3 simple tips to photographing your kids in the snow
Following on from our snowy weekend, I thought I’d give you 3 simple tips to taking better photos of your kids in the snow. Obviously they will want to just mess around and not pose for any length of time, so you need to be quick when it actually comes to getting the shot. The following tips can be thought of in advance so you shouldn’t ever miss that photo opportunity!
1. Look for the light
Fortunately the white snow acts as a perfect reflector, bouncing back all that lovely light and filling in the shadows. However, if you can, take your photograph with the light behind you as you’ll get a much better image. Avoid taking pictures with a building or tree behind you as that will block out a large chunk of sun that you need to light your child and they’ll end up being very dark compared to the brilliant snowy white background.
2. Get down to their level (and get closer)
Everytime! This will improve your photographs no end. When you take a picture from adult height it makes the kids look even smaller and out of proportion. If they are very young then you’ll barely see any legs at all from a high vantage point! Getting down to their lever (or lower) will give you the view from their perspective which makes it much more interesting.
3. Don’t ignore the background
Try not to have too much going on behind your subject! If you’re in the park and there are tonnes of kids sledging up and down then just move yourself so that you can limit all of those distractions. If there’s a big ugly building in the background then again, just move over a little so you can’t see it. By doing this you are making sure that all the focus of attention is on the child, making it a much more pleasing image to look at.
Also think about having something other than snow in the background, such as trees or landmarks that shows were you are. So long as it is in the distance then it won’t compromise your image at all - it will locate nicely. The above photo was taken on Harpenden Common - the white building on the left is the Silver Cup. The photo below was taken in the same spot, I just moved around to the left so I could change the background again to make a different, darker image.
Finally if you’re carrying the camera, you’re pretty much exempt from getting a snowball thrown at you, so that’s all good in my book. N.B. she wouldn’t dare!!
Best wishes,
Celine x