Stop your child from growing up too fast by freezing time at your own photo shoot. The following list of five steps walks you through capturing your loved ones with professional looking photos that you can reminisce about for years.

Step 1: Set the Tone. You have a great relationship with your kids so get into a playful mood and bring out the best in your subjects. Keep an element of structure in your mind with poses, props, and timing, but your kids’ good natured spontaneity is what you’re after.

Step 2: Lighting. Natural light is much different than studio light. Studio light is very consistent (and therefore boring sometimes). Natural light is more challenging and dependent on the location and time of day. The best time to shoot is the first two hours after sunrise and the last two hours before sunset. If you’re a beginner, stick to open shade, but experiment with different manual exposures on your camera at different day times for best results.

Step 3: Equipment. You don’t need a dozen camera accessories so get a great picture of your kids. Leave the extreme lenses and accessories to the experts and spend your money on getting a solid camera at an upscale retailer. Nikon and Canon offer an excellent range of DSLRs for your shoots.

Step 4: Composition. If you’ve ever looked at a photograph or painting and liked it but didn’t know why, it’s probably because of composition. A basic rule of thumb to keep in mind is The Rule of Thirds, which states that subjects should be placed along the lines of an imaginary tic-tac-toe board covering the photo. A muddled composition can leave the viewer feeling uncomfortable or slightly confused.

Step 5: Framing. The reason for most bad pictures of kids is the camera is too far away. Filling the frame with the subject (a childʼs face or body) will do wonders for your photos. Experiment with different frames, like purposely cutting off the top of someoneʼs head or the side of their face. You may be surprised what can lead to great photos.

Nail down the fundamentals of photography and you’ll greatly improve your dearest shots!