Good morning everyone! I am going to tell you about how I take my own family pics and how when my sister came in she paid for someone to take pics for us and how the two are a lot alike. So, I have taken my kids to a park or an outdoor area and have used my camera on my phone in portrait mode and have gotten some really amazing shots of my kids that I can then take to a store and have printed as big or small as I would like them. I will post some pics from the photos of the paid professional who did them and some of the photos I took myself. Obviously the ones I did myself are from a little bit ago but and the pictures from the pro are recent since my sister was just in a few weeks ago. Taking photos myself makes the most sense to me if I’m just taking pictures of my kids since they grow and change so fast I would be taking pictures a lot more. Anyways when I’m doing them myself it’s easier because I’m not on a time limit or have a schedule to keep to. I can take my time getting everyone dressed and out the door. I tend to promise they can play at the park afterwards so they will stay off the ground and clean and neat until my photos are done. I have taken them to the playground and to local parks for the colors of the grass, slides and equipment and even the fall foliage a few times. Once we are dressed and ready and we get to the location I usually grab a nice blanket or whatever props we are going to use for those pics and take a walk to a nice open area to start and I take a few pics in the open and then move to say a tree and take pics under it and next to it in different poses. Once my son wanted his done as Spider-Man so I allowed it since I was taking them and he really loved Spider-Man at that time. Anyways. When we are done there is when I would start walking towards the playground as once my kids see that they tend to want to run off and play so this way if they do I already have some shots completed. As we walk if I see a log or nice flowers or something like that I stop and take a few shots there too. At the playground I try to go with bright colored equipment and pose next to or on those like slides and monkey bars and so on. I have take swing pics of the kids in the air from being positioned low so the shot is them in the blue sky but that definitely take lots of pictures because their faces change so I tend to take many many shots and then go in and choose which ones came out the best and delete the ones that didn’t come out well. It definitely takes patience on everyone’s part as the kids want to play and run but it’s not too bad because they have the promise to hold on to that they can play afterwards. As far as I can tell pros may have experience and expensive cameras and stuff but I certainly can’t afford that myself so taking them myself in portrait mode on my phone saves me money and my sanity because we aren’t in a rush to get the shots because you pay for the photos and time with pros. I have also purchased one of those tripod stands for my phone that comes with a blue tooth remote camera button so I could set up and take pics of myself with the kids too. I have also taken many photos in the house. When taking indoor photos I have purchased backgrounds from Amazon for around $13 for that Holiday or season especially in the colder months as I would rather take pics inside. Plus, I can take my time and make clothing changes and start with one child at a time until all are dressed and ready to take pics of all of them together. As long as you have decent lighting and room or space in your home it’s really inexpensive to buy a background to hang and take pics using inside. I will add an indoor picture too just to give you an example. As a single parent I try to make ends meet and I love to have many photos of my growing children on my walls. So having photos of them is a must and paying a pro to take them is not always an option so this is a great alternative for me. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps some parents and you give it a try and see if this works for you too! Have a great day!!
