10 ideas for photographing your children together

Family life can be pretty hectic at times, so photographs that capture the fleeting, cheeky glances between siblings are often treasured for years.

Sometimes children can be (understandably) reluctant to behave as they usually would when you have the camera out.

Here are some ideas to help you capture those natural family moments:

Whisper a silly word – a great way to get siblings to really look at each other is to suggest they whisper a silly word to each other.

Bubbles – have someone blow bubbles from behind the camera towards the children. Shoot from low down so you see the bubbles at the same level as the children’s faces.

Racing each other – most siblings will love to have a race. Photograph your children running away from the camera as well as towards it – both can make for lovely shots. If you use a wide angle lens, or get really far back, see if you can also create a more abstract composition – it makes for photos you could frame on the wall.

Music – suggest having a go at making some music together. The great thing with photos is there’s no sound, so it doesn’t matter if they make a total racket!

Goofing around – the less direction you give your kids when you’re photographing them, the more they’ll be themselves. This can create some really unexpected and striking shots, so do try rolling with it.

Reading a story – shoot this from low down, so you can see everyone’s faces as the tops of heads won’t be very emotive! Ask the children to point out their favourite characters, as this can be a great way to capture them engaging with the story.

Train sets and vehicles – have everyone get down to the same level. Shoot through the arches of the train set, alongside the tracks – train sets provide lots of interesting angles and perspectives for your photographs.

Lookout – photographing children looking at something together can make for really cute photos. Lakes and ponds are a great option for this, as you can suggest they both look for ducks.

Climbing trees – this is such a powerful childhood memory, it’s well worth documenting for your child’s sake as well as for making lovely photographs.

If you have more than one child, look for a tree with a branch that several children can fit on, or with several branches at similar levels.

Walking hand in hand – have everyone hold hands or at least be touching in some way, and ask them to walk slowly and to keep fairly close together. Set them a challenge to set this up, can they walk towards a particular tree holding hands?

SUMMARY

By looking out for these situations, you’ll create a gorgeous set of photographs that bring back memories of the games you all used to play together, and the wonderful bond within your family.

And yes, it’s not easy! If it was, I wouldn’t have a job as a professional family photographer 🙂

If you’d like to up-level your family photos, book a family portrait session!