How To's, the Basics! (Yuba City Photographer}

I'm about to give a BIG secret away. A big one! People ask me all the time "how do you get your kids to sit still for a picture?" Truth is, my kid's don't love it when I get my giant camera out and stick it right up in their faces. They used to like it, but at some point they lost interest and would rather run away from me. Occasionally though, my oldest will ask to have her picture taken. (She's usually wearing some ridiculous get up or completely naked, but I always get excited when she asks for her picture to be taken.) Sometimes I try to coax her into wearing something different, but usually I just give in and zoom in really close so you can't see what she's wearing. :) And then of course take a few of the entire outfit because it's hilarious.

When taking pictures of other people's children I don't usually have as much trouble. I'm new to them, I have a big scary camera, and I'm usually making weird noises or saying weird stuff. I have had some tough customers but I ALWAYS get good smiling at the camera pictures of other people's kids. My own kids, well, that's another story.

So, here's my secret weapon to get pictures of my kids to get them to look at me. Craisins. We call them candies, and I 100% bribe them with them. Surely I will be fired by the parenting gods for bribing my children, but it works, and I want pictures of them looking at the camera! I have enough photos of the back of their heads, their tongue, or them leaning out of the frame. So, I put some craisins in a bowl and hold them next to my lens. No, I'm not kidding. The reason i use craisins? Other than their dentist will love me? They don't create messy drool. Chocolate creates very messy situations, and little fruit candy takes too long for them to chew. I've tried lots of different bribes but I also go back to my old favorite of the craisins. I even keep a bag of them in my camera bag ;)

I also take about a 100 per every 2 or three good ones. It takes time to go through all of them, but if you're willing to put in the time to go through them, you're bound to wind up with a few that are worthy of sending to Grandma! Thank goodness for digital! So, there you have it folks. Grab a bribe, grab your camera, and shoot your kids!