Now that you’ve planned a family vacation, you’re ready to go spend quality time with your kids—and actually enjoy it! But if you’re like me (and just about every other mom), you want to take beautiful photos of your children to help you cherish those memories. That’s exactly what I’m going to help you do: Get ready to learn how to take better photos of your kids on vacation!

You don’t need a fancy camera. If you have a fancy camera, you don’t need to know how to use all the settings and what all the buttons do. I’ll teach you to how to take great vacation photos even if you’re shooting with one of those old-school one-use cameras. (Remember those?!)

In this post, you’ll learn to get a great snap even if your kids are cranky. You’ll learn how to mix your photography up so you don’t end up with 100 of the same images. You’ll learn how to make your great photos of your kids even better after you’ve taken them.

In short, you’ll learn how to take better photos of your kids on vacation—so you can treasure, display and look back on those images for years to come.

How to take better photos of your kids on vacation—even if you’re not a photographer!

I’m not a professional photographer; I’m just a mom, like you! But I’ve taken a lot of photos and have learned a ton—including a bunch of tips that anyone can try, regardless of your “expertise.”

I know you want to learn how to take the best vacation photos—so many moms have reached out to me to ask for pointers.

So here we go! 23 ways to take better photos of your kids on every vacation from now on.

1. Take a variety of shots

Professional photographers make sure to get what they call long, medium and close images: Pictures that show a lot of background and context, the subject with a little context, and close-ups. You should, too. Here’s why.

When you get a variety of photos of your kids on vacation, you’ll be reminded of different things. The “long” shot (i.e. far-away photo) of your kids in the Coliseum shows how they went to this amazing, historic landmark. It also provides scale: Your two-year-old looks tiny against those columns!

And when you get a close-up shot of your child’s hands at the beach a few days later, you’ll evoke the emotions of that moment. The image will spark the carefree joy of playing on the beach with your kids.

See how getting a variety of shots will help you take better photos of your kids on vacation?

2. Take candid photos

There’s a reason #CandidChildhood is a popular hashtag: Taking pictures of your kids when they’re engrossed in an activity leads to gorgeous photos. These moments capture your kids at their most natural—investigating an ant hill, gazing at a painting in a museum, climbing the monkey bars—and isn’t that how you want to remember them?

Secondly, candid photos of your children mean they won’t have a chance to stick out their tongue or turn away from the camera. (Not that I have any experience with that…)

Finally, I’m pretty sure you agree that family vacations should also be about the kids and not just getting the perfect, smiling group photo. So let your kids explore and immerse themselves on vacation. Just have your camera ready to snap a photo.

3. Turn the sound off your phone

Anytime you’re taking photos with your phone—especially the candid ones—turn the sound off! There’s nothing like the “snap” sound to, well, snap your kids out of the moment (and totally annoy them).

4. Take action shots

Posed photos are so static. Why not take more action photos? These in-the-moment images capture your kids jumping, splashing, wrestling and the many other verbs they do, and they make for better family photos.

Great news: Kids are naturally active, so you don’t have to ask them to do anything special here! Just anticipate.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s say your kids are jumping from rock to rock when you’re at the lake. Well, you probably know which rock they’re going to jump to next. To aim your photo where they are going to be, so that when they make that leap, you’re ready to snap the photo mid-air.

5. Leave room for your kids to move

When you’re taking action shots, it’s easy to focus just on your child and not the frame (the entire rectangle of the space for the photo). Whenever there is movement in the photo—your kid is running, say—you want to leave room for your kids to move across the photo.

Yes, I know the image is still once you take the photo—we’re not in Harry Potter here. (If only!) But your brain does a funny thing when it sees an active moment captured in time: It imagines the continuing action.

So if you take a photo where your kid is practically running off the edge of the photo, that’s the end of the story for your brain. But if she has room to sprint across an entire beach, that gives lots of opportunity for your mind to imagine her going the whole distance.

6. Use sports mode

I know what you’re thinking: “My action photos always come out blurry.” That’s so frustrating, especially when you want to take better photos of your kids on vacation!

Here’s a sneaky trick, even if you don’t know how to use all the settings on your DSLR: Switch from “auto” to “sports mode.” This is usually an icon of a person running. This changes the settings to have a high shutter speed, which means it captures a shorter fraction of a second—hence, less blurriness.

Know, though, that the sports setting works best in lots of light. So your kids playing Red Light Green Light in the dark probably won’t turn out.

