How to get the best photos of your kids this autumn: practical & creative tips

Here are some tips on how to get the best photos of your kids this autumn. Choose a great location, consider the lighting, and use their clothing to cleverly tie into an autumnal theme. Use tried-and-tested composition techniques to elevate your photos from everyday to amazing.

And from there, it’s all about making sure they’re having fun, they’re relaxed, and totally in their element – leaving you free to capture those little moments that make childhood in autumn so special!

Here’s what to consider:

Comfort first

Of course, their comfort is paramount, so make sure they’re comfortable and warm enough. It goes without saying that you should ensure your kids are well rested, fed and hydrated before your shoot.

What should my kids wear for an autumn photo shoot?

Layers are a great idea, as it means they can add or remove clothing in changing weather conditions. Consider that their clothing also makes a prop in itself. Chunky sweaters look cute in autumn, fitting with an autumnal colour scheme.

Add in bright welly boots and a wooly hat, along with items carefully chosen to protect against the weather. Think bright raincoats and matching umbrellas – they make fun and interesting props and really pop against the colours of autumn.

Where to take the best autumn photos of kids

Location is key for photographing kids in autumn. Choose a location they really enjoy, where they can be in their element – like a park with plenty of woodland and nature scenes. There should be plenty of natural light, too.

Aside from your local park, consider stately homes, petting farms, forests, woodlands, arboretums, and child-friendly woodland walks with plenty to keep their body and mind busy.

Check out the National Trust website where you can view pictures of the locations in advance. Indeed, houses with natural features like creeping ivy covering it and making it awash with colour can make an awesome backdrop.

And let’s not forget pumpkin farms and their photo opportunities. Or how about apple picking, taking along a few baskets to capture their harvesting efforts?

Making the most of natural autumnal lighting

Golden hour is the time surrounding sunrise and sunset that is considered the best by photographers thanks to the soft, warm, and diffused look it brings to photos. However, it might be hard to get photos of your kids outside at sunrise first thing in the morning. As the days get shorter, aiming for sunset might be a better idea – working around nap times for your littlest subjects, of course.

Natural light in autumn is a beautiful kind of light. The sun is lower in the sky giving more opportunities to play with dramatic side lighting, contrejour (against the light), contrast, and longer shadows. It can create more of a “golden hour” feel than summer light that is directly overhead.

Add in some extra props

Great props for the best autumn photography of your kids include leaves, baskets, pine cones, acorns, apples or harvest vegetables like munchkin pumpkins or corn, the last of summer’s flowers or dead flower heads, plucked sprigs of wheat or other harvest grains. Or you could pack a small blanket and a book for a cute bookish theme.

Hand your child the item and let them play with it – don’t try to stage things as this can look unnatural. If they’re not interested, don’t force it. We’re looking for playful and happy shots!

Get them playing for the best shots

Candid shots are probably the best. Many kids, and adults, unintentionally pull faces when they know their picture is being taken. Therefore, it’s much better to snap away as they happily play and engage with nature.

Playing is where children excel, so make the most of it! Here, you can capture real action and emotion. For action shots, shoot them kicking at swirling piles of leaves, splashing in puddles, and playing ring a ring o’ roses. For these action-filled shots consider a fast shutter speed – set your camera to “S” Shutter Priority mode and choose a speed over 1/1000sec to freeze the action.

And don’t forget simple games – peekaboo is a great opportunity to get your child to engage with you and look at the camera while getting them to peek around a tree or bush! You can get gorgeous depth of field in these shots with the semi-automatic mode “A” Aperture Priority. Set it to a low value such as f3 or f4 to keep the eyes in focus but beautifully blur out the background.

Above all, be patient with your kids and understand that they can tire out quickly.

Indoors photography

Shooting outdoors is the obvious candidate for autumn photography. But don’t dismiss indoors photography. We borrowed a stable to set up this autumn shot of my son. The bales were already stacked up, we just added pumpkins and apples!

You can also buy autumnal backdrops from Amazon, just set one up in front of natural light and you’re good to go. This is also a good choice for autumn photography of babies who are not yet sitting.

