Following the tradition of prenuptial shoots and pre-debut shoots comes the trend of pre-birthday shoots for the celebrants. Here are a few tips on how to play photographer for your child’s pre-birthday shoot, and how to make it look as professional as possible, but still super fun for everyone.
5 Ways to Do a Pre-birthday Shoot for Your Child
Consider your child’s age. Babies and toddlers will only be cooperative for a few minutes to a little less than an hour, while big kids will be able to sit for a longer period, but will consider it to be a waste of time if it goes beyond two hours (or they’ll get crabby!). Expect for your child to sit through just an hour at most to go through everything, from wearing costumes, going through grooming, and the actual photo shoot.
Keep the photos with a theme that your child likes. Rather than taking into consideration what your guests will be able to relate to or love, observe what your child likes—what character they love the most, or even what their favorite color is, and use that to look for a theme that your guests will appreciate, but what your little one will love the most.
Use the costume for both the photo shoot and the birthday party. If you’d like to cut on costs, use the outfit or costume that they’ll be wearing in the photo shoot for the birthday party as well. It will also give your child time to get used to wearing the costume, or will give you time to find another outfit just in case they don’t like it.
Make your photos as high resolution as possible. By now, your child is probably used to you taking countless photos and videos of him or her, so they’re probably comfortable with having their photos taken already. If you’ll be using your smartphone to take the photos, make sure to set your photos to HD or to the highest possible resolution, and use as much natural lighting as you can. Of course, it would be better if you use a point and shoot or SLR camera.
Do simple grooming, not full hair and makeup. Children have perfect skin and hair, so there’s no need to put on a full face of makeup just like a normal adult. Same goes for hair, too—a good comb through and a comfortable hairstyle will give you more chances of not making your child fussier than they might end up to be. If you’d like, put on a little lip balm and a bit of baby powder, and they’re good to go!
Give them props to play with. Even adults don’t know what to do with their hands when their photos are being taken, so children aren’t any different. Give him things to hold, like balls, a bubble wand, pinwheel flowers, or their favorite toys.
Allow them to move. One of the secrets of photographers who take excellent photos of kids is that they don’t expect the kids to stay still. Rather, they keep on clicking until they capture the moments when they’re in motion. And all kids love wacky shots, so have them act silly and do a couple of jump shots!
Turn it into a game. For kids, if they can play all day, they would! If you turn your photo shoot into a game rather than being all serious and telling them what to do, they’ll be more cooperative, and you’ll finish the shoot in no time!
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