7. Don’t wait until the end of an activity

If you’re wanting better photos of your kids on vacation, don’t wait until the end of an outing to get a photo. By that time, they’ll be impatient, tired and hungry—not exactly the best ingredients for a gorgeous photo of your kids.

At the same time, trying to get a good picture at the beginning of an activity isn’t easy, either. When they’re excited to explore a Mayan ruin, they don’t want to stand still to let you take a picture.

Instead, aim to take stand-and-smile photos in the middle of an activity. They’re more likely to cooperate at this time!

8. Mix it up with “say cheese”

The whole point of “say cheese” is to get your kids to have a smile-ish on their face for a photo. (The word “cheese” makes our mouth sort of look like a smile, but it never seems genuine.) Why not actually make them smile instead?

So when you have your kids lined up and ready for a group photo, do the unexpected. Say something totally silly and surprising instead of “say cheese.” Your kids will be so thrown off balance that they’ll smile and laugh—perfect expressions for a more natural family photo!

Don’t know what to say? In my experience, anything with boogers, burps or toots works wonders. If potty humor isn’t your thing, at least try “say ice cream”—it’s different, and the word also makes your smile shine.

9. Psych them out with “on the count of 3…”

We all know the usual photo routine: “Ok, on the count of 3…” This time, take photos before and after “3.” You’ll capture less posed, more natural moments—like cousins scooting together and throwing their arms around each other, or kids jostling for the best position.

10. Take a boomerang

Despite your best intentions, your kids may get cranky or tire of you taking photos. (My older daughter has close to zero patience for me and my camera. Sigh.)

To take better photos of your kids on vacation, then, use this trick I employ often: Take a boomerang! These gif loops of your kids doing something silly will always loosen up your kids and lighten the mood. Plus, they adore watching them over and over again!

So take a boomerang or two, then get your regular photo. You’ll have more genuine smiles.

Kids boomerang in Mexico from Catherine Ryan Gregory on Vimeo.

11. Get low

Most family photos are shot from an adult’s level, which is to say several feet higher than your kids. To get great photos of your kids on vacation, get low.

So sit, squat or kneel until your camera is at the same height as your child’s face. You will get less distortion (i.e. making one part of his body look abnormally large or small).

12. Don’t insist on smiles

“I’m not a smiling girl,” my older daughter tells me sometimes, particularly when I have a camera out. So I don’t push it—aka ask her to smile. She’s naturally a pensive, sensitive human, so I like to capture her just how she is.

13. Use the rule of thirds

You’ve probably heard the term “rule of thirds” before. It just means using an imaginary grid that breaks up the frame into three horizontal and three vertical sections—just like a tic-tac-toe board.

Our eyes naturally prefer images that place the subject (i.e. your child) at the intersection of these lines, instead of centering the subject. It makes the photo look less static and more dynamic. And when you’re taking better photos of your kids on vacation, you want them to be more interesting, right?

Some cameras have the rule of thirds lines already in the viewfinder or on the screen. If so, move your camera until your child is at one of the crosses of these lines before you snap.

If you’re just over the idea of rule of thirds, do this one thing: Move your camera until your kids are out of the center of the frame. You’ll accidentally use the rule of thirds—and get a better photo of your kids.

14. Tap your phone to focus

If you’re taking photos on your phone, use this super-easy trick to take better photos of your kids on vacation: Tap their face.

This tells your phone what you want it to focus on. That way, your child’s smile is in sharpest focus. After all, that’s the most important part of the picture!

15. “Where’s ____?”

If you’re trying to get your kids to look at you (ish) but they don’t want their photo taken, ask them to point to something. “Where’s a seagull?” got this shot!

16. Get close

If you look at most people’s family vacation photos, the bulk of them are taken from really far away. Think of the kids lined up at Crater Lake or the Grand Canyon, but you can’t even see their faces because they came out so tiny in the picture.

So challenge yourself to get close. Like, really close. Take a photo of just your child’s face and nothing else. You can do this by zooming in with your DSLR, but don’t zoom if you’re using a smartphone—the picture will turn out grainy and blurry. Instead, challenge yourself to get closer than you would normally. You’ll cherish these up-close images, which show every dimple and crooked tooth, forever.

17. Create family photo books

Wondering how in the heck a family photo book will help you take better pictures of your kids on vacation? I use this tip all the time. Here’s how it works.

