'll have seen many of the products from our photo sessions together but since a lot of people have begun asking me what type of camera I use (it's a Nikon DSLR D3200 by the way) and how I get my son to cooperate for pictures I decided to share my own tips on how to get the best photography of your child. Now, I am by no means a professional, in my eyes I'm still a beginner. I'm still getting to grips with my new camera and I don't know the correct terms for things - I probably never will either, but I have a great passion for photography and hopefully my tips will be of help to some of you and they are all from my own personal experience as you'll see from the picture examples below. I truly believe that you can get amazing pictures no matter what camera you use. Some of my favourite pictures of my son were taken on my Canon which is a standard bridge camera and sometimes I think the pictures come out far better than on my DSLR!

I captured this shot far back from my son. I used a long zoom and captured him after he took the first bite of his first ever apple. I love the look on his face, the way he's holding the apple and the way his mouth is as he's mid chew. This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

I captured this picture of my son and my cousin last Easter when they sat under a tree during our Easter egg hunt. They didn't realise that I was taking their picture and I got this beautiful shot of my cousin embracing Tyler Lee. Natural shots of children really are the best. This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

Let your child be natural. There is nothing I hate more than staged pictures of children, they're so insincere to me and don't capture the true magic of their little smiles or facial expressions - all the things I want to see in a picture. I let my son run around, all the while holding my camera ready for him to look in my direction or capture him in a lovely moment. I've captured so many great pictures this way, especially of my boy in his dreamy state and this is something I love to see.

This shot was taken on my plain white bed sheet. Funnily enough people thought this was a professional picture! I took lots of shots and I think this was the best one as you can see his true baby smile and the little quirk with his tongue, as I said, the more natural the better! This picture was taken on my Canon Bridge Camera.

I got this Valentine's Day themed picture of my son two days before his first birthday so at this time he was crawling about and moving a lot, making this shot of him lying down a rare one! I covered him with lipstick kisses to make for a cupid themed picture. I love it! This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

Dress up is fun! I have captured my boy in a lot of costumes, the first being his turtle costume which I picked up for like €4 on Ebay. I've also captured him in seasonal costumes and themes and these have been some of the best and most memorable pictures I've ever captured of him. I have an Etsy and Ebay wish list full of photo prop and costume ideas not only for my son but for any future children I may have. There are some amazing costume and prop ideas for seasonal and holiday themed photos.

This picture was taken on continuous shooting mode. For a split second my boy gave his bunny soft toy a cuddle and I think it's super sweet. If I hadn't been using continuous shooting mode I'd have lost the chance to capture this sweet moment. This picture was taken on my Nikon D3200.

 I was delighted to capture this shot because not only did I capture my two seasons in one day but I also captured my son strolling along with his best friend, his PupPup. I really like that continuous shooting mode was able to capture him mid step and sight of his comforter too. This was taken on my Nikon D3200.

Keep your camera on continuous shooting mode. I used to use a Canon bridge camera which had a huge delay between frames, this used to frustrate me so much because I was losing out on some amazing shots whilst waiting for a new frame to come up. I now keep my Nikon on continuous shooting mode and some of the best pictures I've captured were from just snapping away non stop. There are some days when I take 200+ pictures but there are so many great ones to choose from and so many wonderful expressions and moments I would have missed out on if my camera was on a normal, slower frame setting.

Early spring is one of my favourite times of year for capturing pictures outside. It's amazing what sitting your child amongst some blooming flowers and tree trunk can do. I think it makes for a really beautiful and enchanting picture. This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

Meadows during the summer months provide the most perfect backdrop for pictures. The mix of coloured wild flowers always looks beautiful and the shots can be even better if you capture your child interacting with them. I can't wait to return to this meadow during the summer! This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

Nature is your best prop. I'm not really a fan of getting pictures of my son against pure white backgrounds unless he's getting a professional portrait taken or I want to show off his clothes as best I can. I love to take him outside and interact with the nature around him. I'm captured him in meadows, flower patches, on the grass amidst daisies, by the sea, etc. and all these pictures have been made so special by their beautiful backdrops. I think natural backdrops are fast becoming a signature of my pictures and I really do believe that nature is your best prop when it comes to taking pictures of your child. Outdoors there is so much for your child to interact with and these moments make for the best pictures from my experience.

Editing turned this picture from something bland to something amazing for me. I wanted to focus on the red rose and my sons bow-tie and outfit as it was Valentine's Day and I think editing it to black and white while keeping the red really worked. I also love the expression on his face. This picture was taken on my Nikon D3200.

I wanted to really make the colours pop in this picture so I used a boost feature to make them brighter. I love how it turned out and I think it really gives the picture a 3D look, especially with the daffodil in front of the tree. 

Editing can make a big difference. Sometimes I'm really not blown away with some of the pictures I take but when I edit them I suddenly fall in love. These days I only ever seem to use the exposure setting on PicMonkey to brighten my pictures and that's it but it can be fun to try out different filters to give a picture a particular mood or wow factor.

This picture is one of those split second shots which I love. I got this shot whilst hiding by the curtains by our sliding doors while my boy played in the garden. I love the look of innocence in his little face. This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

He's not looking at the camera but I let my boy do his own thing without calling his name and I captured this lovely shot of him smiling at a bird flying past. This picture was taken on my Canon bridge camera.

Don't call their name to make them look at the camera. This is something I used to always do until I learnt that it only annoyed my son and didn't make him want to get his picture taken. I now just let him do his own thing and he's always guaranteed to look in my direction - even when I'm hiding out! I find that I get some gorgeous pictures just letting him do his own thing and I'm able to capture the best, most natural moments and expressions from him.

These are just my tips for capturing the best photography of your child. These are things which have made a big difference to the images I capture of my son and I wish I had known and done all these things when he was a newborn because I could have gotten some gorgeous pictures of him from birth. I'll continue to practice these photography tips myself and look forward to all the other images and moments I'll capture in my sons life as well as any other children I may have someday.