Spring has finally arrived in Ottawa and with it the chance to take beautiful photos of your little ones with the beautiful flowers in your garden.
1. Use a blanket. If your baby isn’t yet sitting on their own, use a small neutral blanket that you can lay on the grass next to the flowers. Make sure you lay them in an area where they aren’t in the direct sunlight. If your baby is sitting a blanket is a great prop to have on hand because some babies don’t like the feeling of grass on their legs!
2. Watch out for dappled sun. Because the trees don’t yet have all their leaves, it’s hard to find an area of shade where there isn’t dappled light (a mixture of shade and bright light). When you’re taking photos of your little one make sure that there isn’t dappled light on their face (bright spots of sun next to dark areas of shadow). Move them to an area closer to the trunk or look for a more mature tree that has fuller foliage.
3. Safety first. Not only are babies and toddlers fast but if you’re anything like me you don’t know which plants are safe for human consumption. Keep an eye on little hands when you’re in the gardens with your children to make sure they don’t put petals or leaves into their mouths. Keep your eyes out for thorns and prickly grass, which often blend in well with their surroundings.
4. Oh Mr. Sun. We are so excited to get outside after a long winter but the bright sun poses a lot of challenges when it comes to taking photos. If your children are sitting or playing in the bright sun, focus on taking photos of them when they are at play or engrossed in exploring their environment. This will help you to avoid the scrunched up face and squinting eyes that comes along with trying to look at the camera when it’s really sunny out.
5. Face first. If you sit your toddler or baby in amongst the flowers or behind a cluster of flowers make sure that your camera’s focus point is on their face and not on the flowers in front of them. Our cameras tend to focus on whatever subject is perceived as closest to the camera, which can be a frustrating discovery when you return home to find you have photos of flowers that are in focus but your child’s face is blurry.
6. Up, up and away! It’s a beautiful time of year for blossoms in the month of May but the most beautiful flowers are often high off the ground. Have a family member or friend boost your child up to the blossoms so you can take photos of them with the beautiful flowers. This is a great opportunity to take candid images of them smelling or gazing curiously at the flowers rather than having them look at the camera. It’s easier to move in close so just their face and the flowers are in the photo if you’re focusing on taking photos of them exploring the environment.
