Take Professional-Grade Photos of Your Children

You have beautiful children. You want everyone to see your beautiful children. However, the price of professional portraits or your worry of your kid's performance may have stopped your from taking all the photos you want. Well don't miss another milestone! You can take pictures of your kids just as well as the paid photographer!

step one: Have a decent camera. I recommend a 35mm digital camera, a fairly basic model that most people can afford, but is very versatile.

step two: find your location. A lovely scenic park is lovely, but watch for undesirable objects in the background, like a busy highway, a telephone pole, or a line of port-a-potties.

Don't underestimate the effect of a photo take in an urban area, either though. Your teenagers can look striking standing in the shadow of a vacant factory, skateboard in hand, your toddler can look adorable walking up the steps of the Capital building, daddy's briefcase in hand.

When taking photos in your own home, know that what surrounds your children cannot easily be removed. Toys, lamp cords, and dirty laundry will be there too.

Step three: Safety first. Weather you are by a lake, or standing in front of a historic library, your child's safety is prime. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't run into traffic, fall into water, or are otherwise injured. Also be careful to never trespass. Yes, that beautiful old barn would be the perfect setting to take a picture of your son in cowboy boots, but not worth having the cops called on you.

Step Four: Clothing choices. Simple clothes with classic patterns like plaid or subtle stripes are best, as are solid colored clothes. Themed outfits can be cute too, such as a sailor outfit at the beach, or a tiny business suit outside an office building. Cartoon-y t-shirts can be OK for casual photos, but fall into a snapshot category. If photographing multiple kids, try to have a common theme in their clothes, such as a color or design, for fluidity. If your daughters are wearing satin dresses, your son will look out of place in shorts and sandals.

Step Five: Be careful when using props. They can make a photo look too posed. Make sure your prop is appropriate. A basket of flowers would look odd outside a firehouse, and you wouldn't have an inner tube in the middle of the forest. The right prop, however, can make or break a photo. Try to keep your prop secret, so you can catch that look of joy or curiosity as your child explores the prop.

Step Six: Keep posing to a minimum. Your child will sit, stand, turn, and smile on their own. Unless you are dead set on a certain pose, let your child explore and capture their adorableness in raw form. Remember that the child doesn't need to always look at the camera, they can be looking off into the distance, turned around backwards, or studying something in her hands.

Step Seven: Expressions. Life is not made of full on teeth smiles, life has quiet looks, angry looks, tears, and laughter. Don't demand every photo be a smile, or you will miss some wonderful shots.

Step Eight: Developing your photos. There are several great programs for photo editing, such as Photo shop or Picassa, and great photo servers that offer photo editing and printing such as snapfish.com or winkflash.com.

Enjoy taking photos of your children and wowing your family and friends with your expertise with your camera.