I got to bust out my mad photography skillz yesterday at a photo shoot for a client. It was a beautiful day for it: blue skies, a slight breeze and temperatures in the low 70s.

The group I was photographing was a family of four and included a very energetic five-year-old boy. He taught me a thing or two (well, five) about photographing children during our time together:

1. Get kids in their element. If I told him to smile, he showed me his teeth. Most kids will do the same and you won't get a genuine smile. But watch for their eyes to light up while doing a puzzle, playing a game or listening to a joke – things they like to do that don't include posing for you. That's when you'll get the best natural smile.
2. Have some shots in mind. Have some thoughts about what you want to see through your lens before you even go into the shoot. Do you want them outside kicking a ball, inside eating a snack or maybe during the peaceful quiet of naptime? Be prepared with a ball, a snack or scheduling during that naptime to get the most of your time and your photo goals.
3. Have a joke or two ready. It's a good distraction, plus the faces that a child will make while he's concentrating and really laughing are great for candid shots. Here is one that I used yesterday (hat tip to my seven-year-old friend Thomas): Why do skeletons like milk? Because it's good for their bones! It got me a great silly smile.
4. Let them direct the shoot. But just for a minute. There were a couple of times yesterday that the little guy wanted me to take a picture of him or of an airplane flying overhead. I did. He enjoyed looking at them on my digital display, and then we were back to the business at hand.
5. Snap, snap and keep snapping. You never know what a kid is going to do, how his expression is going to change or what (or who) else might come into the frame. I took 271 pictures during this shoot, but not all were perfect. I was able to delete the ones with closed eyes or those that turned out blurry or overexposed. That's one of the many beauties of digital cameras: Keep the best, delete the rest!