Children, especially the younger ones, are very difficult to take pictures of, no matter your photographic skill level -- the level of difficulty increases exponentially the more you snap away. As a parent who happens to be a photographer, I as well as many others like me, can and will attest to the fact that the complexity of this challenge can get pretty absurd. This challenge has a name in fact. It's called the Photographer's Child Syndrome and it is very real.
First off, kids have trouble staying still for more than even a split second. Now, cameras today, with their extremely advanced autofocus ability, are still often no match for the shifty toddler. In order to take a technically sound shot, you really need the patience of Monk to find that split second that your young subject will stay still enough for you to be able to acquire focus and release the shutter, not to mention framing your shot in good light and adjusting for exposure! Secondly, as I mentioned previously, children tend to shy away from the camera the more you point it at them. A photographer's child will, in fact, make a game out of doing all he or she can to ruin your shot. My older, nearly 3 year-old, child even does so with a smirk on her face. She seems to possess a sixth sense in being able to avoid the perfect shot just fractions of an instance before I take it. It's uncanny. Even my 10-month old daughter is in advanced stages of this syndrome... woe is me!!
Having said all that, I just got finished editing a batch of recent photos and noticed a small section in which my older daughter seemed to have shown me a bit of mercy. For some context, she was probably rampaging throughout our house, with the typical boundless energy that toddlers seemingly possess, at which point I was tasked with taking her outside. Of course, I carried my camera with me. The results were quite surprising. While I did absolutely no staging whatsoever, the pictures had the look of a planned out photo shoot! I can only assume that some specific stars were in alignment for those 20 or so minutes and that it won't happen again for billions of years. Anyway, such an event requires a blog post post with photos and here are those photos:
Now having posted those, I do have some recommendations on photographing that uncooperative child of yours. Under no circumstances tell your kid to look at the camera. Doing so will penalize you with at least 5 minutes of them doing everything but look at the camera. Convince yourself that you couldn't care less if you get that shot or not. Toddlers can sense even a drop of desperation in the air and when they do that picture of yours is done for. Don't look a toddler straight in the eyes. Once you do, they will full-on bullrush you at which point you can forget about capturing this moment and just focus on getting you and your camera to safety... In all seriousness though, each child is different and you just have to figure out what works for yours. Just be patient and every once in a while you might get that small pocket of time when the universe smiles upon your attempt to get that perfect shot. Good Luck!