I collapsed on the bed in our Airbnb after being on the road all day from San Jose to Joshua Tree. Woody and I had no energy to cook and the kids barely had enough energy to scarf down the fast food we got on the way. Before long we were all sound asleep, only to wake up at 3:30 am the next day.

I had one goal during our stop in Joshua Tree, wake up early enough to take photos at sunrise in the National Park. I took some of my favorite photos during our morning jaunt between the large rocks. It was nothing short of magical.

When it comes to creating magic in your photographs there are a few simple rules. These include a great location, quality light, and willing participants. Finding a great location doesn't have to be as difficult as getting up at 3:30 am in a National Park. We’ll discuss what makes a good location shortly, along with finding quality light. The hardest part of your task will most likely be getting your participants, aka your subjects, to cooperate with you as you photograph them.

I’ll break up how to create opportunities for magic into two parts, creating magic indoors and outdoors. I promise there is a way to do both!

A few simple rules for both indoors and outdoors

Great location

We’re guessing that when you think of a great location, you’re probably thinking of a place with majestic mountains or great views. We’re going to let you in on a secret, your home or your back yard can also be considered a great location!

Many elements make a great location. Sure, sometimes that includes great views of mountains, but more often than not it's a pocket of light in the most unexpected place. A great location can be plain but made to seem grand through photography.

Quality light

You’ll hear photographers say the best time to shoot is during golden hour. There’s a reason for that. The quality of the light is warm and soft which makes for great portrait photos! Sometimes you’ll want to make the extra effort to wake the family at the crack of dawn for great photos, but I know that the reality is you won’t be shooting your family in the wee hours of the morning.

Luckily, golden hour occurs two times of the day, at sunrise and sunset. When your kids are very young, you may not be able to make either golden hour. Sometimes your kids will already be down for the night before the sunsets, especially during the summer when days are longer. When your kids get older, your chances of catching one of the two golden hours increase.

I’ll talk about a few other forms of quality light that you can achieve during the day for those occasions you want to document that don’t fall under golden hour.

Willing participants

This may be the trickiest part about photographing your family, but this is where you can truly create magic in your photos! Getting your subjects to participate sometimes means making them believe you’re not there photographing them. This is where you get to set the scene and invite your family to have fun! Trust me, everyone will have a better time if taking photos doesn’t seem like work.

Creating magic outdoors

Find shade

You won’t always be able to photograph your family during golden hour. What do you do when you don’t have the soft golden light you want for a good portrait photo? Find some evenly lit shade! Most people think of a tree for shade, be wary of shade created by a tree.

Large trees can be great for shade, but sometimes create some strange shadows on your subject as the light shines through the leaves. If you don’t have a choice, think of how you can use this to your advantage to create interest in your photo. You can also find shade near tall buildings, in the doorway of your home, near large rocks, or below an overhang.

Both these photos were taken in even shade during the brightest part of the day. As you can see, the subjects are evenly lit and the dappled light behind them isn’t too bright.

Challenge:

Look around your home and neighborhood for areas that have nice, even shadowed lighting. How could you incorporate them in your photos?

Watch your angles

I’m sure you’ve had that experience where someone takes a photo of you at a bad angle and you think to yourself, “Oh my God, that’s not what I look like”. It’s all about the angles baby! Angles aren’t just for making a subject look good; they can also change the dynamic of your photo.

If you want your subject to look powerful and strong, you would want to photograph them from a lower angle, watching not to photograph up their nose. Taking a photo from the top-down might offer a different perspective that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Challenge:

What impact are you looking to make in your photo? Try photographing your subject from various angles and see how it changes your photo.

Get in touch with nature

I’ve always found that incorporating nature into your photos adds that much more magic. Nature provides us with the best palette and offers endless opportunities to explore. Ask your kids to find a bug or leaf in the woods. If you’re near some rocks, see if they’re willing to climb them. Encourage them to race along the shoreline at the beach.

Challenge:

If you live in the city, you’re not excluded from adding nature in your photos. They don’t call it the urban jungle for nothing. Find pockets in your city where you get a sense of nature and incorporate it during your shooting.
How can you bring nature into the home? Do your kids have a favorite rock collection? Do they play will pill bugs in the backyard? There’s always a way to add natural elements to your photos.

Creating magic indoors

Find a window

Oh, the magic a good window can help create; there’s nothing like window light! Window light helps to create a soft even light on your subject's face. On most days, you’ll find that there’s light coming through a window in your home. If the light is too harsh, you can easily diffuse the light with some curtains or you can use the light to your advantage to create interesting shadows in your photo.

When trying to get your kids to cooperate, try having them look at something outside of the window. Give them a task to help keep their attention. One of my favorite things to do is get the catchlight in my photo. A catchlight is the reflection of a light source in a subject's eye. It adds that extra oomph of magic to any shot!

Here are two examples of using backlighting to add magic to your photo. One demonstrates how to do this indoors in front of a window while the other utilizes early morning light, but not during golden hour.

Challenge:

Place your subject by the window. Move them closer to the window and further from the window. How does this affect your photo?
Try photographing your subjects near a window at different times throughout the day. What about different rooms? Is there one room in particular where the light draws your eye?

Set the scene

Setting the scene means preparing for the shot you want. You don’t have to know what the result will look like, but give your kids something to do. Ask them to grab their favorite toy and act out a scene, build a cityscape with legos, paint a picture of your family, or read a book. Setting up an activity for kids often distracts them from the fact they’re being photographed.

Challenge:

Think of something you love watching your kids do; is it playing with dolls, creating with play-doh, or sucking their thumb while napping? Once you’ve decided what you want to capture, you can set the scene.
Plan by thinking of how you can make photographing them fun. Ask yourself what time of day would be best for the activity. Is it best first thing in the morning, after their afternoon nap, or around bedtime?

Add interest

I know, I know, how interesting can things get indoors? You’d be surprised at how easy it is to add interest to a photo. Look around your house for interesting props you can add to your photos. You can shoot through it, behind it, cast shadows with it, or use it to set the scene.

Challenge:

Find something that casts a shadow and use it when taking a photo of your subject. Maybe it’s a part of a lace cloth or your hands. How can you add interest with objects around you?

Conclusion

Lastly, there are endless ways to make your photos magically. Remember that you’re not creating photos to impress others, you’re doing it to capture the moments that matter to you. Magic is subjective. What you see as beautiful and captivating may not have the same meaning to someone else. Hopefully, this has given you a place to start creating magic in your photos!