Summertime for many families is vacation time, with many families returning home with digital cameras filled to the brim with photos of their time away.

Who in your family is usually taking these pictures? Mom? Dad?  With the rise of digital photography, many children are now curious to put themselves behind the lens.  If your child seems to take an interest in your camera and is asking to experiment, let them take it – you could have a future professional photographer on your hands!

Young children learn faster than we sometimes realize, so teaching your child about framing, composition and tips on photography can be beneficial to them and can be a fun way to spend time together.
Here are a few tips to get you started!

Teach your child about framing. Most children already have an idea of how the camera works (click button, take picture). Ask them what they are interested in taking a photo of and why. Take them around the yard or your vacation stomping grounds and ask what they’d like to take a photo of. Give them an idea of what should be the focus of their photo.

Perspective and Focus. As adults the concept of perspective and focus is very easy to grasp; But for children? Not so much. Teach them the idea of perspective in that when things are farther away they are smaller and when they are closer they are larger.

Focus falls easily with perspective because when you put the camera to close to an object it will become fuzzy. If your child doesn’t understand, ask them to view their hand at an arm’s length and progressively move it to their face. Does it get blurry as it is closer to their eyes?  This will help them grasp the concept of perspective.

Experimenting. Tell your child it’s okay to take photos from any angle. Encourage them to take photos around the backyard, on excursions with the family and even around the house.  It will be interesting to see their perspective on every day things.  Plus, experimenting can lead to some great pictures!

Preserve the final product:  Finally, a great way to wrap up everything your child has learned about photography is to create a photo album of their favorite photos.  Kids love holding the photos (not just viewing them on a digital viewfinder!) and feel a sense of pride in seeing what they created. Our Board Book Albums are perfect for collecting all of your child’s favorite images and keeping them safe for years to come.

Board Book Albums also make a perfect gift for Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa.  Whether given for a special occasion like Mother’s Day or Christmas, or just to say, “I love you” – parents and grandparents will certainly cherish a gift from their favorite child!

Happy photographing!