These iPhone photography tips for parents are for the everyday moments you’re already photographing on your phone.
The missing teeth. The outfit they insisted on wearing three days in a row. Saturday mornings at home. Vacations. First days of school. The completely ordinary Tuesday that somehow becomes one of your favorite photos six months later.
You don’t need to know everything your iPhone camera can do to take better photographs of your kids. A few small changes in how you use it can make a surprisingly big difference.
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iPhone Photography Tips for Parents: 9 Simple Ways to Take Better Photos
This Article has been updated. Originally Published February 3, 2020
1. Clean Your Camera Lens
Start here because it may be the easiest photography tip you’ll ever use.
Your phone spends its day in your hand, pocket, purse, cupholder, and who knows where else. Before taking a photograph, give the lens a quick wipe with a clean, soft cloth.
If your photos have started looking a little hazy or soft, fingerprints may be the entire problem.
2. Get Down on Their Level
We see our kids from above all day long, especially when they’re little. Photographs become much more interesting when you change that perspective.
Crouch down, sit on the floor, or even lie on your stomach.
Photographing from your child’s level lets you see more of their world instead of always seeing the top of their head and the floor behind them.
And every once in a while, do the opposite. Stand above them, back up, or photograph them very small within the scene. There doesn’t have to be one correct angle.
3. Look for Good Light Before a Good Background
People tend to notice the messy room first. I notice the light.
If you’re indoors, move your child closer to a window and turn off harsh overhead lights when you can. Outside, look for open shade or softer light rather than putting them in the brightest patch of sun.
You don’t need the perfect location. Better light will usually do more for your photograph than a prettier background.
4. Tap Their Face Before You Take the Photo
Your iPhone is good at figuring out what you’re trying to photograph, but it doesn’t always guess correctly.
Tap your child’s face on the screen before you take the picture. This tells the camera where you want it to focus. You can also adjust the brightness from that focus point if the image looks too light or too dark.
For a child sitting relatively still, you can press and hold the focus area to lock focus and exposure while you take several photographs.
5. Use Burst Mode When They’re Moving
Children generally do not consider standing still part of the assignment.
For running, jumping, swinging, dancing, or anything else involving constant movement, Burst mode gives you a much better chance of catching the split second you actually want.
On current iPhones, swipe the shutter button to the left and hold it to shoot a burst. You can also go to Settings > Camera > Use Volume Up for Burst and then hold the volume-up button while photographing.
Take more frames than you think you need. You can delete the misses later.
6. Leave Live Photos On
Live Photos can be especially useful with children because your child’s best expression may happen a fraction of a second before or after you tap the shutter.
If the photograph you captured isn’t quite right, open the Live Photo afterward and look through the frames. Your iPhone lets you choose a different frame as the Key Photo.
That tiny feature has rescued more than a few almost-good photographs.
7. Pay Attention to What’s Behind Them
Before you take the picture, scan the edges of your screen.
Is there a lamp growing out of their head? A garbage can in the corner? A bright red toy pulling your eye away from your child?
You usually don’t need to rearrange the entire room. Move yourself a step to the left or right, get slightly closer, or change your angle.
If composition is something you struggle with, turning on the Grid and Level under Settings > Camera can help you straighten the frame and be more intentional about where you place your subject.
8. Stop Asking Them to Smile
One of the simplest iPhone photography tips for parents is to stop asking kids to smile for the camera.
The fastest way to get a strange photograph of your child is often to say, “Smile!”
Instead, talk to them. Ask them something ridiculous. Have them show you what they’re doing. Photograph them while they’re concentrating, laughing with a sibling, looking out a window, building something, or completely ignoring you.
You don’t need eye contact in every photograph.
And you definitely don’t need every childhood photograph to include their camera smile.
9. Photograph the Ordinary Stuff Too
One of my favorite iPhone photography tips for parents is to photograph the things that don’t feel important yet.
Birthdays, vacations, holidays, and first days are easy to remember to photograph. The ordinary things are easier to miss.
Their tiny feet hanging off the kitchen chair. The stuffed animal that goes everywhere. Bedhead. Reading with Dad. Helping make pancakes. The way siblings pile onto one another on the couch.
Those photographs may not seem particularly important when you take them.
Give them a few years.
Your iPhone Is for Everyday Life. Professional Photography Is for Something Different.
These iPhone photography tips for parents can help you make the most of all those everyday moments you’re already photographing. The missing teeth, the ordinary mornings, the vacations, and all the little things you’ll want to remember later.
But there’s one thing your phone usually can’t do very well: put you in the photograph too.
That’s part of why professional photographs matter. You get to stop documenting everything yourself for a little while and actually be there with your children.
If it’s been a while since you’ve been in the photographs instead of taking them, I’d love to photograph your family.
Michele Quattrin of mQn Photography is a Minneapolis family photographer who documents motherhood, babies, and families with a timeless, honest style. With 15 years of experience and a background in photojournalism, she is especially drawn to the real moments that make early newborn sessions so meaningful. Her approach is gentle, polished, and natural, which makes her a great fit for Fresh 48 photography at hospitals like The Mother Baby Center at Children’s Minneapolis. Michele serves families across Minneapolis, Edina, and the Twin Cities, creating images that feel both heartfelt and refined. Learn more about Michele here.
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