Tips For Doing Your Own In-Home Lifestyle Photo Session!
You want to take photos of your kids while you’re stuck inside during quarantine but you have no idea where to even start.
Good news, this is the PERFECT time to bust out your DSLR camera that you bought from Costco two Black Fridays ago and put it to use! This is a time in life that you’ll never forget, so you may as well document it so you can tell your grandkids someday “there was a time when no one could leave their houses for three weeks! No school, no dining out, no nothing!”.
I’m going to give you some basic tips on doing your own in-home lifestyle photos of your kids, and I think you’ll have a lot of fun!
Lets get started! Grab that camera…
Tip 1. Set your DSLR to Manual (M) mode.
It is a scary thing, but practice makes perfect! Shooting in Manual gives you full control over your camera and how you want the photo to turn out. Yes you will get frustrated, but yes you will make adjustments and keep trying (go you!)
Tip 2. Basics for shooting in Manual.
During good, natural light in your home, have your subject go by a window or sliding glass door. Start with your settings of ISO 400, F-stop 2.0 and Shutter 250.
If you find that it is too bright, adjust your ISO to 200. If it’s too dark, increase to 600.
If your subject’s hands/limbs/whatever are blurry, lets adjust your shutter. Make it 500. If you do that and it is too dark, adjust your ISO to 400, 600, or 800 (test each and see which gives the proper exposure).
Want more of the creamy, beautiful bokeh? Adjust your F-stop to 1.8, or the lowest yours will go. Be careful with this, as it can be difficult to keep your subject in focus. Increase your F-stop to 4 or 5 to get less bokeh if that’s the look you like.
Your settings are completely dependent upon the lighting in the room you’re working in, so it isn’t a one size fits all. I hope these tips will give you a good start though!
Tip 3. This one is important: Give your child an activity to do while you photograph them.
It can be anything - puzzles, blocks, reading a book, playing with dinosaurs, coloring, and so forth. This will give them something to keep them still while you are shooting. And it’ll also prevent you from saying “SIT STILL AND SMILE. Just ONE MORE.” and so forth - you get the idea, we’ve all been there. ;)
Tip 4. Take a look at the back of the camera and see how your images are looking.
Adjust appropriately and shoot some more.
Tip 5. While you shoot, move around.
Step back and get the bigger picture. Get closer and get detail shots of those little hands coloring, or those cute little piggies. Say some silly jokes to get them laughing and capture that big smile. Just enjoy the time and keep it light. If you start directing your child too much, you’ll end up with all pouty pictures. Some pouty are cute, but you want some variety, right? Right.
I want to hear from you! In the Comments below, let me know what activity you plan to photograph your kids doing? Coloring Easter eggs? Building things with marshmellows and toothpicks? And I reeaallllyyy want to hear (and see!) how your pictures turned out! You can reach out to me here.
xo,
Chelsie
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Kid Boredom Busters - A whole list of ideas of what to do with your kids during quarantine
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Chelsie Maurer is a professional photographer specializing in Maternity, Newborn and Family sessions in Metro Detroit and surrounding areas. Her photography studio is located Downtown Utica, Michigan.