How to photograph children's artwork

Four things that do most of the work

Get near a window

Try light from a nearby window, away from direct sun. Some indoor bulbs give paper a warm tint, so check the colors on screen before saving.

Keep your shadow off the drawing. Move to one side of the light, or turn the paper until it is evenly lit.

Lay it flat

Floor, table, or taped to a wall. Then hold the phone straight above it rather than off to one side, so the square page stays a square page. Photograph a drawing at an angle and the far edge shrinks.

For a model or a painted box, capture a few views so you can see its shape. Keep those views together as one creation.

Let it fill the screen

Move in until the creation takes up most of the frame, with a little room around the edges. A drawing floating in the middle of your kitchen table is a photo of your table.

Both hands

Hold the phone with both hands and pause before tapping. If the result is blurry, try again with more light or support the phone on something steady.

Choose who is creating with the checkboxes. Select everyone who helped for a joint creation, then continue. The top-right three dots let you choose a default creator, stop using one, or add a child to the family. On Family, the small button beside Children opens Order of children and default creator, where each child has a Default checkbox. A default opens the camera directly; without one, the picker appears even for a one-child family. Adding a second child clears the default; adding a third keeps it. Removing that child clears the default. In families with several children, the avatars and Switch control above the camera button reopen the picker to change or add creators for this creation.

On Family, the small button beside Children opens Order of children and default creator. It chooses how the children are listed on Who made this creation?: Take turns each day, ABC order, Random order, or Custom order. For Take turns each day and Custom order, hold the dots at the end of a row and drag to arrange. In a child's own session, that child is always listed first. The order only changes the list. Who is credited for a creation stays exactly as you chose.

The camera helps you out

Open the camera in Little Binder and there is guidance right on the viewfinder:

• Corner brackets mark the outer edges of the viewfinder. Use the full preview to frame the creation.
• A soft grid gives you something to line the edges of the paper up against, which is easier than eyeballing straight.
• A hint that changes every few seconds, cycling through fill the frame, find good light, hold steady. It is there for children taking their own photos, and it is a decent nudge for grown-ups too.

On a phone, turning sideways places the shutter controls beside the viewfinder. After capture, check that the picture is sharp and the whole creation is in view. Crop with the handles, or drag the rotation icon above the picture to turn it. More edits opens the straighten and reset controls. Retake opens the camera again. Add more parts adds another side or page, and Next step continues. In app builds with paper-edge tools, choose Find paper edges, the paper-and-wand button in the normal editor. It runs locally only when tapped and positions four independent corner handles. Move each corner to follow tilted paper; the normal finish action straightens the selection. Adjust them if needed, then use the normal Next step or save action. Reset this edit restores the full image. Detection needs no model download or extra upload, and a missed edge leaves the current crop available. Colors stay unchanged and the original is retained. Older app builds and the browser keep their existing crop tools.

You can fix things afterwards

The next step lets you crop, turn, and straighten, so a slightly crooked photo is not worth reshooting. Skip it when the photo is already fine. What the app cannot do is add back detail that was too dark or too blurry to capture, which is why the four habits above are worth the ten seconds.

Fix a creation you already saved

Open a saved creation and open Edit. Edit the picture with the existing crop and rotation tools, or choose Add parts to add another page or side. Choose from family gallery copies a saved creation or one of its parts while keeping the source. Picture changes ask you to compare Now and After saving before saving. The original picture is kept; a previous edit may no longer be available after it is replaced.

After that comes the voice note. That is the part you will actually replay in ten years.

Doing a whole stack at once

Digitizing a backlog for Add many at once is a different job. Set up once and stay there:

• One spot, one light. Pick your window, clear a patch of floor or table, and do not move. Every photo comes out looking like it belongs with the others.
• Plain surface underneath. A white sheet or a piece of poster board. Wood grain and tablecloths pull the eye off the drawing.
• Two piles, done and to do. Sounds obvious. It is the thing that keeps you from photographing the same drawing twice or missing one entirely.
• Glance at the last few every so often. Phones drift out of focus. Better to catch it after five than after fifty.
• Keep the paper. The photo is the backup, not the replacement. If an original ever gets lost or ruined, the image is safe and you can print a fresh copy at home.