One of the most important parts of your child’s party will be the photos to cherish for the future. I’ve dabbled into the photography before and read around the subject a little so I thought I would share some tips to make sure you capture the moment just right.

Guide to photography

1.) BE PREPARED
Ensure you have enough space on your memory card to accommodate the images to be taken. Perhaps even consider bringing a spare card. Of course most importantly charge the battery up.

2.) MAKE THE EVENT LIKE A STORY
This is a fab idea. Take pictures of the entire party from the guests arriving, the games being played, dancing and of course the birthday cake. This makes for a nice story board type photo album once you have your snaps printed. Organising them in chronological order will tell the story of the party for relatives and other who couldn’t be there.

3.)IMPROMPTU SHOTS OVER ‘SAY CHEESE’
A great picture really captures the moment. Try to catch a genuine moment with out the party guests expecting it. The facial expressions will really express the instance. Spontaneous moments will look wonderful in your photo album. They look so much better than those cheesy grins we wear we poised for a shot. Time to be a paparazzi!

4.) SNAP FROM EYE LEVEL
Keeping the lense at the level of the childrens eyes makes for a more intimate image. Get down to the subjects level and be surprised with how greater your image looks.

5.) BE SURE TO ZOOM IN
Too much background or head room spoils the picture. This something we all do and don’t realise. Make use of that zoom button to make boring images a thing of the past.

6.) DECENT BACKGROUND
The background of the subject will enhance the picture. Ensure there’s no poles or trees appearing to protrude out of your child’s head. Use the rule of thirds when taking your picture. This is whereby you imagine the view through the lens split into a grid of 9 equal squares. You fill one third of the boxes up to the left or right with the subject.

7.) DONT FORGET THE GROUP SHOT
This makes for a wonderful memory. Having all of the children in one shot is an image your child will be asking for when their older. It’s a nice touch to get the birthday child to stand on a chair in this so they stand out. It’s best to get this done in the middle of the party as children may dash off quickly at the end of the party.

8.) BE QUICK
That sweet cute moment isn’t going to be there forever. Taking too long will ruin that perfect candid moment. Remember your paparazzi for a day!

9.) DOWNLOAD THE IMAGES STRAIGHT AWAY
We all lead busy lives and things get forgotten. The tendency to leave the images in the camera un downloaded is tempting. You wouldn’t want to accidentally delete that memory stick or loose it so download those images to your hard drive right away to avoid a disaster.

10.) BACK UP YOUR IMAGES TO A CLOUD SERVICE
A cloud service is where you can store data with a company. Apple offer this for free (limited space). This is a great idea as you will always have access to your photos no matter what happens.

photo credit: __MaRiNa__ via photopin cc