1. Take lots of pictures. After, I'd deleted all the ones I didn't like I still had 31 pictures from the hour or so we were there.
2. Turn off the flash. I've tried this one before and it's worked in other situations, but this time it didn't work. It did make a kind of cool blurry effect. This is my previous attempt at turning off the flash. I found one that worked from today.
3. Don't have the subject back lit, unless you want a silhouette. Not really a problem in here, no real windows.
3. Zoom in, zoom in, zoom in. You don't need the whole body in every shot, and when you zoom in you can get the cute expressions. You can almost see the fly-away hair from the static in the first one. I love Superman's grin on the second one. And that little head in the midst of all those balls, cute as a button?
4. Don't always get them smiling. Their pouts are cute too, I mean who wouldn't want to give her what she wants?
5. Look for unusual angles. Superman was very cooperative for this.
6. Don't always have the subject of your picture centered. It is more visually interesting if occasionally the main person to be looked at is off center.
7. This one's from my Mom: Take a series of pictures that tell a story. I remember my Mom having a set of pictures of my brother and I and some of our friends on the front step as we gathered for an excursion. It was the funniest set of pictures.
8. Get them in action. Staged shots rarely work, someone always looks away.
9. Get the catch light in their eye. If you notice in this picture of Princess there is a little white light in her eye. That is called a catch light. Don't I sound all professional? Well, this is part of what makes us look lively in a picture or in real life. The way to get this is to ask your kids to look up at you, and you should get it in your picture.
