Photograph Your Children Before It’s Too Late

Photographing your children can be a real challenge for parents, but an endeavor well worth the effort. As parents we get very excited when we first learn that a child will be coming into our lives, and for the months before the birth we are making all kinds of plans and arrangements for the new family member.

Many times this includes buying a digital camera in anticipation of photographing the newest member of our family but we are not really well versed in child photography. Today the most common camera chosen is a 35mm Digital SLR camera with all kinds of bells and whistles to help us take great photographs.

Some of those “bells and whistles” can be confusing:

• M
• Av
• Tv
• P
• ☼
• And many more”¦

To get some of those great photographs, however, requires some knowledge of not only how best to use the camera functions but how to frame the subject to get the best result. When you first get the new camera it comes with this rather thick book with lots of detail that may not make a great deal of sense to you, so one solution is to do a quick search on the internet for an introduction to the use of a 35mm digital slr camera.

Now that you have a camera and have gained some knowledge about how to use it you are going to want to take a lot of photographs of your child as they grow up. And when I say “a lot of photographs of your child” that is exactly what I mean.

So many of you will simply grab the camera, set it on P for program, snap a few images and then put the camera away. This is a big mistake! When I photograph a young child I may take anywhere from 15 to 50 photographs very quickly in order to capture that one image that really stands out and captures the unique personality of the child.

Children Change So Quickly!

As a parent and grandparent I can tell you that very young children change very quickly as they grow from new born infants into toddlers and then young children. As they go through the many different stages of development their physical attributes and facial expressions will change, each of which is precious in its own special way.

Each stage of development is associated

with different looks and character traits which often times are never repeated later on. For example, when your child begins to explore the world around them they will hold a toy or object and spend a lot of time examining it. They first need to figure out how to hold it and then they shake or throw it with much delight. The look on the child’s face of wonderment is one you really want to capture.

Soon they look around and are off to explore the world, first crawling along the floor, then holding onto a chair or table to stand, then stumbling to and fro as they explore further and further away in the home. At this point their features are becoming more detailed and again worth capturing in a photograph.

You get the idea – from infancy until they reach the teenage years their looks, movements and special ways change rapidly, sometimes from day to day. Each time we notice these very cute and individual changes we want to remember them for the rest of our lives.

This is why as parents and grandparents we want to take as many photographs of our children and grandchildren as possible during these years.

Use The Best Images For Art and Gifts!

Now that you have captured some really great images it is time to use them to enrich your lives. Look around most homes and you will find photographs of children in picture frames on a piano, a shelf or even hung on the wall.

But there is so much more you can do with those great photographs. For example, you can use a service like Shutterfly to create Photo Books, Cards and Stationery, or to even share them with friends and relatives with a custom personal website.

Or you can take the very best images and turn your photographs into canvas art on a website like CanvasOnDemand.com. The image at the top of this post is an image of a young child printed on canvas that could be hung in a home, an office or given as a special gift to a grandparent or special relative.

Time Is Of The Essence!

Because your children will grow and change so quickly it is really important to capture those special looks and cute characteristics before it is too late. Life can play tricks on us, and something can happen and we will find ourselves wishing we had more images, that we had captured our child’s history and that we had preserved those important memories.

Don’t miss out on preserving the life of your child in photographs while you still have time.

If you have any thoughts on this subject that you would like to share with us please leave a comment below.