Birthday Party Photos

The Best Photo Opportunity
To Capture Friends and Family

Birthday party photos are some of our most treasured keepsakes. Add photo games to other birthday party ideas you are mulling over for your little honoree. In the crazy and hectic pace of a normal gathering, you may miss the opportunity to grab some memorable photos for your child with his or her friends and family to look back on someday. Adding a "photography" theme as an added attraction and you will get some great results in photos.

Create a Photo Booth. You can create one with a spare bed sheet with the color of your choosing. Tack it up against a wall or look for a favorable backdrop setting in your back yard or around the house. Use a tripod and if you don't have one, pre-scout out the best distance to snap your photos from.

Add hats, scarves, and other and age appropriate helpful props to add to the fun. (Encourage repeat performances throughout the party as the personalities loosen up and the sugar kicks in!)

Don't forget some pre-party shots if you are an over achiever and will be scrap-booking the event. Icing up the birthday cake, gifts being wrapped, the table being set and other decorations being put up by family or close friends add to the support your child may feel later when looking back on the day.

Take a before and after shot of the room from the same position and the post mess results will garner some chuckles.

Use your "continuous" or "burst" mode setting on your camera. It is a feature that allows you to hold down the shutter as your camera takes multiple photos. (It is worth taking the time to look up when you have fast moving children.) Perfect for gift openings to grab some precious expressions.

Don't over do it! A sure way to turn a child off to photography and cameras is to keep stopping the fun with a repeated "hold it, mom wants another picture!" demand.

Get in close, "fill your frame". You think you are okay from a distance but really, the only photos you will consider framing will be the ones up close with bright eyes and big smiles.

Get cameras into the hands of older siblings. They will probably get the most creative shots of the day, will feel more involved and probably will be thrilled that you trusted them with the task.

Whichever birthday party ideas and themes you came up with based on your child's latest interests, the group will eventually respond to the interaction that cameras will add to the mix.

Share Your Photos

Have an email sign in sheet (If you don't already have from the guest list.) Be sure to follow up and send the photo booth photos and other ones out that make the cut. Don't put it off too long or it will bug you and add some unneeded stress.

Turn the tripod onto the group for a great group shot. Limit the distractions in the background and take several shots. If you know how to work your camera's timer, no one will be missing in the photo. (And if it is the case that you wouldn't mind that someone be "missing", ask several different people to snap the photo and you'll hide your intention better.)

Birthday party photos are your proof the day happened years later. By including some photography games, all of the effort you spent making it a special day will be rewarded. When those same friends look back together in 15-20 years, you will have had some priceless shots which will have become treasured gifts.

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