How to Get Your Kids to Look Into the Camera

I can’t take credit for this, but at a recent family portrait with the O’Donovan family, Rory revealed to me the ultimate lesson in how to get your kids to look into the camera. I’ll be using this little tip for every family portrait going forward. A tiny trick for maximum camera eye contact in today’s blog post.

I’m not a fan of stiffly posed portraits, but I know every parent out there wants at least one photo of the entire family looking into the camera at the same time.  Short and sweet: the answer is to use your cell phone to its best advantage. All kids, and for that matter all adults, are fascinated by the flickering images found on cell phones. Why not put this technology to work and strategically place the cell phone so that it looks like the children are looking directly into the lens while they are actually enjoying cartoons? Why I didn’t think of this before is beyond me.

What would normally take about 15 minutes to get a perfect shot of the kids looking in the same direction happened within minutes thanks to a video of a bunny. Now of course, the kids did not remain looking at the video for very long. In fact, little Claire wanted to grab the video and pet the bunny that was leaping across the screen a few minutes after this shot was taken, but I got about eight fantastic photos before both children grew distracted. That’s success in my book.

Here is the set up shot:

And here is the resulting shot:

Note the cell phone is strategically angled using a book.  Not pictured, is me peering with my camera directly over the cell phone so that I line up the eyes of the children with my lens.  Rory and Francesca thankfully stifled their laughter as I clicked away getting shot after great shot.

And here’s what happens when you don’t have a cell phone handy:

Seriously, Rory is a genius. Thank you, O’Donovan family for making my job as a family photographer easier!

Lest you think I have abandoned my documentary-style roots, please enjoy these additional great images from the O’Donovan family portrait.  I’ll have more blogs in the coming year.  Happy new year to you all!

If you would like to see more images for my family photojournalism portfolio, then please visit my website — www.KellyWilliamsPhotographer.com