By Angella of Dutch Blitz

1. Use Whiskey

No, not the beverage; the word. If you try to make your kids smile by telling them to say cheese their smiles will look, well, cheesy.  If you have them say “whiskey” (or “monkey” if you have an adverse reaction to whiskey), their smiles look more natural.

2. Shoot Them (Off-centered)

The technical term is “Rule Of Thirds”, but the gist of it is this: You do not want them right smack in the middle of the frame.  Move them to the right or left of center and you will have a shot that is instantly better.

3. Fill The Frame

If you are hoping to capture a good portrait of your child, their feet do not need to be included.  Fill a large portion of the frame with their face.  To get an even more dynamic shot, crop out the top part of their head.

4. Catch Them When They Aren’t Looking

We all seem to be programmed that the best shots are the ones where our child is looking at the camera, smiling the perfect smile, and showing the world how adorable they are.  Sometimes, however, a great photo of them occurs when they are not even aware that you are snapping their photo.

5. Break All Of The Rules

Now that I have told you the above four tips, I am going to tell you to ignore them every once in awhile.  Try different angles, different perspectives, different crops.  You may end up with a photo that captures the true essence of you child.

6. Saving Your Photos

I personally use Flickr for blog/sharing online purposes, and Shutterfly for printing purposes. Flickr partners with other printing companies who have good reputations as well. With Shutterfly, I upload my photos at the end of every month, get them developed and then let them languish on a shelf for six months file them immediately.

Even if you don’t print them immediately, do yourself a favor and at least upload them somewhere. You never know when you’ll spill Diet Coke on your laptop (Not that I have any experience with that. Ahem.)