With the abundance of digital cameras out there these days, it’s easier than ever to capture all of your kiddo’s special moments – or at least it should be. Sadly, no matter how great your camera is, it doesn’t change the fact that taking pictures of kids (especially young kids) is hard. They never want to sit still, don’t like to smile on demand, and you can forget about asking them to “act natural”. But don’t worry, all hope is not lost as today I’m sharing two great tools every parent should have in their photography arsenal.
First up is a magical little thing called a Photoshop action. I know you may be thinking, “uh oh, this is a Photoshop post – I’m a parent who wants cute shots of my kids, not a professional photag.” I get that, I do, but I really believe that every parent should own
Photoshop Elements
. It’s a very inexpensive investment and
so worth it when the end result is frame-quality shots of your favorite family moments.
Ok, so now that you have Photoshop Elements, on to what are known as “actions”. Basically, these are mini-programs you can buy for Elements (or Photoshop if you want to get really fancy) that give your photos professional level polish with just one click. They’re perfect for people like me who want to spiff up their photos but don’t really have the first idea how to do it.
Above is a sample before and after shot using Photoshop Elements Actions from MPMK’s new sponsor
paint the moon. It’s just a glimpse of the many and varied actions available. Head over and check them out – I guarantee you’ll want them all!
I’m getting the chance try out some of the actions (thank you paint the moon!) and I’ll be back with the results in a few weeks. Until then, click through for one more super helpful (and free!) resource for getting great kid shots.
Even the best Photoshop action in the world won’t help much if your kid hates the camera. Enter Kelly from
be a fun mum. She’s put together a really useful
5 part series on how to photograph kids. It’s full of lots of inspired tips and tricks. My favorite is her suggestion to ask young children if they can see a dinosaur/fairy in the lens. This gets them gazing straight into the camera and produces those “wide-eyed-looking-straight-into-their-sweet-little-souls” photographs.
1 Comment / posted in Life: Simplified
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Really cute actions–thanks for the link!
I have found that getting down on their eye level is key for me. I actually ripped a pair of my pants at a photo shoot once—because you will often find me laying on my stomach or bending my knees to look them straight in the eye;)