The photographer needs to have a lot of skills, patience, and expertise to photograph the child’s birthday pictures. Children are restless and always moving around so the photographer should know how to focus their camera and take the right shot.
Clicking pictures of a child’s birthday is different than taking pictures at a studio because of the different lighting conditions. The photographers have to make quick modifications to their camera settings to take the best shot of the party. Only an expert can capture a perfect shot that will narrate the story of the event.
Any occasion lasts only for a few hours and you can cherish those memories by taking beautiful pictures so that you recall the fond memories for a lifetime.
Here are the best tips that you can adopt if you are a parent or a photographer looking for tips to take pictures of a child’s birthday.
Approach them at their level
When photographing children and their birthday parties, you must capture them from different angles. You should know that the children’s perspective is different from ours. Everything that seems normal to us may not be the same for them.
The best tip to take the perfect shot is to kneel and come to their level. When you take pictures at this angle, you can capture their emotions, hand movements, and eyes perfectly. Most people make mistakes by taking pictures from a standing position and here you can read about the common child photography mistakes as well.
While taking a few pictures from a far-away angle is okay, you should aim to take the majority of your photos at the children’s eye level.
Record genuine feelings and emotions
Children cannot fake emotions. You cannot tell them to pose and grin. If they do, it looks fake and artificial. But you can adopt several other means to take their candid pictures. You may talk with them and make them smile and happy with your funny gestures. You can ask them to share some interesting incidents or narrate stories.
Keep eye contact with them and be playful so they know you are also interested in being in their company. While you are photographing, you can ask other people to hug the child from behind, and when they get surprised, you can capture the moment. Such pictures speak volumes, as they look candid and real.
All the photos need not reflect only happy emotions; they can have diverse emotions such as being scared, surprised, or crying. If you are a stranger to the child you are photographing, you can ask them some common questions. However, don’t ask too many personal questions that will make them lose interest in the discussion.
If you feel the child is shy, let them engage in their activity and shoot them as they play along. You can also ask them to give a pose and photograph the emotion you want to capture.
Capture personalized expressions with closeup pictures
When covering a birthday party of children, group photos look great and make exclusive memories. However, close-up images add to the fun. Children are very expressive, and they make interesting and funny expressions on several occasions, such as when cutting the cake, blowing out the candles, seeing the presents, or enjoying the party games.
You can focus on the pretty faces of children and capture their innocence. The best close-up shot can be taken near the window with natural light. Make sure you open the aperture as far as possible and set a fast shutter speed to get a clearer picture. When getting close to the person, make sure to maintain focus. You can also use the zoom feature to get a clear shot.
Take before and after shots of the party
When you are clicking pictures of birthday parties, you must also focus on party props and details. This can be done long before the guests have arrived so that you can concentrate on the subject and the props for the best shot. You may click pictures of the backdrop, balloon decorations, party table, and birthday props. When taking close pictures of these elements, make sure you focus on them and make the background abstract. Such clicks look awesome and eye-catching.
After the party, you may capture some more shots, including pictures of the birthday child and the decorations. Such contrasting shots look amazing, as you can compare what the party looked like before and after. You may plan your shots that you want to click well ahead of the party.
Plan your exclusive shots
When you are clicking pictures of children’s birthdays, you must always go with the flow and take candid pictures, as they look great and natural. But you also need to plan some of your shots so that you don’t miss out on any essential details.
The best tip is to contact the parents and discuss their expectations. They may have some ideas to share that you can use for taking pictures. The parents might want to take exclusive pictures of cake, decorations, blowing candles, and party games. They may also ask for personal pictures of parents, grandparents, and the birthday child.
Even though the primary focus of children’s birthdays is the kids, the adults in the party do provide some amazing clicks. You must include the clicks of parents, family, and relatives talking to children or reacting to their actions.
Have lots of Patience
Taking great children’s images needs a lot of patience. Simply wait for the right grin, silly moment, or for your subject to turn to you.
And when the time comes, don’t be too concerned with perfection. Simply appreciate what the situation offers and go for it. Just remember that you’re aiming to capture the moment, therefore be willing to accept mistakes.
Don’t be hesitant to click a lot of pictures. When photographing youngsters, their movements are unpredictable. Taking a huge number of photos can help to ensure that there are at least a few good photographs of every moment recorded.
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