A helpful tip to get children to take good photos.

Today I found myself wondering how I would be able to get a 2 year old client to take good photos. The best photos are not always the posed ones. The natural photos when kids are playing or naturally moving around can be the best.  I deal with a large number of newborns and children, so I am always trying to see what will work to get a good photo.  Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.  Children can be difficult to photograph, especially at the age of 2.  They want to move around constantly. Getting a child to sit or stand for more than a second can be extremely difficult.  The little girl I had today was just precious. She mainly wanted to sit on my lap and give me hugs lol. Which is cute but doesn't get the parents who are paying there prized photos they are wanting.  The challenge was to get her to the photo area.  Once she was there I needed her to stay there for at least a minute or two to snap a few photos.

I had a small gumball machine that she found.  One tip for working with children put everything up and out of reach and eye sight. If they can see it they will get it.  Remember to get on their eye level.   I figured we should just use the gumballs to entice her to take some photos since she was showing some interest in them.  After getting the parents okay for the gumballs, I placed a few pieces in my hand.   I told her that if she did a few photos she could have one piece of gum.  She was super excited. She ran over sat in the chair.  After quickly grabbing my camera I was able to grab a few really great shots. I made her do one more time then gave her the reward. This went off and on for about the full hour.  You never know what will work for a child. Today the gumballs were the key to a successful children's photo shoot.  My best advice is to see what the kids are focused on and used that to get the best photos possible.  Have a stash of candy or gum close.