Today we welcome Amit Knaani, who's recently launched a pretty cool iPhone app called Vikido. This mom of 2 wanted a safe place to share photos of her kids, and where her kids could share their own photos in a safe environment. She says, "Vikido gives kids the freedom of expression to connect and  post text, pictures and videos about their lives in a safe environment online. At the same time, Vikido gives parents the ability to control what is shared, where and with whom. Vikido is a social network with training wheels." You can Learn more about Amit and the Vikido app <a href="http://www.vikido.com/" title="Vikido Website">here</a>, but for now we'll hand it over to Amit to give you her top tips on getting photos of your kids! Give her a nice big TBL welcome y'all. 

<a href="http://www.vikido.com" title="Vikido Website">[imageeffect type="frame" align="aligncenter" width="500" height="371"  alt="" url="http://thebeginnerslens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/vikidoweb.jpg"  ]</a><p>&nbsp;</p>

Some of the people I know from the web know me via my girls pictures, and when I meet them face to face they are looking all around me to see if I’m hiding a girl somewhere. Sometimes I think that my web presence is made more “real” because of the girls’ photos dotting and lighting up my digital life…I do have 2 amazing girls. I also have 4 years of photography studies behind me and more than 15 years of experience, so I wanted to share with you some of MY favorite tips that will help you take better photos of your kids, even if the only camera you use is your mobile phone.

<h4>1. The best camera is the one you have with you.</h4> 
I’m a big believer in this phrase. Kids are like small animals in a national geographic movie, you can wait forever to “catch” a good pic, so the best way is to hunt them down whenever and wherever they are. You don't have to have the best camera on the market to get great shots of your kids, it's more about finding the right perspective and capturing what makes your kids special. You can do this with any type of camera. Just remember to leave the regular point of view aside for a moment and take a close look at your kids through the camera viewfinder and change your perspective. Seeing them in a new light will make sure you get something different from the regular "mommy and daddy" pics.

<h4>2. Point of view.</h4>
Most parents take photos while standing in front of the kids, so the pics are from above with the kids looking up. This can occasionally make for some cute shots, but it's not always the most flattering point of view. It makes your child look small and in my experience kids are larger than life so you should let that quality shine through in your photos! I suggest you try another point of view, lower your camera! Kids are small so get onto the same level with them and they will be life-size. (Unless of course you've got the cutest baby ever and you want your viewers to feel how small and cuddly he/she is..but that's a whole other point of view!)

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<h4>3. Eye to eye, soul to soul.</h4>
Kids often turn their eyes at the precise moment you push the shutter! Kids have short attention spans and as soon as they see a bird, the sun is in their eyes, or something more interesting happens they're no longer looking at the camera. Play around with “eye contact”, tell them to look at you, or better, look at something else, ask them to look at each other -  sometimes looking straight into the camera is dull!

<h4>4. CUT.</h4>
Yep. I know. You “shouldn’t” cut people's faces out of the frame when you are taking their photo, but sometimes an abstract portrait or just part of the face and body is more interesting than a plain old portrait! You should always be aware of the rules and the "right" way of doing things...but only so you can smash the rules to smithereens! 

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<h4>5. Think before you click.</h4>
New cameras are pretty amazing, they allow us to take 100 pics in a few seconds, and SOME of them come out nice, somehow… But just shooting with nothing in mind is no fun and you're not really learning anything that way. Think, imagine, find fun and interesting locations, visualize the photos in your head before you go outside and try to create them. You’ll be surprised at how efficient a bit of visualization and preparation can be.

<h4>6. Look at what other people and photographers are doing.</h4>
I’m a huge fan of learning from observation. There are AMAZING photographers out there, both amateur and professional. Look around and learn from others, find out what you like and what you don’t like. Try to broaden your understanding of what will go well with your preferred style and practice. Personally, I love <a href="http://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/sally-mann/" title="Photographer Sally Mann">Sally Mann</a>, even though some of her pics can be really disturbing, they're still really striking. 

<h4>7. Play with colors, play with light.</h4>
Kids are so colorful! Take advantage of it whenever you can. Photos of kids go great with nice colorful backgrounds and with simple backgrounds. Use their natural colors or their outfit colors as a contrast to the background, make a statement. Try to find conflicting patterns and use their outfit to play off the background. Use the light, it can make or break a photo. Look at the way the light falls and use it – some of the mobile cameras don’t do well with light and shadow – so you need to work around that to get your shots. 

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<h4>8. Take your pictures from your heart</h4>
This is the most important rule of all. You love your kids, they'll take your breath away when you see how small and tender they are, you look at them like no one else does. This look, this empathy, this uniqueness is what makes YOUR photos the best pics of your kids!