One of the reasons I wanted to study photography was so that I could produce better images of our family.  I joked that my classmates would probably get tired of seeing her face since she is always around and used to be a pretty good model.  Now that she's 2.5 going on 30, she's a bit more difficult to get to pose and stand still.  Even so, I want to document our daily life more and I thought in the process, I could share some ideas with my fellow moms who would like do to the same but don't know where to get started.  

I'm going to start with tips that will work even when shooting with a cell phone.  I will do a more advanced post later that goes into digital camera settings specifically but I want this to be applicable to as many people as possible.

So have you heard of this Kindness Rocks Project?  Murray, Kentucky has gotten REALLY into it with a super active facebook group and a hashtag.  People are painting, hiding and finding rocks all over town.  We had a blast searching for these rocks and I'm so glad I took my camera.

1: The best camera is the one you have with you

It's annoying and heavy to take a big camera around all the time so oftentimes I won't.  Especially now that I have paying clients, I've been neglecting my own family photography.  Like I said, you can use the rest of these tips with a cell phone just as easily.

2: Get down on their level

It makes them seem more equal to us as viewers when you crouch down and shoot from a lower level.  If you're always shooting from your own height, you see lots of the tops of your kids heads.  Getting on their eye level also makes it more likely that you'll get some good eye contact.

PS The way I got Hazel to look straight into my camera lens was by telling her there were mermaids hunting rocks in there but she had to look really closely.  :)

3: Light is the most important thing

In situations with plenty of light, cell phone can cameras work almost as well as digital cameras.  Low light is much trickier.  

Shoot at the golden hour.  My favorite light is at the golden hour which is about an hour before sunset.  This is much easier with kids now that the days are getting a little shorter again.  If I tried to do a sunset session with Hazel in the summer, it would have been at her normal bedtime and we would have been in for some epic meltdowns.

Stay in the shade.  If you can stay in the shade of tall buildings, you'll have nice even light without harsh shadows.  This is a good trick for taking photos mid-day or when the sunlight is really bright.  The shade of trees can be a bit trickier because the light and shadow are often dappled and uneven because of the leaves and it can also make skin tones appear too green.  Though this may seem backwards, overcast and cloudy days are good because they produce diffused, even lighting.

4: Curate, if you want

These images were meant to be more documentary style, showing our family doing a fun activity.  But if you know me AT ALL you know that I'm a control freak and I like things to be a certain way.  I put Hazel in a cute outfit before we left the house and I gently led her into some of my favorite locations like this alley next to the new Peel & Holland building downtown.  We chose to go downtown rather than to campus or the Arboretum because it's close enough to our house that we could walk there, and I prefer a more urban setting than rural.

5: It's the little things

Don't forget the little details like their hands, feet, sweet little noses, clothes, etc.  Don't be afraid to "chop off" parts of their bodies to emphasize other parts.  I love Hazel's chubby wrists but she's becoming a kid and less of a baby so that's going away somewhat.  I never want to forget those little rolls so I make sure I take lots of photographs of them.