8 Child Photography Poses For Stunning Kid Photography!

Want some child photography poses that are quick, easy and downright cute? 

Then you’re in luck! On today’s video episode, I have 8 pose ideas for you, along with example photos for each one, that are tried and tested and will give you great photos of kids.

You can use these poses on your OWN kids, or if you’re business, you can use these for ideas during a paid kids photoshoot too.

You can also vary these standard poses greatly, so you’ll never run out of ideas again!

Grab your Child Poses and Prompts List here!

We also have a little freebie that goes along with this post - our Child Photography Poses and Prompts Guide! This gives you loads more ideas that we’ve given you in this blog post, both for single children and for siblings, so you’ll definitely want to make sure that you grab that.

Want a quick recap of everything that’s in the video? Here you go!

#1 - On Their Tummy

This is such a simple child’s pose, but very effective! Simply get the child to lie on their tummy, and hold their head in their hands, or they could lie with their head resting on their arms.

You can also do this with any age of child - it works equally well for toddlers as it does for older children.

Be sure to lie down on the ground with them - so that you are lying on YOUR tummy - to get the best results, as this will make sure you are still at the same eye level as your subject, which can be so important in child photography.

#2 - Over the Shoulder

A really nice simple pose is to have the child face away from you, but just turn their head so that they are looking over their shoulder at you. They could just have their head turning toward you, or turn their body so that you see some of the body too.

If you have an older child who actually enjoys posing, then you can get them to play with the angle of their chin.

You can still do this pose with a younger child too. When they are walking away from you, simply yell out their name, and they’ll probably naturally turn to look at you over their shoulder (if you want them to laugh, shout out a word that will make them a teeny bit shocked and giggle!)

#3 - Jumping!

A really fun and joyful anti-pose - and therefore PERFECT for children - is to have them jump in the air.

You can do this outside, by having them jump on the spot, or you could have them jump off a rock or branch on the ground. You can definitely do this indoors too, for example if you are planning a more relaxed lifestyle shoot at home, just have them jump on the bed instead!

If you want the jump to look more dramatic, then be sure to shoot from a low angle. If you shoot from lower than them (possible if they were on the bed!) then you’ll make it look as if they are jumping higher than they actually are!

#4 - Simple Headshot

A classic headshot is always a winner so I include a few varieties of these - for example, smiling, looking pensive, laughing etc . The trick for these is to simply make sure that you are mainly filling the frame with their head, so that their beautiful face and expression take centre stage.

The key thing to remember here is to make sure that you get down at their level so your eyes (and therefore camera!) are level with theirs.

You can read so more tips on how to get a portrait close up here!

#5 - Looking Down on Them

Although I’ve JUST said that the trick to shooting children is to get down to their eye level, it’s always good to use different angles too.

Having a child sit on the ground and look up at you is a nice pose, and is perfect for overcast days when you’re struggling to get light in the eyes.

Again, you can do this indoors or out - have your child sit on the floor, or on a chair, and you’ll be looking down on them whilst they look up at you!

#6 - Sitting Criss Cross

Again, such a simple and easy pose! Just have the child sit on the ground (or bed or rug) with their legs criss crossed.

For young children, they might not cross their legs (or they may uncross then when you start taking pictures!) which is totally fine! You’ll find most kids who have been to school (even pre-school) are happy to sit cross legged.

You could also vary this pose by having the child hug their knees!

#7 - Cuddling a Soft Toy

This won’t work beyond a certain age, but for younger children and toddlers, having them cuddle their favourite soft toy is a surefire winner. They’ll be happy and relaxed, and you’ll get a cute picture. That’s a win-win in my book!

Just make sure that you are actually happy to have the soft toy in the picture from the time you give it to them (so if you only want a few with the soft toy, give it to them at the end of your session) Whatever you do, don’t give it to a young child and then take it away, or you’ll get lots and lots of pictures of a crying child instead.

(You can read more tips and ideas specifically for toddler photography right here)

If you want to give working with children and animals a go in one photoshoot (you brave, brave soul) then by all means, have them cuddle their pet instead.

#8 - Lying Down

Finally, a nice idea for both groups of children and single children is to have them lie on their backs and have them look up at you. (and this works for babies too!)

For this you want to be directly over them so you’re not shooting up a nostril or anything like that. Just make sure you place the camera strap around your neck so that if you were to lose your grip (unlikely, but still) you’r camera won’t come crashing down on them.

And then you can go for a nice lie down too :-)

And there you have it! 8 easy and simple child photography poses that you can pull out when photographing your own kids, or during a paid kid photography session.

Don’t forget to download your FREE Child Photography Poses and Prompts for even more ideas!