Take Better Photos of Your Kids with These Cheat Sheets Just for Moms

If you want to take better pictures of your children and have fun doing it, you’ll love learning about Snap Happy Mom’s Photography Cheat Sheets that are perfect for beginning photographers. Plus, you’ll receive a special discount code so you can start having more fun with your camera today.

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Take Better Pictures of Your Children

Want to take better pictures of your kids?

I bet the camera roll on your phone is filled with pictures of your kids. How many of those photos look dark or blurry or just kind of off? Maybe you know you could make them look better with a little photo editing, but don’t know the right app to use. Or you’ve heard that it’s easy to take good pictures on your iPhone because the camera is actually pretty good, but you just haven’t gotten around to looking up all the tricks your friends know. If you’re like me, you love having pictures of your kids. But you might not know how to take pictures you love of the people you love.

Because sometimes it sounds hard or time-consuming to learn something new, even something you might really like.

The truth is, sometimes not knowing how to take a good picture prevents me from taking any pictures at all. Then I realize days have gone by, maybe even weeks, when I could have been documenting this stage when my kids are so little. Sometimes I feel guilty about not documenting their lives with a million beautiful photographs. Can you relate?

Once or twice a year, I try to have my kids photographed by a professional. There are so many talented photographers that produce gorgeous work. And if you follow even a few of them on Instagram, you know that there’s always someone offering a holiday-themed mini session. Valentine’s Minis. Mother’s Day minis. Milestone shoots. Christmas card shoots. There are so many different opportunities to hire someone to document your family for you. But even the best lifestyle session can’t capture your every day, every day. Isn’t your everyday life with your family worth capturing?

While I love supporting photographers, it can get expensive quickly. If I’m being honest, I’d love to document my every day with beautiful lifestyle shots and have the skill to put together a cute holiday-themed photo with my kids posed in front of an easy DIY project. Wouldn’t it be nice to save some of that money by doing it yourself?

I know it’s possible.

Photography Tips for Moms

When Meg at Snap Happy Mom introduced her Photography Cheat Sheets for Moms I jumped at the opportunity to try learning from them. I have an iPhone, a DSLR camera, two cute kids, and the desire to improve. I was waiting for someone to make it easy.

These Cheat Sheets make it easy.

Designed especially for moms, these cards provide a crash course in basic photography that you can learn entirely at your own pace, on-the-go. If you focus on one thing after another, your photography will improve. With practice, the tricks you’ll learn from the Cheat Sheets will increase your confidence and you will start taking pictures of your kids that you will cherish. The kind you’ll want to frame. The kind you’ll text to grandparents. Maybe even photographs that look just as good as the kind you see stylish moms post on Instagram.

The cheat sheets act as a quick reference you can bring with you on-the-go.

Cheat Sheets: Photography Tips for Moms

I’ve tried to learn a bit about photography here and there. But the manuals I checked out the library never held my attention. The few I tried to read seemed to be written for someone who wanted to learn how to become a professional photographer. I don’t need every tip, tool, and trick that a professional would because I’m not trying to take professional photos. I really needed a resource that was written for me, a mom who wanted to take good pictures of her kids.

In the Photography Tips for Moms deck, Meg speaks directly to moms who want to improve their photography skills. Her advice is down-to-Earth. The deck contains dozens of little gems that will make you want to take more pictures and feel better about the pictures you take.

The deck is composed of four sections: Composition, Lighting, How To, and Working with Kids. Meg’s advice never gets too technical. Reading through it, you’ll learn basic things you need to know to take beautiful pictures. They’ll be better composed. You’ll start to get the lighting right. You’ll begin thinking about how to pose your subject. Meg’s focus is on helping moms work with their kids to get great photos. And she makes it less stressful.

If you’ve ever thought taking pictures of your kids wasn’t worth it because some serious wrangling might be involved, then Meg’s tips will provide the reassurance that you can wrangle them. You can. And they might even like it!

In fact, my favorite section of the Photography Tips for Moms deck is the Pep Talk section at the back. Maybe your confidence is lacking. Maybe you lack motivation. This quick pep talk will help you remember that taking pictures of your kids doesn’t need to be stressful. Learning how to use your camera doesn’t need to be hard. It’s easier than you might think.

If you have a tendency to overcomplicate things or procrastinate, refer to Meg’s Pep Talk. Then refer to Meg’s Pep Talk again.

Before you know it, you’ll be the mom that actually has a shelf full of fun photo books. And once you’re a mom with a shelf full of photo books, you’ll always have the perfect gift to give grandparents when the holidays come around.

