Some of my favorite "Kisses"

Just in time for Valentine's Day...

We the Mamarazzi

Our kids are the little celebrities of our lives. They lead documented days--showing up in pictures, journal entries, scrapbooks and on websites. We record milestones from their first smile to their first day of school and WE WANT PICTURES.

Much like real celebrities attempt to avoid the always-intrusive paparazzi, our kids will often go to great and maddening lengths to foil our photographic attempts. Being famous is hard work, and they often grow tired of the publicity. And they seem to know when we really need that perfect photo for a holiday card. They make valiant and often successful attempts to outrun, outsmart and out-frustrate us: the mamarazzi.

Well guess what? There are ways to conn these small superstars into submission.

I've got my own "professional mamarazzi" (yes, in addition to following all the kids I know and love around with a camera I pimp myself out to catch paying clients' kids on film) suggestions for how to simultaneously prevent tantrums (from paying parents and kids) and engineer joy for frame-worthy photos. And I'll continue to post my favorite photos and photo tips (in addition to rants and raves about other parts of my world).

Getting the right situation and mood going for a photo is My Thang. I like manipulating kids into having fun. This may be a suppressed need I have to control people but it does result in keepsakes. (I'm kidding of course, I actually like playing with kids. Really. Folks who know me will get my back on this). Anyway, what I (and all photographers) constantly need help with are the rough and tumble basics of photo taking.

If you are using a camera set on auto focus you'll simply need to know the bare bones rules (turn off the flash, fill the frame, and eliminate busy backgrounds). If you want to get crafty and good, I recommend Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera, by Bryan Peterson.

Now, just for kicks, get out your camera and go take at least 5 photos of your kids doing whatever they are doing NOW. Don't tell them you're there or ask them to smile. Go. You might just capture a kiss in time for Valentine's Day.

Engineering Joy

The truth is, babies are relatively easy to placate for a photo shoot, and engineering joy for toddlers and older kids isn’t as hard as you might think. Consider having a “photo play date” that works for you, not against you. Generally this means getting outside.

Letting your kids play in the sand, feed ducks and stand on top of picnic benches (whooohooo standing on a table!) is a lot easier and a lot more likely to inspire laughter than sitting them on the carpet at home, and of course, natural light produces better photos.

Prepare for this play date the way you would any trip out with kids—don’t dress them in anything that will promote your own heart failure if it is messed with dirt or food. Tell them what you are doing (going somewhere to take pictures of them playing) and promise them a special snack or trip right afterwards if they can agree to sit down and smile a few times when you ask. And don’t forget to take pictures of moments when they do sit but don’t want to smile. These are often some of my favorites.

Whether you are stepping into your back yard to play with a pile of leaves or driving to a nearby park or beach, make sure to do two things immediately upon arrival. First, take out your camera and start shooting. Capture their excitement over what the landscape has to offer. My kids often jump up and down when they arrive somewhere fun, and this makes a great photo.

Second, give them plenty of play time before you ask anything of them. Do not ask them to sit down before they start to look bored. Doing this can be a lot like dangling a steak in front of a starving dog before placing the meat high up on an unreachable counter.

Once you do ask them to sit or pose, use fun poses and silly situations. For instance, get your daughter to hold her baby brother on her lap for a few shots, then tell her to give him a kiss on his cheek. Ask her what she would have for dinner if she could have anything in the world, or what kind of ice cream she’d like to take a bath in. Keep talking and joking with her. Do not command that she smile, since as you probably already know, that doesn’t work.

Just Shoot It

I never expect kids to want to have their picture taken, even (or perhaps especially) when their parents are paying me to do it.

Maybe it’s because I kicked off this (side) photography career by photographing my own colicy baby boy in various outfits and poses simply to pass the time and get through another day of screaming. Or perhaps the lesson was learned while watching mothers (some of whom I’ve known very well and understood to be quite normal) turn into candidates for a psychological study on nervous behavior over a child that refused to sit STILL and SMILE(!) for the camera.

Here’s the thing: most kids would rather play than pose. So if you want frame-worthy photos of your kids, use this fact to your advantage. Don’t put them through a traditional photo shoot.

Get them outside, get ‘em playing, and then use my main photography tip: grab your camera and keep shooting.

Angelic smiles can be overrated, so take whatever you can get: pink toes in green grass, a bare belly button, your two-year-old demanding more snacks with a furrowed brow. All of these can be awe-inspiring photos. Just remember to take more than you think you need. Taking two hundred photos generally ensures that I’ll have ten great shots. So shoot away!

Itty Bitties

I’ll let you in on a secret: taking professional-quality photos of your child is easy.

Let’s leave the technical mumbo jumbo for later and start at the beginning—baby steps, as they say. Toddlers and older kids require different techniques (which I'll tackle in further entries), but babies can often be manipulated into at least a placid expression, perfect for that close-up of their bottomless eyes and furry little caterpillar eyebrows, with a few simple tricks.

Make sure your itty bitty subjects are rested. Just after a nap is a great time. They should be fed and comfortable (and in fact some of my favorite photos include chubby cheeks covered in rice cereal, so during feeding ain’t bad either). Infants are often most comfy inside, near a large glass door or window where natural light can get in and warm them. Luckily this is also often the ideal spot for photo lighting.

Inside or outside, turn off that flash and make sure you have a solid background (all light or all dark with no patterns like a flowered couch to distract) behind the baby.

Try making them giggle before you bust out the ominous black box. Tickle them, blow bubbles, do whatever ya gotta do. Then put their favorite toy on your head (yes you’ll feel like a clown – welcome to my world), or enlist Daddy or another favorite adult to jump up and down behind you (directly behind the camera). When you are on your own, sometimes Baby Mozart can be just as good as that favorite adult. Just don’t block the screen while taking the photo. This used to make my son madder than an irritated diaper rash.

Another tip for when you’re home alone: try out this uber cool product you can wrap around anything and attach a camera to:
www.joby.com/gp1.html

Get a Gorillapod plus a remote shutter-release control and Voila! You have a “third person” to take your photo.

Now, here comes another basic photography tip that is especially true for babies: fill the frame with as much of your subject as you can—in this case, with as much of that gorgeous naked baby skin as possible.

And of course, when you don’t get the perfect smile or giggle, hold their little foot in your palm, take off the diaper and shoot their tush as they try to escape. Take hundreds of shots no matter what the situation. In this digital world you can afford to, and you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you get in return.