Photographing toddlers can be really hard. I'm giving you my tried and tested tips for photographing toddlers that will help you put them at ease, get great expressions, and hope fully nip any tantrums in the bud so that you can get great photos of your toddler.  Now I've literally taught thousands of students how to take control off their cameras so that they can beautifully capture their children their families and the world around them so be sure to stick around until the end, because I'm also gonna give you some bonus tips for camera settings for photographing your toddler.  Tips for toddler photography 2020.So without further ado let's dive right in to tip number one. 

Tips for Toddler Photography 2020

#Toddler photography

Make it Fun

So the first tip that I have for you is to make any session regarding toddlers, whether it's your own or you're shooting someone else's, is to make it as fun as possible .So try to incorporate some activities that are really fun for a toddler - so that could be things like, you know, blowing bubbles,it could be playing hide-and-seek, playing peek-a-boo,it could be tickling them, it could have someone like their father or their mother holding them upside down, it could be jumping on the bed - anything that is fun and guaranteed put a smile on their face! The more fun you can make the session you more you are guaranteed to get great smiling happy shots of your toddler.  

Set Up an Activity

So the second tip I have for you is to always make sure that you set up some form of an activity. Now it doesn't have to be anything elaborate, it could just be setting up painting, or baking, or playing in the sandbox, or playing with their cars, but if a toddler doesn't have anything to do, with nothing to grab their interest, they are going to go and find something to do, so as best you can try and keep them in one place. You're going to find it so much easier! So if you're doing this indoors just make sure that you set this up in a room that has lots of lovely natural light coming in and maybe clear up any clutter etc in that room, and that way you can get some really great lifestyle photos of your toddler. Just do make sure to have your camera set up and ready to go, and all the activity set up and ready to go, so that when your toddler comes in they can immediately start with the activity and you're ready to take their photographs So you don't have to fumble with your settings, and by that time they've got bored and moved on to something else.  So get everything set up in that room that's got lots of natural light, have everything ready to go, have your camera ready to go, and then bring in the toddler and set them up with that activity and that way you're free to start taking photos. 

#Toddler photography

Bring in The Lovey

Tip number three is to bring in the lovey. So one really guaranteed way to bring a smile to your toddler's face is to bring in their favorite comfort items - so that could be a comfort blanket, it could be a soft toy,it could be whatever they take to their bed at night - something that they really find comfort from and love to have around them.  So that way you'll not only capture a photo with a happy and contented smile on their face but you'll also get a memory of a little part of their childhood. 

Have An Assistant

So tip number four is to have an assistant. Now this is probably one of the best tips I can give you for photographing a toddler because you know simultaneously trying to entertain your toddler, make sure they don't run into the road, AND concentrate on your camera settings is extremely difficult so if you can have someone there to help you,just even to entertain the toddler or just to make sure that they're safe. So my husband will often you know stand behind me when I'm taking a photograph and play peek-a-boo from behind the camera - he has actually been known to stand there and hit himself on the head with a plastic bottle to get a laugh. So just to make sure that everyone's going to be safe while you can focus on taking photos.  Now of course that could be your partner if you're photographing your own child,  if it's another family enlist dad or mums help so that you can concentrate on entertaining and taking photos, and they can take care of the rest of it. 

#Toddler photography

Contain them

Another great tip for photographing toddlers is to contain them in some way. So for example pop them into a swing or a sandbox or into one of those Bum bo seats, or into one of those trailers that you pull around - anything that can keep them contained for long enough to rattle off a few shots will just help make your life that little bit easier because you don't have to worry about them running off, and kind of running after them at the same time.

Anticipate

Tip number six is to anticipate. So rather than kind of blindly running after your toddler and letting them kind of call the shots you can try to anticipate their movement as much as you can, and you can do this in a number of ways.  So one thing I like to do is a traffic light game where you have them stand in a location and then you're going to tell them to run on green.  So you're going to go red yellow green and then they're going to run so you have the benefit of knowing when they're going to run and you can get some great shots as you're counting down from red to Amber and then to green.  And also if you have them run to a designated spot so run from point A to point B you can set yourself up there at point B and you know exactly where they're going to run to.  So the more you can anticipate the movement the easier you are going to find it so don't try and just blindly follow them around the garden, try and set up some kind of activity like the traffic light game where you can anticipate the movement.  

#Toddler photography

Get down to their level

Tip number seven is to come down to their level when you're taking your photograph.  So your toddler's just a little snip of a thing, so you'll kind of miss all kind of expressions if you're taking photos from your height down on them plus you're gonna dewarf them in every shot. So get yourself down on to their level and you're gonna be able to capture much better expressions on the face. So for most of this time you're gonna be crouching then or even in some cases you'll be lying on your tummy to get yourself on to the same level as them. Now that doesn't mean to say that it always needs to be from the same eye level as them, sometimes you can get some really interesting shots from shooting from above them and looking down on them. It can be a really interesting perspective and it can also help really get great catch lights in the eyes etc as they look up at you.  

Capture the Details

So the next tip I have for you is to capture the details. So if your child drops off to sleep on the couch or they're happily watching TV or they're absorbed in that activity that you setup earlier on, make sure you kind of get in close and to capture some of the details. it could be their little hands as they're holding on to their toy, it could be their eyelashes it could be their little feet, anything that is that little details that you're really going to want to remember.

  

#Toddler photography

Keep it Short

Tip number nineis to keep it short. Don't expect a toddler's attention for any longer than40 minutes because they're gonna want to go and do something else and they're gonna be completely bored of this whole photography game. If that's your toddler I would even actually say it slightly less than that - twenty to thirty minutes at a push - but if you're prepared you have an activity set up you know what you're going to do then it's perfectly doable to get some great shots within 30minutes.  So that's the tips I have for you for photographing your toddler!

 I also promised you some bonus tips on your camera settings so let's dive into those right now.

Use a Aperture Mode

So the first tip I have for you is to shoot in aperture priority mode. This mode is that kind of perfect balance between you know taking control of your settings because you really don't want to be shooting on auto and full manual mode which can sometimes be tricky if you are running around after a toddler. So shooting in aperture priority mode is that kind of perfect middle balance now one of the benefits of not using auto and using aperture priority mode is that you get to 

#Toddler photography

Use a faster shutter speed

A faster shutter speed is crucial when you're photographing toddlers because they tend to move around pretty quickly so they can move quite fast even though they're quite small but even when they're sitting one one place their movements tend to be quite jerky and they can be quite unexpected soal ways make sure that you're using a fast shutter speed. I would recommend at a minimum of around 1 / 250 as a minimum , but I would go faster than that if you can. And my final tip is to

Use a Smaller apeture

use a smaller aperture then maybe you normally would. So aperture controls depth of field which is how much off your scene is in focus and if you're using a really wide aperture that depth of field can be extremely narrow. When you're photographing a toddler who tends to move around a lot then it can be more difficult to make sure that you get everything you want in focus, so for that reason just close up your aperture, use that larger F number, and that's going to help you get more in focus. 

 So that's it from me today I hope you enjoyed these tips for photographing toddlers, and it's gonna help you get amazing images of your toddler!  

If you have any questions please do let me know and i'll be more than happy to answer your questions. Until next time take care guys. Bye:)