6 Smartphone Tips For Great Pics of Your Kids

Get down to their height

• To get a good, close-up shot of your child, get down on your knees or bend down and—viola! Junior’s looking right into your camera.

Frame the action

• In photography, the rule of thirds is a guideline for where you should place your subject: on any one of the four intersection points.

• To create a strong visual cue, put your subject on the left or right of the image, especially if you have any excess space. This balances the negative space, and draws the eye to a focal point.

• Want a visual guide while shooting? Turn on your camera’s rule of thirds grid to help you with this:

  • Go to Settings > Camera

  • Under Composition > turn on the Grid function

• Now that you’ve got a visual grid, place the subject (in this case, your child) on any one of the four intersection points. 

Snap multiple photos

• Want to capture candid, nuanced shots of your child reacting to an object or prop? Snap multiple photos of a scene, or activate the burst shot function on your phone and fire away! Then, select the best shot from the series of photos.

Break the rules

• Remember the rule of thirds? You don’t have to follow the guide all the time. If you have to, break the rules by putting junior in the middle or even slightly off-centre. Get creative and find out what works best, or what looks most pleasing to the eye.

Focus on the subject

• When shooting on your phone camera, tap the spot on your screen that you want to focus on visually—we always recommend focusing on the subject’s eyes. 

• If the surroundings are dim or overexposed, adjust the brightness of the photo at a specific area by tapping once on the selected spot. When you see a sun icon popping up on the screen, tap and slide the sun icon up or down to adjust the image’s brightness.

  • Step 1: Tap once on the selected spot. 

  • Step 2: When you see a sun icon popping up, tap and slide the sun icon up or down to toggle the photo’s brightness

    
    

Shoot in portrait mode

• Almost all smartphone cameras now come equipped with a portrait mode function that lets you shoot amazing portraits. This is especially useful if you want to focus on a subject’s emotions and expression. 

• Turn the mode on and frame the subject in the middle of the screen. Then, focus on the subject’s eyes by tapping on that part of the screen and firing away!