To capture authentic moments you have to live them first. Get familiar with your phone’s quick-draw camera shortcuts and you’ll spend more time engaged with your kids and less time fumbling with the lock screen. For iPhone: hard press on the camera icon on the home screen. For most Android phones: Double-press the home button to launch.
It’s fun to involve your family and make sure they’re also taking photos. Get the youngsters a kid-friendly point-and-shoot camera (we like Nikon’s CoolPix W150), or even a toy camera, to give them hands-on experience. Create a photo contest or scavenger hunt where they can capture people, places, and things.
Pictures aren’t meant to be flawless. If a photo is slightly blurry, or cropped in a weird way, you’re capturing authentic moments with “mistakes” that add a sense of timelessness and emotion. A perfectly exposed and composed image can’t do that.
Talking to camera-shy kids and engaging with them helps a lot—make a game of it, even. Show them the back of the camera and let them “art direct.” Take a photo with your version and their version, then compare the two shots.
Burst mode on cameras or Live Photos on iPhones is key. Live Photos records a 1.5-second clip before and after you take a picture, so you capture a range of moments and facial expressions. I select my favorite photo from one of the freeze frames.