Zulily are running a fab competition at the moment asking bloggers to reveal their top tips for photographing their little ones.

I love Zulily – and no, I’m not being paid to say it – they offer sales on the best brands out there, year-round, with new things on sale every day. I love that I can scoop up things from the US or Oz that I normally wouldn’t be able to afford because of the international shipping. Seriously, if you’re not wise to the Zulily way then you need to check it out.

Anyway, back to the comp they’re running at the moment – here’s my top three tips on photographing kids:

1. To take advantage of natural light lure your children to the window by placing toys along the window sill, or get them to help you reflect natural light by asking them to hold a mirror for you. Kids love looking at their reflection so take advantage of it!

2. Unless you’re aiming for a messy face shot, like when your children are beginning to eat food, you want to carry baby wipes with you at all times. I hate getting my pics onto the computer only to see a big smear of vegemite on my girl’s face that I didn’t intend to be part of the shot.

3. If you want to focus on a particular detail of your child’s clothing or a particular toy then try and keep the background neutral to avoid too much distraction from the main thing. You can do this by shooting from above so the  rug or floor becomes the plain backdrop, or getting down to their level and snapping them against a wall.

Now for a few of my favourite snaps of my girl from last year.