Picture perfect: Professional photographer offers tips for great shots

It’s that time of year again: The kids are cleaned up for Thanksgiving and wearing their holiday best. Line up in front of the Christmas tree and say cheese.

Everyone. Please.

Smile. Look at the camera, Jimmy.

Right here.

Quit playing with your sister’s hair.

Don’t chew on the tree, just stand next to it.

The idea of what makes a family Christmas is quite simple, says Nick Kelsh, a professional photographer and author who grew up in Fargo.

“Just show us what people look like this year,” he says. “Beyond that you can do whatever you want.”

But just getting everyone in the frame to sit still and look at the camera might be beyond what some amateur photographers can pull off.

For Keli Cox, a mother of three from Barnesville, Minn., her biggest challenge is getting her kids ages 6, 4 and 1 to look at the camera at the same time.

Cox said she’s found scheduling the picture time around naps and meals makes for the most cooperative kids.

“And I like doing them outdoors because they seem happier outdoors,” she said.

For Linda Ostlie, a Moorhead mother of two teenage girls, the biggest difficulty is capturing the true nature of her family.

“I like to see candids, not the studio pictures,” said Ostlie, a writer at Flint Communications in Fargo. “I think it’s funny because you kind of expect a picture from people now. If you get one that’s just a card, you’re kind of like, ‘Where’s the picture?’ ”

Kelsh, author of several books on photography and a former Forum intern, loves holiday photos. He keeps them each year and even made an online video last year for his website (www.howtophotographyourbaby.com) to help readers understand what makes a good one.

Holiday photos are probably the single most creative act that a lot of people do all year, says Kelsh, who now lives in Philadelphia.

“It’s this wonderful, wonderful opportunity to express your creativity.”

He offers some tips on what to do to get your subjects to cooperate and how to take a technically sound photo:

• Don’t hide people’s faces. This goes back the Kelsh’s advice on just showing what people look like.

• Wear seasonal clothing. If you’re going to take photos on the beach, bring a Santa hat along, he advises.

• Taking an indoor photo filled with warm light from the tree or fireplace? Turn off the flash.

  “A flash is like a little, tiny atomic bomb went off when your shutter was open,” Kelsh says. “The glow of the room is completely gone.

  Tilt the lamp shade or do what it takes to get a little extra light on their faces.

• Pick one photo and send it.

  “These people who pick seven photographs and put tiny pictures on the front of a postcard. You can’t see a thing,” he says.

  An exception to this rule is when you have more than one child under the age of 5 and getting everyone smiling and looking at the camera together might be difficult.

• Parents, get in the picture. Your family wants to see what you look like, too.

• Wear clean, bold colors. No corporate logos, rock T-shirts or Sesame Street characters.

  Some families choose to wear the exact same outfit, but that can be more distracting than cohesive, Kelsh says.

  “When you look at the picture, all you can think about are the logistics to get everyone dressed in the same clothing,” he says.

• Don’t have anyone standing behind the photographer to get kids’ attention. It’s more distracting than helpful, Kelsh says.

• To get wiggly children to look at the photographer, have a windup toy handy. Get the camera and settings ready to go.

  “Put the windup toy on the top of your head. If it moves and makes noise, all the better,” Kelsh says. “When you put that on your head, all children in the world will look at you for about 10 seconds.”

  Knock out as many frames as you can during their short attention span.

• The photos don’t have to be posed. Get the family engaged in something such as playing a game or reading a book.

  “If they got involved in something and you were patient enough, you could see if there was any spontaneous moment,” Kelsh says.

• Don’t be those people who don’t sign their names on the photo or card, Kelsh says.

• Humor is great, but it’s all in the execution.

Tags: shesays, family