Anyone else take 800 pictures of their kids, but only end up with a few good ones? Kristina Hill, from Kristina Elayne Hill Photography, gives us some easy tips on how to take better pictures. 

1. Even lighting –  Anytime you take a photo try to find an area with even lighting. One of the best tricks is to look for “open shade.” Open shade is an area that is completely shaded but near the edge where there is full sun/light. A front porch is an excellent example. Have your child sit or stand a foot or two into where the shade starts. This will provide even lighting on your child without hard light or shadows. 

As you can see the light here is nice and even. There are no harsh shadows or bright spots. What you can’t see is that I am standing on the grass in full sun. The sunny area starts about 3-4 feet in front of my daughter.

2. Get down lower – Your kiddo is little and therefore closer to the ground. Try to get down to eye-level before you click that shutter button.

For this photo I got down low to shoot straight on at her eye-level. As opposed to the first photo, this makes her the focus of the photo. It also gives a much better view of her sweet face.

3. Fill the frame – The frame is whatever is in the photograph, background included. Next time you take a photo get closer or zoom in to try and get as much of your subject to take up the space in your photo.