Useful Tips – Take pictures of children from their eye level

When you take pictures of children or places where children play, try to take the picture from a height that is level with the child’s eyes and not from above. If you take the picture from an adult’s eye level, the picture will be looking down, showing mostly children’s heads and not really showing their facial expressions. Also, since perspective is accentuated with the zoom at wide-angle (W), children’s heads will be emphasized and their bodies will look smaller than in reality. By squatting and taking the picture so as to have your eyes level with the child’s eyes you will get much better results.

Try different eye levels

Picture taken from the parent’s eye level
When the picture is taken from an adult’s eye level, the head is over-emphasized and it’s difficult to see the child’s expression. In addition, the ground appears as background resulting in a dull picture.

	Picture taken from the child’s eye level When the picture is taken so it is level with the child’s eyes, the facial expression comes out really well. Try squatting and taking the picture so as to have your eyes level with the child’s eyes.

Picture taken from a height lower than the child’s eye level
From time to time, try taking the picture from even a lower height. Since the perspective is accentuated with the zoom at wide-angle (W), the legs will seem longer giving the child a taller, more slender figure. Compact digital cameras are light and small enough to make it easy to take pictures from very close to the ground without using the viewfinder.