I’m not the mom that has a shelf full of photo books yet. But clearly, I aspire to it and hope to get there by the end of this year. If you aspire to it to, let Meg make it easy for you to make documenting your family a part of your every day.

Get Snap Happy Mom’s Photography Tips for Moms deck HERE.

Take Great iPhone Photos of Your Children

You probably already have a great camera in your pocket or at your side all the time. Isn’t that crazy? Sometimes I forget that I’m carrying a powerful camera around everywhere I go. If you use a smartphone, you can start taking better pictures of your kids on your phone today.

Smartphone Photography for iPhones

The iPhone deck is perfect if you want to see improvement in your photography quickly. You’ll learn about camera functions and camera modes on your phone that you probably haven’t heard of yet. There are all kinds of quick short cuts I had no idea about. Meg even makes helpful recommendations about editing, which is something I knew I wanted to learn more about because there are so many different apps out there that friends have recommended, but I didn’t know where to begin. You’ll even learn how to share and back up your shots.

I recommend reading through the entire deck once over to get a bird’s eye view of what you need to learn, then going back and implementing one step at a time. Once something starts to come naturally to you, you can move on to the next tip. But trying to implement everything at once could be overwhelming. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, step back and keep focusing on improving small things.

Those small things can add up! Here’s an example of the kind of thing you’ll learn from Meg:

The Swipe Trick:

Clean off your lens!

“A quick swipe of your lens with your shirt hem will eliminate fingerprints and smudges that inevitably appear as you handle your phone. Make this a habit before you shoot for sharper, crisper images.”

I have made “The Swipe Trick” a habit. Every time I take out my phone to snap a photo, I remember to wipe my lens. The iPhone deck is packed with simple tips like this that will instantly improve your photography.

I know a lot more about how the camera on my phone works than I did before. When my hands are free, I like knowing I can try to capture a moment or two from that day. I like more of the pictures I take. That’s progress to me.

You may start getting so good at taking pictures on your phone that you may feel curious about taking out the DSLR camera your in-laws bought you when you had your first baby. In which case, you’ll need Snap Happy Mom’s DSLR deck.

DSLR Camera Photography Tips for Moms

A few years ago, I noticed that several of my friends were taking beautiful photos of their kids. This was before the cameras on smartphones had really improved. I quickly learned that many of these amateur photographers were getting great results because they were using a fancy digital camera called a DSLR. Eventually I bought one to take pictures of my kids. I also use it to create some of the images here on High Low Baby.

If you own a DSLR, you probably know that it can take professional-quality photographs. How to get take those photographs yourself can be a bit intimidating. Snap Happy Mom’s DSLR Camera Photography cheat sheets cut through some that intimidation. These cheat sheets cover Exposure, Manual Mode, and Settings to help you really get your money’s worth from your fancy digital camera.

I can take a good picture on my DSLR but setting up the shot can take me a while, especially if I’m shooting indoors. My favorite cheat sheet in this deck is the troubleshooting page, where you can get a quick solution to common problems. If your photo is too bright, too dark, not sharp, or too noisy there’s usually an easy fix. After consulting the troubleshooting page a few times, you will know how to correct your mistakes on the go because you’ll have a better understanding of how your camera functions.

Because I’m truly a beginner, the DSLR strikes me as the most advanced set of cheat sheets. But if you’ve been shooting with your DSLR for a while, you’ll be able to take your foundational knowledge and deepen your understanding of your camera’s functions with these cards. If you take the time to master the information in this deck, you’ll be able to take those gorgeous pictures of your kids in many different settings.

Have Fun Photographing Your Kids!

Do you want to have fun photographing your kids? Do you want to have beautiful portraits of them on the wall or even a dreamy Instagram feed that captures the beauty of your every day? Do you want to get over the guilt that you’re not taking very many pictures of your kids even though childhood is fleeting? Then start practicing now.

Buy Photography Tips for Moms and Smart Phone Photography from Snap Happy Mom. Be extra smart and bundle the decks to save money. Add DSLR Camera Photography if you already own a DSLR and want to dive in.

If you buy two or more decks, each deck changes price down to $25 in the cart. But I have a special discount on top of that just for my readers.

Use code SNAPHAPPYHLB for an additional $5 your order. All orders ship free within the US, which means you can start taking better photos of your kids for less than $50.

Read them over one night after the kids are in bed. Choose one or two things you want to work on. Maybe even write down that one tip in your planner for the week as a reminder. Then the next day, while your kids are eating breakfast or playing with their toys, pull your phone out of your pocket and implement that one thing. Take a few shots. If you’re like me, your thumb might still be over the lens. Try again. Let yourself have fun with it.

Then over the days and weeks that follow, watch as your camera roll fills up with beautiful memories of the people you love most.