21 Oct 5 Tips For Photographing Family Adventures
Professional photographer and a mum of two, Louise Glendon, shares her tips on how to capture your family adventures in beautiful photos.
It’s all about getting creative, using careful composition, and deciding what you’ll photograph in advance.
Imagine you’re telling the day like a ‘story’.
Then you can capture all the key moments and details, and then put the camera away and get involved! The same techniques can be used for capturing birthday parties, a day at the beach or a visit to the city in your own hometown. Any occasion can be captured in fun and creative ways to document the action, details and stories of your adventures.
1. Set Aside Time To Shoot
At the start of your day, decide which activities/events you most want to capture. Spend 10 minutes taking photos and ask for everyone’s cooperation, with the promise that the camera will go away for the rest of the day.
2. Capture The Details
Take the time to include detail shots that tell us the story. Include an introduction by taking a wide-angle or faraway shot that presents the ‘scene’, and shows us where you are. Next, take a shot of something that gives a clue to the activity, for example the sign saying, ‘Welcome to Monkey Mia – dolphins this way’, your child’s flippers or their hands holding shells or beach finds.
3. Take Action Shots
Capture action shots of your family participating in the activity. Get down to the kids’ level and compose it in a way that shows us the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ elements. An easy and fun way to do this is to shoot at the widest angle your lens allows, and get in just close enough to your subject so that it’s obvious they’re your subject, but not so close you exclude the environment. Don’t forget to also capture the wide vistas to put it all into context.
4. Freeze Or Capture?
In the midst of the fun and creativity, try to pay attention to your shutter speeds – consider throughout the activity whether you want to freeze or capture the action.
5. Put Them On Display
Documenting your adventures in this way is fantastic for creating blog posts, memory-filled photo books and scrapbooking.
Imagine the story of your family’s favourite day on holiday told in pictures, framed as a storyboard and hung on the wall at home.
Louise Glendon is an entrepreneur, professional photographer and mum to her two girls aged six and seven. She teaches photography online through her website Click Love Grow. Visit the site for more information on how to take great shots of your kids and check out her photography courses.
Words by Louise Glendon
