will my kids ever learn to be still for pictures?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

it's so frustrating. on Facebook i see all these gorgeous family pics, or holiday pics of little kids looking at the camera in front of a tree, smiling, even posing. taken with a cell phone or something..awesome picture. Where even after taking 100 pictures with my DSLR the best i can do is a non-blurry picture with one kid half in it, the other looking away.

Posing for pics is a foreign concept for my kids..i take 100 shots and 80 of them are of the back of their heads, 15 are blurry bc they are moving. it's a shame bc i really like to take pictures. My children will.not.pose for a camera...it takes a herculean effort to get them to be still and look at the camera, let alone smile. My DD used to be great about it, before she could crawl or walk (which was a long time). Now she can walk, there's no staying still. And the idea of getting a picture with BOTH of them looking at the camera AND smiling..stars have to majorly align for that one.

We saw Santa and a holiday train the other day and a nice guy offered to take a pic of me and my DS with my camera...OMG i had to WRANGLE DS to sit still and his wife was doing all these crazy sounds and dances just to get DS to look at the freaking camera.. I felt so bad. We got a semi-decent picture, DS not smiling of course and we are out of focus (happens often when DS moves so much). While we were waiting in line to see santa I saw a mom tell her 2 girls (looked like 2 and 4) to stand in front of the train and smile...and the girls JUST DID IT. I pointed to DH and asked...do you ever think we'll be able to do that??? LOL.

I know mine are still young but come the holidays and i see pics of kids of 2 and 3 yos standing still, looking at the camera and they make it looks SO easy. We had a family photography session and she got a few good shots of the whole family with both dd and ds looking and i was really amazed. Apparently only way to get family pics is to get a professional and spend over an hour and a half taking pictures. SO i do have pictures of kids but i would like take some of my own doing stuff around the house, or when we go out as a family. I would like to get some pictures that's not the back of their heads. LOL

[BabyBearsMom]

I feel your paint. I have resigned myself to the fact that for the next few years, the holiday pictures will be two separate pictures of the kids.

[ZeeBaby]

We are in the same boat. DDs are 3 and 4.5. I gave up on doing pics myself of them together. I just go to Portrait Innovations and pay for pics. Somehow they always manage to get decent pics.

[twowhat?]

That sounds frustrating! Ours are weird in that they will stop and smile for the camera. There is a drawback though - they have what I call "camera smiles" - very fake, forced, un-natural smiles that do NOT look good in family pics. We took about 15 pics at the JC penney shoot and I'm not happy with their smiles in most of them, and there's no single picture where everyone has a good smile. I think the only way to get great family pics is with a professional photog (NOT JC Penney!) who knows when to click when the subjects are not actively posing and who knows how to tell the subjects to keep moving to get everyone in a natural, happy, relaxed state. One day we'll do this. One day.

The best pics I get of them is when they don't expect me to take a picture or are so in the moment that they have on their great natural smiles.

But I agree yours are young - they'll get there eventually. And then you get to deal with "camera smiles"

[BabbyO]

We have a combination of squirmy wormies and "cheesy" smiles in all of our photos. Usually one kid is totally fine - but giving a fake cheesy smile an the other is squirming out of our arms, flailing or otherwise moving. It isn't always the same kid doing the same thing...they alternate. Regardless we have very few nice family shots despite our best efforts...

[happymom]

Right there with you!!! DD loves to make this weird smile and LOOK AWAY every single time I take a picture. And that's when she's even willing to smile! Half the time she ignores me completely. I go a few times a year to Picture People and they always get great shots but its not the same as those cute pics at the zoo, the park, etc.

I take a lot of candid shots and those work better. DD playing in the sand at the beach, playing with leaves outside etc. Those kind of shots are great unposed. Or my favorite- pictures from the back lol. No need for smiles there and they always looks so cute!

[wencit]

I so feel your pain and remember being there not too long ago!!! DS1 was about 4 when he would start smiling for the camera, but as PP said, it was the fake cheesy grin that is so NOT attractive. I'm not a professional photographer, but I do have an interest in photography, and let me tell you.... in order to get that ONE useable holiday picture, I literally have to take about 200 shots with my super fast DSLR. AND my kids are older than yours! It's really hard!!! Oh, and I have also resorted to fake burping and farting in order to get them to laugh naturally. I must look like a complete fool at the park. I have tried everything, and that's the quickest and easiest way to get them to laugh. The joys of having 2 boys.

I know this is the BP so feel free to totally disregard, but have you checked to make sure your DSLR has enough light entering? You might have to bump up the ISO or get a better lens, if you're using the kit lens.

[twowhat?]

Oh I forgot to add one trick - if someone is taking a pic for you, hold your kids and tickle them just a little - it's enough to get natural smiles out of them, and you, too

[AbbysMom]

Funny you should post this because I just pulled out all my old Christmas cards and I was thinking how before this summer, all my photos were rotten! I'm kind of embarrassed by the one I sent out a couple years ago but I truly could not get one good picture of the 2 of them!

This year mine are almost 6 and 4 and they take pictures well. A couple things that I think helped: they have 1 pose that they think is really funny. We call it "cheekies." They smash their faces together and smile for the camera. Have tons of those! Also I think after they get interested in seeing the photos after you take them on a digital camera, they start to realize that they need to stop, look at the camera and smile.

[g-mama]

Yes! My SIL is a professional photographer. She takes our pics every fall for our card and it has gone from utterly painful to downright easy over the years. It gets so much easier. They just do whatever she tells them to do! I wish I always looked as good in pics like they do! Now it's ME that I find fault with in most of our pics. Wrinkles, double chin, muffin top.....