How to Capture Family Moments in Your Home

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With family photography, what matters the most is the memories and moments we capture. This field of photography is quite lenient with the quality because that’s not the main agenda. You should use your camera at home to capture those memories that mean the most to you and your family. Let’s look at some tips on how to capture family moments with some degree of professionalism.

Capture Day-To-Day Moments

Most people often remember to take capture major occasions but often forget to capture everyday moments. While occasions such as birthdays, vacations, and holidays mean a lot to us, it’s the small everyday chores and activities that take up most of our time.

Use your camera to document these small routine activities within your home. Though they might not seem as important today, they will mean a lot of years to come. Capture mealtime, bath time, playtime, drawing time, and even bedtime. These are moments that might look mundane, but they are moments your kids want to remember as they grow up.

Have a Camera Out at Home

If your camera is tucked away at the back of your closet, how will you capture exciting moments? The moment will have passed by the time you dig it out. Have it out at all times, and it will serve you whenever it’s convenient.

You can tot it from one room to another throughout the day. This way, it will be easy to access it when you most need it. Alternatively, you can use your phone camera.

Adding Depth to The Images

You can add depth to your images by, for example, shooting through household objects and using the foreground to frame the main subjects. This trick works wonders when you document the images in large prints on canvas. Try capturing your kids’ unawares or capturing activities happening in the background and foreground simultaneously.

Shooting through windows, plants, and stair rails are other great options. To keep the images unique and fresh, try playing around with all spaces within your home.

Understand your Camera and Shot in Manual Mode

Learning to shoot in a manual is essential if you really want to capture professional home moments. To improve the quality of the images, set up all your camera’s settings, including shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, appropriately.

By setting your camera to manual mode and practicing to shoot in that mode every day, it will soon become your second nature. Before long, you will realize that you can snap the dials into the appropriate setting without giving it too much thought.

Manual is definitely superior, and you should practice it for your images to match your home’s beauty.

Change Your Perspective

Once you are accustomed to shooting within your home, you will realize that you understand your rooms inside out. This way, you can easily choose an angle that capture’s your kid’s stories as they unfold.

There is nothing wrong with getting down to your kid’s level or standing above them to shoot down. It could be covering the entire room or focusing on your kid’s hands alone. You should focus on the most vital elements of the moment being captured and shoot in a manner that highlights those specific elements.

Use Whatever Light is Available to Capture the Moment

Of course, we all wish that every room was well lit with natural light all day, but that’s not realistic. You will have to work with whatever light parameters your home has to offer at the moment.

Sometimes, the lighting might not be ideal but instead of fighting it, try to adapt and learn how to work with it. When you have time to improve the lighting before a shoot, do it. But if that is not possible, don’t worry about it and go ahead and capture the moment anyway.

You will be surprised that some of the best moments will be captured when the conditions are not ideal.

Embrace the Chaos

Isn’t it natural to wish our homes are always clean? But is this always the case, especially when you have young kids and their pets around 24 hours for seven days a week? It is not possible to have your home clean throughout, and it’s normal having a chaotic home once in a while.

You cannot lie to yourself that you will only capture when the home is clean, for if that were the case, you might never capture a single moment. Learn how to use the chaos to tell the story as it is.

If you are trying to capture a moment and the kid’s mess is a distraction, you can pick an angle that eliminates the mess. At other times, the mess is part of the story or moment you are trying to capture.

Summary

Capturing family moments should not be a hassle. You can use whatever resources you have at your disposal and work with the conditions as they are. Remember that the aim is not capturing the best quality images but capturing the moments and telling the story.