Changing Your Angle For More Creative Photographs Of Your Children
Prefer to read? You’ll find a written tutorial below.
When we pick up our camera to photograph our baby or our child doing something, our natural instinct is often to stand still at our normal adult height and take our photograph from there.
But when you change your position to something other than that norm you can often add a lot more interest to the photo.
In this tutorial, we’ll look at how photographing the same picture from four different angles can change the final photograph.
- Related tutorial: 3 Tips to improve the light in your photographs
- Related tutorial: How to use the rule of thirds in photography
1. Taking A Photograph From Our Natural Viewpoint
In this tutorial we’re going to look at photographs I’ve taken of my daughter playing with books and toys on her playmat.
When I see her doing something that I’d like to photograph, my most natural instinct might be to stay where I am, standing up, and take a photograph of her from here. This is most natural viewpoint; the person looking at the photo is going to see what I can see, and that’s what they would see if they’re here too. It’s a nice photograph, but probably very similar to hundreds of photographs I already have of her
2. Taking The Photograph At Eye Level
If I crouch down and change my position so that my eyes (and the camera) are level with my daughter’s eyes the photograph completely changes.
At this level, the scene becomes less important to me, and I can see much more of her – her facial expressions and what she’s focussed on. It gives me a completely different perspective and makes the photograph more interesting for me.
3. Taking The Photograph From Below
If I move even lower so I’m lying down on the floor and my camera is on the floor I get a third, completely different view.
From my position in the photograph below I see more of what’s around my daughter. We’re back to seeing the whole scene.
If I get closer to my daughter, and tilt my camera upwards I get another view completely. My daughter appears much bigger than I usually see her! This can be a fun perspective to try in photographs, particularly with older children. I wouldn’t usually use it when photographing babies as I want to record the fact that they are small.
4. Photographing From Above
Finally, if I stand up again, I can stand above my daughter and have a birds eye view of the scene. This again gives me a totally different perspective and it completely changes the photograph, even though nothing about the situation has changed.
In Summary: Using Angles When You’re Photographing Your Children
As we’ve seen, moving around and photographing the same scene from four different viewpoints can give you very different results.
When you next pick up your phone or your camera to take some pictures of your children, try taking photographs of the same scene from these different perspectives.
You’ll probably find that there are some pictures you like and some you don’t, but you might find that you walk away with a few more interesting photographs than you would have normally taken.
Want To Learn More About How You Can Improve Your Photographs?
Book a place on my beginners photography training for parents.
In this half-day training, you’ll learn:
- What the different settings on your camera mean and how to use them.
- The exposure triangle and how light affects your photographs.
- What makes a good photograph and the rules of composition.
- How to capture natural photographs of your children without any forced, cheesy grins!
Click here to learn more about the beginners photography training
