Kids party photo magic tips (continued) - RI Magician Kids Party Ventriloquist Steve Zany
I’m glad many of you found my last post about kids birthday party photography of interest and helpful.
So, let’s continue our discussion about other ways you can capture those great photos at your child’s birthday party, because those enchanting photo opportunities often can pass you by in an instant.
The following tip may seem like common sense, but often it isn’t common practice.
At your kids birthday party take lots and lots of pictures. I’m talking a ton. More than you think you’ll need. Here’s why. Digital is cheap. You can simply delete the photos you don’t want and keep the best.
At one of my children’s birthday parties, I took about 100 photos in two hours. Guess how many I saved? About 15 of them. But those 15 were gems.
In fact, many people ask me how I get such great photos of my children. The secret is that I throw away 80-90% of the weak ones.
By taking tons of photos, the odds are in my favor. It’s very much like the pareto principle, also known as the 80-20 rule. I keep the best 20 percent, or so, of my kids party photos and toss the remaining 80 percent.
At many birthday parties I perform magic shows at, given my interest in photography, I observe what other parents are doing with their cameras.
For example, I might see a parent shoot five photos during the big show finale featuring their child. My guess is, that by taking so few photos, many parents end up with photos that don’t really capture the magic moments their child is experiencing of becoming a magician in my show.
What are the chances that at the time the parent snapped the photo, their child’s eyes were closed because they blinked? Given the past-paced nature of the show how likely is it the birthday kid turned away from the camera at the very moment mom or dad pressed the trigger? What’s the likelihood that the birthday child had a goofy look on their face in the photo. (No fault of the child, it’s just the capturing of a sliver of time. You know what type of photos I’m talking about because all of us parents have taken them or have appeared in them.)
Often after my magic show, the kids party quickly turns to the lighting of the birthday cake. Just today, I observed the parents take pnly three photos of their child’s experience. The photos were taken before the cake arrived at the table. During the inhale of the kids’ breath to blow out the candles and then after the candles were blown out.
What if the mom took six photos instead of three, or 12 for that matter of the cake festivities? She would have really upped her chances of capturing a photo or multiple photos that were very different than the type of birthday party photos she may have in her photo albums currently. I’m not saying it’s impossible to get a good photo by taking only three images of your child blowing out their candles. But I’m not one to gamble.
When parents armed with a camera are more willing to push the shutter button, more often they up their chances dramatically of taking great birthday party images.
Like a good magic trick, once you learn the above secret, you’ll be amazed by what magically happens to the quality of your kids photos.
Steve Zany
RI Kids Party Magician and Ventriloquist
RI Magician Kids Party Ventriloquist Steve Zany - Nickelodeon Parents Pick Award Winner!
