Family Photography Tips from Reston’s Paparazzi Poppa

By Megan Schmid, Staff Writer

The first day of school has come and gone, but the toothy grins and oversized backpacks will live on forever in the annual Back to School photos taken by the parental paparazzi. While getting your child to smile may have been the most stressful part of the morning, capturing memorable moments like these are essential. Babies do not keep, but photos do. “After my daughter was born, I was obsessed with recording history and those little aspects of babies that change quickly, like those little ears and toes,” Reston photographer Chris Livingston said. “While I have tons of pictures of my wife and kids, I am not in 99 percent of them. If I had it to do over again, I would have found someone to take pictures of all of us together. This was my motivation to start my family photography business here in Reston.”

Livingston, known by many as "The Paparazzi Poppa," works for a consulting firm full-time and runs his business, Chris Livingston Photography, afternoons and weekends. One thing that sets him apart from other photographers is his processing style. “My photos are very colorful, and I give them a rosy glow to make them look warm and sunny, even if it is gray and overcast,” he explained. Among his favorite places to shoot is Lake Fairfax because of the abundance of open green space. In addition to family photography, Livingston takes photos for the Hiddenbrook Hurricanes swim team during the summer. Livingston offered some tips to help parents get better photos of their kids, using the camera you always have on you – your cell phone.

1. Get down low to the kid's eye-level or even lower. This is a different point of view from most people, and will make your pictures stand out and look more professional.

2. Get in closer. Get in tight and take a “faces-only” picture first, then pull back if you want to get a full body shot or include the environment. Close-up pictures have more impact, especially on social media. Most people (especially kids) tend to get “smile-fatigue” after three to five seconds. Kids will continue to smile with their mouths, but their eyes will often sag back down and lose their expression. It's better to get that closeup face picture first.

3. When getting in close, don’t get closer than 15 inches or your kid's nose or forehead will seem unnaturally large. A wide-angle lens makes whatever is closest look bigger when you are too close. If you have a 2X, 4X, or 5X zoom, use that to get the closeup. Always avoid pinch to zoom if you can, as it adversely affects the quality when the camera tries to create pixels for an “in-between” zoom like 3.4X.

4. Wipe off your phone's camera lens occasionally – extra credit for using a lens cleaning wipe, but even your shirt will work. Fingerprints and dirt build up over time and detract from the picture quality.

Visit www.ChrisLivingstonPhotography.com for more information or to schedule a family photo session.

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