When you print photos and arrange them in a book—whether that’s full-on scrapbooking, Shutterfly or Chatbooks, which you can make directly on your phone with favorites from Instagram—your entire family can look back on your family vacations together. You get a chance to talk about all the fun you had on recent trips, thanks to the vacation photos.

When we did this with my kids, the next time we were all out on an adventure, my kids asked to take photos “for the family book.” Now, my older daughter especially tends to dislike having her photo taken, but she actually suggested it!

Now if there’s ever a photo I really, really want, I’ll say, “Let’s take this picture for the family book!”

18. Give your kids your phone

My girls see me taking pictures all. the. time. It’s no wonder they want to try!

Although they’re still too little to test out my DSLR on their own, I give them my iPhone all the time. They walk around and take photos of the most random stuff. My older daughter’s favorite thing in the world is to zoom really close and get super unflattering pictures of me. (I never knew I had so many double chins!)

Sure, I have to delete a bunch of pictures of their shoes. But I find my kids are much more likely to willingly take family photos on vacation if I let them have a go with my phone.

And speaking of deleting photos…

19. KonMari the pictures on your phone

The beauty of having a digital phone in your pocket every day is you can take a million pictures. The downside of having a digital phone in your pocket every day is you can take a million pictures.

The solution? Delete, delete, delete.

You can take 18 photos of the same moment to get the one perfect image where everyone’s eyes are open at the same time. (Congratulations!!!) But why do you need the 17 others, including the one with your husband making that face? Delete.

You see, when you trash the photos that just didn’t turn out, it makes it easier to find the gems. You’ll also have more room on your phone for all the great photos of your kids on vacation you’ve yet to snap!

20. Straighten your photos

I joke to Hubs that I must have a crooked eye because I can’t take a straight photo for the life of me. If there’s a horizon in my photo, it has a 99% chance of being crooked.

Sigh.

But! No problem! I can just straighten it.

You might have noticed the straighten ability in Instagram—take advantage of it! (Not sure what I’m talking about? After you select a photo, click “edit” then “adjust.”)

I also use my Mac Photos editing capabilities to straighten; simply click the photo to enlarge it, click edit, click crop, and you can rotate the image by degrees.

Here’s a trick for you: If there isn’t a horizon line in your image but it still looks crooked to you, line it up with the vertical edge of your photo frame. So if there’s a light pole, a tree or a window frame, make sure it’s going straight up and down. Rotate the image until that up-and-down line runs parallel to the edge of your photo frame.

21. Strike a silly pose

Kids are goofballs. Why not take advantage of their natural inclination to ham it up?

If they’re feeling uninspired, throw out some suggestions: Be superheroes! Do yoga! Be your favorite animal!

You’ll laugh at the resulting photos.

22. Get in the frame

If you’re anything like me, you’ll look back over family vacation photos and wonder, “Wait, was I even there?” Of course you were! But you’re not in any of the photos.

When your kids look back at family photos, they will want to see you, too. So to take better photos of your kids on vacation, say “cheese” right along with them! No matter how you feel about photos of yourself, make sure you’re in at least some of them—especially the group shots.

Here are some ideas how to #GetInTheFrame:

• Ask a stranger to take your photo
• Set up your phone on something level and hit the timer
• Take a selfie
• Use a tripod and a timer or remote

And finally…

23. Bribery!

I am the world’s biggest fan of this tactic. If you really, really, really want a special family photo on vacation, do not hesitate to bribe.

The bribe doesn’t have to be a big one; you don’t have to hand out king size Snickers every time you take a photo. But I will promise my kids a few M&Ms if they suck it up and pause their shenanigans for a photo. The better photos of your kids on vacation are 100% worth the extra sugar. And remember, we all do it! #NoShameParenting

Now you’re ready to take the best vacation photos

We covered a lot here! After reading this post, you should have lots of ideas on how to take better photos of your kids on vacation.

When you’re off on an adventure, you will take a variety of shots, get up close, get on your kid’s level, capture the action and more.

After you take the photos, you’ll KonMari the duds, straighten crooked pictures and print beautiful family photo books you’ll treasure for years.

Do you have any ideas of how to take great vacation photos that I didn’t cover here? Do you have challenges I didn’t address? Please write them in the comments below!

And if you know a mom who would like this post, please share it with her, because the world needs more phenomenal family vacation photos!