Composition tips to elevate from everyday to amazing

These composition tips can help you to organise your children and the other elements of your photograph in the shot. Don’t leave home without them! By following these rules, you can create aesthetically pleasing and meaningful shots.

Eyes in focus

Okay, this isn’t really a composition technique, but it’s easy to forget how important this simple factor is in your portraiture. Use your phone or camera’s focus tool to pinpoint your subject’s eyes.

Rule of thirds

The rules of thirds is perhaps the most widely known composition technique. To use it, divide your frame into a 3×3 grid, and align your subject or elements of your photo on these lines. Android and iPhone camera apps let you overlay a rule of thirds grid to make use of this technique.

The golden ratio

Divide your frame according to the golden spiral, guiding the viewer’s eye around the frame, touching on subjects and elements and helping the photo’s story to unfold.

Framing

Natural frames within the frame are everywhere in autumn. Think autumn leaves, trees, clouds, doorways and archways.

Leading lines

Use leading lines to “lead” your viewer’s eyes to your subject. Leading lines are easy to find in your autumn photos – think fences, bridges, paths, banks of leaves, etc.

Diagonals

Use diagonals to create movement and add perspective in your photos.

Contrast

Shooting into the fading light at sunset and letting your kids create a silhouette creates a striking composition in your photos.

Angles

Always shooting from an adult’s height can get boring. Mix it up by shooting from above, below, or on the same level as your child.

Dominant eye centre

Aligning your subject’s dominant eye in the centre of the frame is a technique you might be new to. Using the crop function of your image editing app can make this happen if you can’t achieve it at the time of snapping the shot.

Using your camera’s settings creatively for best photos of your kids this autumn

If you’re taking photographs of your kids in autumn with a camera and not your smartphone, take a look at some of the modes on your camera.

The wheel at the top of your camera will show PASM and these settings can help you get some really cool creative effects in autumn. Let’s have a look at how you can use these settings for great fall shots:

• Using shutter speed creatively in “S” Shutter Priority mode. Use slow speeds to blur the action to give a feeling of movement. Use fast speeds to freeze the action.
• Aperture Priority mode “A” can help you get beautiful blurred backgrounds using a low “f-stop” number. Conversely, it can be used to ensure all parts of your photograph are in focus with a higher “f-stop” number.
• Program mode “P” is good for everyday photography, but not action shots or when you’re trying to achieve a blurred background.
• “M” Manual mode is perfect for when you want full control over your photos, but it’s not great with fast changing conditions such as shooting children in autumn.

Other settings to try:

• Use burst mode to capture multiple frames very quickly. This setting is so much fun and you capture so many variations in your kid’s facial expressions.
• If you have a variable length (zoom) lens, play with focal length and see how it changes your photos. Use a wide angle 18-25mm to capture more of a scene, but observe how it makes kids look even smaller in their environment – great for forest shots! Conversely, use a focal length of around 35-44mm for brilliant environmental portraits that include your autumnal scenes.

Editing your photos

Editing the photos you’ve taken of your kids for autumn is always a good idea to bring out their best. If you’re taking photos on your phone, use your phone’s editing app to increase the saturation and contrast of autumn’s colours. You can also edit the white balance and pull the slider over to the warmer region to increase the autumnal feel.

With all settings, smaller adjustments are probably better and will look more natural. If you’re shooting into the light on your camera or smartphone, check out the dehaze setting. This reduces the fogginess caused by too much light and increases the contrast.

If you’re using a DSLR or mirrorless camera and can shoot in RAW, Adobe Lightroom is arguably one of the best photo editing software programs you can use. You’ll find plenty of autumn and fall presets, many for free, all over the internet to make your photos of your kids in autumn really stand out.

Final thoughts on how to get the best photos of your kids this autumn

I hope these tips will help you get the best photos of your kids this autumn. Capturing the joy of autumn is so much fun! You’ll have memories to last a lifetime and photos to look back on with happiness.

Do you have any tips for photographing your kids in autumn? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you. And if you like this post, please consider subscribing to my blog.

Happy shooting!

Helen