Samsung Children Photography: Settings for Moving Kids

• Blur: A child’s head moves during the exposure time and the image is smeared. This is the most common problem, and it happens mostly indoors because in order to get a clean image (one without digital noise), the camera chooses a slow shutter speed in low light situations.
• Timing: Waiting for the right moment is one of the biggest challenges.
• Camera height: Getting down to your child’s eye level is often forgotten but makes a huge difference.
• Cluttered background: This is a rare occurrence in photos of children.

Settings for children by situation

Shutter speed will also be very important for the rest of the shots as it will determine if your images are sharp or not. For example, when the child is leaning over the cake to blow out the candles he/she isn’t moving much so 1/125s may be fine. When the child is running across the room you will need a faster shutter speed.

Blurry photos indoors

For low-light shots, Galaxy phones prefer to capture the image using a slower shutter speed, which results in a brighter and cleaner image. To help avoid motion blur as a result, though, One UI 8.5 adds a new Camera Assistant option that allows you to cap the slowest allowable shutter speed, according to SamMobile. The faster you set it, the better it will be at freezing motion, but the noisier your images may be.

1. 1

   Set a minimum shutter speed

   If you have One UI 8.5 or newer, you can install the Camera Assistant app from the Galaxy Store and access even more settings in Advanced Photo mode controls. According to SamMobile, minimum shutter speeds of 1/1000, 1/500, 1/120 and 1/30 of a second are available. Try 1/500 indoors and 1/1000 outside.

2. 2

   Or use Pro mode

   In older versions of Samsung’s camera app, go to More and select Pro. Select a shutter speed of 1/500s. You can’t keep ISO on Auto after selecting a shutter speed, according to Samsung’s guide to Pro mode, so increase it until the exposure level indicator is almost centred.

3. 3

   Add light before you add ISO

   Where possible, have as much natural light as you can. Open the curtains and move closer to the window. Not only will this mean your phone can use a faster shutter speed with less noise, but having light coming in from the side will flatter your child’s features.

4. 4

   Leave the flash off

   Flash is rarely flattering. Besides blasting your child’s face with unflattering light, it’ll probably ruin whatever adorable action you were trying to capture. If you must add some artificial light, use a lamp placed behind you pointing towards the ceiling for softer light.

Missed focus or dirty, smudged lenses? The blurry photo fix guide deals with those, too.

Missed moments

That perfect facial expression may only last for a split second and you don’t want to miss it! It can slip away before you’ve even tapped the shutter button on your Galaxy phone.

These handy features give you extra opportunities to capture that fleeting expression, if you set them up before the moment arrives.

• On a Galaxy S25 Ultra, running One UI 9, find Take burst shot in Camera Assistant. Swipe the shutter button down to the edge of the screen and hold it there to take multiple photos in quick succession. Holding the shutter button without swiping records a video.
• Enable Motion photo in Photo mode to capture a few seconds of action before (and maybe after) you press the shutter button. According to Samsung’s user guide for the S26, the recording starts a few seconds before you tap the button and can keep going for a few seconds after, too.
• Taken a Motion photo of a group, but someone blinked? Samsung’s support page says you can open the photo in Gallery, go to Details and select Choose best face to pick a different frame for that person. Our Best face guide covers the configuration that provides more expressions to choose from.
• Enable Single take (found under Additional modes in Camera Assistant on One UI 9, and, according to Samsung, under More on the A series) to record a video and create multiple photos and videos from it.

The burst mode guide and Motion photos guide also go into more detail.

Photos that show an adult's view

Lower your shooting position. Standing shots show the top of the head and acres of flooring. Sit or kneel so the phone is at child height and suddenly the background in your shots is less ‘carpet’ and more ‘the world’.

Use the right camera for the job. Playing alongside your child indoors? Use the 1x main camera (it has the biggest sensor and works best indoors). Want to take a candid photo from further away so your little one doesn’t know you’re taking their photo? Use the 3x telephoto (if you have a Fold or S-series phone). Got a 0.6x ultrawide camera? Avoid having people’s heads on the very edge of the frame because of distortion. Think your shutter click is discreet? Think again. It’s loud enough to wake a sleeping baby or give away your position as the photographer. Our shutter sound guide shows you how to silence the shutter on your camera.

Choose Portrait mode carefully. Portrait mode can be really nice for more still moments as it artificially blurs the background. However, as Samsung’s own S26 user guide helpfully points out, the background blur effect may not be properly reflected if the subject or the camera moves. In other words, don’t use Portrait mode if your child is playing because their hair and hands will become part of the background! Our portrait mode guide covers distances and the blur slider.

Privacy and consent

• Think before posting: once you post a photo of your kids online it could end up being shared far and wide.
• There are a few online photo safety tips you can follow without hindering your photography!

• Before taking photos at school or home events, disable Location tags in your Camera app settings, as Samsung's S26 user guide mentions that photos you share online may contain location information.
• Crop or remove identifiable images before uploading photos, such as house numbers or logos that could give away the location (for example school logos).
• Ask permission from other parents before posting pictures of their child, even if it's during a sporting event or party.
• Some events at schools or sports clubs have rules around what photos can be uploaded, so make sure you're aware of these before sharing pictures online.
• Get consent from your children (particularly older kids) before posting photos of them online. And avoid uploading images of children at bath time or changing clothes to social media.
• Protect photos of children on your shared family phone by moving them out of the main Gallery view and into the Private album on One UI 8.5 and later. For more on this and the alternatives, see our guide to hiding photos on a Samsung.

Editing photos of children

Samsung’s Gallery editor (the pencil icon) has a crop tool – crop in a little tighter than you think you need to.

Brightness and contrast can also be adjusted in Gallery (the sun icon).

Samsung’s Object eraser tool can remove objects such as a laundry basket or random toy from a photo (Photo assist does the same job on Galaxy AI phones).

Try converting photos with busy backgrounds to black and white – this can hide all the colours of the toys on display and leave you with your little model’s amazing expression! A good app for black and white photos is Snapseed (it’s free) as you can apply their Black and White filter and still adjust brightness and contrast etc.

Don’t over-smooth little ones’ skin – they’ll look like dolls!

Pets have the same problems with speed and eye level (see our pet photography guide for dogs and cats).