Ever wonder how some kids just seem to always have that twinkle in their eye, like in EVERY picture?  Well that Momtographer has learned the magic of "catchlights."

Catchlights - if you haven't heard the term yet, rest assured, you will. It's a phrase that gets a lot of play in portrait photography circles - and with good reason!

But what the heck are they? Some sort of magic lighting gizmo that comes with membership to the secret society of expert photographers?  Um, no. Quite simply, they are reflections of light CAUGHT in your subject's eyes. The key to getting a catchlight is to always have your little one face the light source (i.e. a window, door or sunshine) so that the light can reflect back into their eyes.



Here's a little tip - if you can SEE it before taking the picture then it's there!

Once you master this little, or should we say BIG tip, you will be well on your way to transforming your snapshots from blah, to WOW!

And please - we BEG you - resist the urge to fake it!  There are so many tips, tricks, tutorials and software actions out there to create a catchlight where there isn't one, but most of the time your kid ends up looking plain creepy!  Besides, why spend your time learning how to fake something that is so easy to achieve for real?!?

So what exactly do we mean by facing the light source? Here let us show you...

Now that you "see" it, it's pretty simple, isn't it?  Now go snap to it - we want to see those catchlights!