8 Tips On How To Take Beautiful Family Photos With Your Smartphone
Everyone has a wonderful camera nowadays. Don’t believe me? Check your pocket - is your phone in there? Phone cameras are increasingly becoming exceptional quality! Not only do you not have to worry about getting film developed, but many sites offer free or discounted printing services through their apps too. The age of digital technology has literally put the power of photography into your pocket! And today I am going to share a few tips on how to take some beautiful family photos all on your smartphone.
Being the one always behind the camera, I noticed I was constantly having to ask Charlie to take a picture of Evelyn and I. Most of those pictures were of us smiling at the camera and very few of them were candid. But, honestly, those moments were still very few and far between. I wanted Evelyn, and our future children, to be able to have candid pictures of their mama, just as how they would remember. Sometimes I’m dressed up, sometimes I spend all day in my pjs, and most days my hair is in a bun, I want them to be able to see those moments and remember those memories!
I then dedicated my time to practicing self portraiture with Evelyn! Most of the time I don’t even worry about whether or not it is some stunning portrait, I just want her to have those memories to look at for years to come. I hope this post encourages you to set up that phone and capture some raw moments of your beautiful, everyday life, too!
This will actually be a three part series! Part one (today) will encompass photo taking tips and tricks, part two will cover the basics of editing pictures on your phone, and part three will share my favorite apps for phone photography! Lastly, everyone has different styles, different techniques, different equipment, and different tastes - so although I know it is easier said than done, but don’t get caught up in the comparison loop! Your pictures will be beautiful no matter what, because they are yours! You created them, you worked hard on them, and you can now cherish them forever.
First, Let’s Talk About Light
I’m sure a majority of you have heard that taking pictures at ‘golden hour’ is the best. You get the warm golden glow, vivid colors, the lighting isn’t harsh, but how often will you be able to have a sunset or right after sunrise where you are, and get all your kids dressed up to take pictures during it? If you live somewhere where you can frequently, awesome! Use that to your advantage! If you are in the middle of a Midwest winter (like I am) where we are lucky to see the sun maybe once a week, then other forms of natural lighting and artificial lighting will be your best friend!
A good trick to remember lighting is to remember outdoors, behind, and indoors, in front. Now let me explain - If you are shooting outdoors and the lighting isn’t harsh, you will probably want your light source to be behind your subject. If you are indoors, then it is best to place your subject facing a window or the artificial lighting. Of course, that is all dependent on what kind of mood you are trying to set, but we will talk about that later. If you do happen to be shooting midday, when the lighting is a little harsh, try taking pictures in some shade.
If you are indoors, you can play with lighting coming from the window too. Moving your subject closer to the light source will keep your subject bright, while darkening the background. I love to use this tip if our house is messy! You can also direct light by playing with your curtains. I like to make a note on my phone of when I see beautiful light in our home throughout the day, and throughout the season. Our kitchen has a beautiful warm glow right as the sun is starting to rise through our windows in the morning during winter and during sunsets in the summer. For more neutral lighting, I like to use north facing windows because it is softer.
Perspective
You can add a lot to an image simply by moving the angle and placement of your camera. Most people will move their phone up to about eye height and point it towards their subjects. But, I encourage you to play around with perspective by moving your camera down to your child’s level or up above for a bird’s eye view. Doing something as simple as this can make your images seem more artsy, creative, and give it some emotion.
Remember The Details
The most beautiful thing about photography is that anything can be a subject. You don’t always have to have the camera set up back away from you capturing everything in the room. I like to mix in some images of close ups of all the lovely details. Getting close to those baby toes or the art your toddler is making can really help add emotion to those images. But this also leads me to my next tip…
Don’t Forget To Focus
If you are setting your camera up on a tripod, use a stuffed animal or a stand in to make sure the focus is where you want it to be. Most of the time, your camera app can do a fairly good job at auto focusing, but it may not get it right all the time. Luckily we can just tap where we want the image to focus! If you are taking portraits, you will want to focus on the eyes. If you are taking detail shots, focus on that. And if you are taking further away shots, focus on the faces. Out-of-focus images can suck, but some can also leave an artsy feel if it is intentional. After I feel as if I have a good enough grip on a photography tip, I like to play around and bend the rules. So have fun with it!
Rule Of Thirds
If you don’t already, I encourage you to go into your phone camera’s settings and to turn on what is called a ‘grid’. You can use this grid to follow one of the best known photographic principles: The Rule Of Thirds. This may sound intimidating, but stay with me! I promise this is one of the easiest principles to learn!
Your image is divided into thirds (horizontally and vertically) and you are going to want to place your subject at one of the four points where those lines intersect. But don’t worry if you don’t get that perfectly composed image, you can always go back and crop the image in your editing process. This will also be easier to do if you don’t zoom in on your phone, that can lower the quality of the image. So when in doubt, don’t zoom and just crop later. As you gain experience, all of these tips will come naturally so give yourself time and practice - don’t give up!
Although this may help make very eye drawing images, you don’t have to use it all the time! Practice with the different compositions and see what effect each one has.
Story Telling
After you feel like you have all of these tips down and you feel like a pro (because you are one!) Let’s try to push your creative bounds with some visual storytelling! This may seem like a lot of effort for some who just want to take nice photographs, so this might not be for everyone, but this is the last step I use when I make all of my self portraits with Evelyn and I wanted to include it.
Once you feel like you have lighting, composition, and perspective down, maybe start playing around with the colors in your images. You can really add emotion and mood through the colors shown in your images, the items you place, and the different levels to your photographs. You can invoke childhood feelings by having certain colored clothing associated with childhood on your kids, color repetition throughout an image can enhance a certain mood, and using color theory to make your subject stand out from the background can really draw attention and evoke emotions from the viewer.
If you want artsy images, this is definitely a crucial step! Just like how more advanced painters start to add depth and detail into their works of art, a photographer can too by being strategic in their foreground, mid, and background item placement. I know this is a lot of work and thought to put in a candid family photo. But for my more artsy photographs, this is the thought process I use to give my images more of a painterly feeling and I wanted to include them for those wanting to take their images a step further.
Setting Up The Camera
By now those gears should be turning and you should be ready to shoot! But do you have the equipment? Equipment isn’t necessary, but it will make taking portraits much easier! I like to set my phone or camera up on a tripod, turn on my timer, or use a Bluetooth remote shutter. The remote shutter has been a dream come true! And most of the time, I just let Evelyn play around with it until I get the picture I had in mind and to keep her occupied.
Keeping Your Children Entertained
Taking portraits of toddlers can be SO hard! Evelyn is constantly running around and not wanting to sit in one place. My simple tip for this is to set up an activity. This is why a majority of my photos will be of Evelyn and I cooking in the kitchen, because it keeps her busy. But you could always set up your child’s favorite toy, a STEM activity, open a subscription box if you do those, cookie decorating, turn on music, there are really so many options for kid-approved-activities here! Make it fun and enjoyable for the whole family!
I hope this helps and encourages you to go out and get in the pictures with your kids! I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for you to get in the frame with your children even if you don’t want to. Don’t wait until to look a certain way, your house looks a certain way, or even until you feel like you take ‘good enough pictures’. Go out and take them now! You are making memories now no matter how you look, no matter if your house is a mess, and no matter what your pictures look like. I encourage you to just go out and get in the shot because soon you won’t have the mess anymore, your children will be all grown up, and your life will be moving on. Let’s capture our memories together and have fun along the way!
Did this help? Do you have any questions after reading this? I’d love to know in the comments below!