Anyone else find taking pictures of their LOs impossible?

[Chickpea]

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I have NO up to date pics of Esme, so I thought I'd take some pics this afternoon

FECK ME! Why did I bother?!!!!!

After about 20 mins of trying to get a picture of her I got a bit stroppy and gave up :oops:

HOW do you get a decent picture of a hyperactive small person that isn't just a blur, or the top of their head or a random limb just as they're running off somewhere?

To all you damsels who get gorgeous pics of your LOs (Spang and She-ra spring to mind to name but a few) :bow: how in the HELL do you do it???!!!

[Ajedrez]

Bribery? Stand still and you can have some chocolate buttons!:lol:

[EmmaE]

L's a real poser, he will stop having a tantrum to smile for a camera, unfortunately he goes straight back to it afterwards.

[Mrs B]

Dunno, Sol used to be a real poseur but these days he's either too active or won't smile on cue. Will be watching this thread too!

[cheeky_biscuit]

Try getting a decent pic of 2 together. Totally, totally impossible.

[Miss Frosty]

Fortunately both my boys love posing for piccies tbh :teehee: , which is just as well seeing I take them all the time :oops: .

[jubiedoo16]

I have no idea, mine are always close up with an arm up in the air, as DD always tries to grab the camera and says "looking" she wants to look at herself on the camera, she can't figure out why she is neve ron the screen:loco:

[She-Ra]

If i want to take a lot of shots not just a quick one I will tell her a story. She usually gets quite chilled out listening and I can snap away and get some dreamy shots. Oh and of course tell her once the story is over, if she stays still she can have a treat :wink:

But talking the whole time, about charlie and lola or her friends at nursery or anything she likes chatting about definately helps or she gets bored.

[Miffy]

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to take photos of Jacob. I think he is fed up of me pointing the camera at him. "No pictures Mummy!" is what I frequently get. He is fine when others take pictures of him though.
I find its best to get him when he's playing and not paying attention, then just say his name and snap when he looks up. I love outdoor pics too, so a trip to the woods and just let him run around and use a long lens.
Last week or so though he has wanted his picture taken when we take pictures of Rebecca. Hmm I wonder why that is :teehee: :teehee: :teehee:

[Lu Lu]

Oh yes, this is impossible these days as J won't stay still and he wants to see the camera all the time.

It's a nightmare and I know I'm going to hate not having enough pictures of him at this age...

He's worse with the video camera too.

[nickimacrae]

I agree with Miffy candid and outdoors seems to do the job - you get much better light generally for starters, less cluttered backgrounds, nice things in background instead - and no posing to aviod the strops or stupid cheesy grins! :doh:

ETA: Oh, and take lots and lots and lots! :lol:

[scatterbrain]

I either wait until they are asleep :tongue:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/3019416684_98109a21f7_m.jpg

or turn it into a game. I rarely photograph indoors unless I can help it as they get bored too easily and it's not so easy to get the light right. Now let them run around a forest or pick flowers & you can get some great shots. Guide them if necessary and invent games, but just take LOADS of photos of them being themselves.

Oh & don't worry about telling them to smile. You can get great shots with dreamy or thoughtful looks on their faces. Also, If they're having fun they'll look more naturally happy anyway.

Scatterbrain

[Princess Fiona]

I found it very hard to get any decent pictures of her between the ages of 12months to 3 years then she turned into one almighty poser. She's quite good now but sometimes she'll just not want to participate at all.

I need to do pictures for the Grand Parents Xmas Cards with the 2 of them on and tbh i'm biding my time until she's in a good mood :oops: as i need to dress her up like a bit of a tit for the photo :lol:

[Oppro]

I take her to a NT property or the woods or RHS gardens & let her run wild, while I click constantly & come home with about 600 shots, out of which 5 might be good. :teehee:

It's impossible to get them to sit nicely & smile at the camera, it's much easier to get them just doing their own thing & hope that at some point theyu'll look up & smile!

[Cheetara]

Candid is definitely the way to go. I just follow mine round the house with the camera and keep snapping. I can probably take about 50 or 60 photographs in half an hour and I'll be lucky if I get one or two good shots from that.

[Lilybett]

I've taken to having the camera handy (i.e. in the kitchen) and taking photos throughout the day, loads at a time. I will probably only get a few decent ones and delete the rest.

It does help that Lottie is a right poser though :wink: :lol:

[Mokey]

As others have said it's about taking hundreds to get a few decent ones. If I never deleted any of the pics I've taken of my kids I'd probably have about 10,000 photos:brainache: as it is I've got about 50 decent photos that I'm really happy with as well as some that 'do' but are not that great, IYKWIM

Definately outdoors for better photos, kids forget themselves when outside and a natural photo is far better in my opinion than a posed one anyway.

Sometimes I take a photo that I don't like but then instead of deleting I crop it right in or tweak it in some way and it becomes an ok picture.
It's really a case of clicking away until you get a shot you're happy with.

Good luck

Oh and must say I love She-ra's idea of telling a story, I've never tried that:thumb:

[VivB]

As soon as DD3 sees the camera she is off ,he hates having her photo taken and most of the ones I have of her are back views , out of focus side views or ones where she has her hands over her face .

DD2 is the total opposite, she loves having her photo taken and will often pose and say take a picture of me :0)

[jamsplat]

DD1 has to be photographed on the sly, if she sees a camera she wants to be behind it taking the pictures. Mind you I did manage to get some half decent shots of them together in the bath

[purpleviolet]

I have to run around the house/garden and take loads of pictures to get 1 or 2 good ones. What did we do before digital cameras when we only had 24 shots per roll of film??

[Abbie]

I find it impossible to take photos of my 2.

Ellie just poses and pulls silly faces, even in her school photo she's pulling a silly face. I haven't many decent ones of her for about 2 years, unless she's unaware of the camera

Grace just won't stand still, and the only ones I've got of her lately are when she's also unaware of the camera