Some easy tips for outdoor portraits

I was visiting a friend recently, and she graciously let me snap a few pics of her adorable nine-month-old daughter. I've never taken photos of kids before, so I learned a few things that I wanted to share. First of all, perhaps the most valuable lesson about photographing little kids (or pets) is this -- You really need to get down on their level. You need to physically be at their eye level. The photos take on so much more life when they are seemingly from the perspective of the subject.

For these photos, I was actually laying on my stomach on the grass.













Tip #2 - be creative with your environment. When taking outdoor shots, I look for anything that can possibly be a background. For the pics above, Fina was just sitting in the grass in her front yard. I put the trees behind her rather than the house or a neighborhood street. I used f4 or f5 aperture so that she was in focus, but the background was blurred out enough to put the focus of the photo clearly on Fina. If you shoot outdoors, look around for things that might make a nice background. Here, we set the baby down in front of a brick half wall near the front patio.





And here she is in front of a fence:







This one is in the garden. I edited it with the "Fairytale" Lightroom presets from One Willow Boutique.



I told you she was cute. And she was serious about modeling too. She even invented her own signature pose, which involves putting one foot in the air. Her mom told me that it's a new thing. The kid knows how to improvise!









When I'm playing with a camera, I try to capture the little qualities that make something unique. Also I'm not afraid to shoot dozens of photos if it means I get one nice one. For example, I was shooting away in continuous shooting mode as Fina's mom helped her stand up.







And then I got this shot, which I love. Look how happy and proud she is that she's standing up on her own! What a great moment to catch.



In conclusion, here's what I learned from this informal photo shoot:

• When photographing kids or animals, try to shoot at their level.
• Be creative with your environment.
• Be ready to capture the unique details and moments.
  

I can't wait to take more kid photos (and share what I learn). Let me know if you have any great tips to share about photographing children or taking outdoor portraits.



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• My tips for taking portraits on a sunny day
  
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This post is a part of Photo Friday, a segment of the blog dedicated to posts about photography, photo editing tutorials, resources, and other related topics.