You have adorable kids, and you want to preserve these fleeting moments for all time with your digital camera. But all too often you snap off a few shots of your son’s crooked smile or your daughter’s mischievous glance and call it a day, only to download the pics to your computer later and be less than thrilled with the results. Instead of lasting and vivid portraits, all too often we get blurry, dark images or (when using the flash) ugly, harsh shadows and blown out details. Stop ending up with these disappointing outcomes and start loving your portrait shots. How? By using the right light for every picture and saying no to your in-camera flash!

The key to great portrait photography is great light. This sounds obvious, but it also sounds a little confusing, right? What exactly counts as great light and how do I find it, you may be asking. Great light is everywhere and–surprisingly– can be found at pretty much every time of day (when the sun is up, of course). You just need to learn how to use light–even harsh mid-day sun–in your favor.

I find that my best portrait shots are the ones I’ve taken in-doors near a window in the morning or late afternoon when the sun is casting warm, soft tones and light is diffused. But even at other times of the day, great light can be found all around you. The top portrait of the girl above was taken around noon–not a prime shooting hour with the sun high in the sky. But the reason the light still feels so soft is because I used the brightness in my favor by putting my subject inside next to a very large window, which also gave me great catch-light in the eyes. The light was bouncing from the concrete outside and onto her face, but the sun was not hitting her directly. If she would have been outside, instead, at that time, we would have gotten some harsh shadows (and probably some squinty eyes!). The photo above of my son was the same situation, only a littler earlier in the day. I wrapped him in a blanket and placed him on an ottoman next to a glass door. Again, the natural light cascading in gives great catch-light in the eyes and also some interesting light and shadows on his face.

But you’re not restricted to just morning or mid-day to shoot. The photo above was taken using the very last light available in the day. My son has a west-facing window in his room that lets in all kinds of warm sunset light at the end of the day. I always love the shadows the setting sun creates on his walls and I just happen to have set him down on his changing table one evening last week with my camera nearby when I noticed the warmth in the room. Light here was diffused through a sheer curtain on the window, making it softer. The trick was to get the shot without my own shadow getting in the way! Just remember, in lower light situations like this one to bump up your ISO setting. I had mine set to 800 to get this shot.

Another idea is to create your own do-it-yourself studio to utilize all this natural light. In the photo above, I used the sunset light again from my son’s window for warmth and catch-lights, while I propped him up on the glider on top of my husband’s and my big, black winter pea coats. If you don’t have a professional black backdrop, you can just improvise! It did the trick, and I was able to hide the distracting background while still using the great light in the room to make a cool portrait.

But you don’t have to stay indoors to get good portraits. Great portraits can be made by using the direct sunlight as well. Although the photo above was taken just on the brink of dusk and is a little dark, I was able to use the last available light of the day to get those catch-lights in my daughter’s eyes that make them pop.

Using natural light is really such an easy way to bump up the caliber of your amateur portrait shots. This works for all ages of subjects, of course. When photographing kids, however, keep the ISO setting just a little higher than you might normally since they tend to move around and blur your photos (or invest in a faster lens that allows in more light, such as a 50mm). And remember, just because you are indoors doesn’t mean you need to use your in-camera flash. It just means that sometimes you need to get a bit more creative, peacoats and all, to figure out how to use all that great natural light that you do have available.