It’s a question every parent asks, “What’s the best way to photograph my children?” Here are a few tips that will give you some insights into child photography and hopefully help you capture just the right image of your little one.
Remember… this is my particular style of photography and it has served my well but as in all things feel free to add to or subtract from these tips to fit you or your child’s personality.
I’ll use my granddaughters “for Christmas presents” outdoor portrait session as an example.
The specifics:
Parents were tired of the stale (staged) indoor studio photos of Dannika. They really wanted some “natural” outdoor photos to give family and friends as Christmas gifts. So we headed to the park with one-and-half year old Danni, several changes of cloths, and plenty of her toys.
Child photography can be challenging for these two reasons
1. Posing is out of the question with a one-and-half year old. (Especially when you’re outdoors.)
2. They stay still about as long as your typical house fly.
Solution
Have a strategy! (Game plan.)
If you head off into the wild outdoors with child, extra cloths, toys and camera gear in tow without thinking this through there is a very big possibility your results will not be what you wanted.
Here’s was my strategy with Danni.
All successful child portraits have these 3 elements.
1. Expression
2. Cloths
3. Background
So the first thing I looked for was a nice background.
What makes for a great portrait background?
1. No hot spots! Harsh sun spots in the background (On leaves and trees) can wreck a photo. They are VERY distracting and draw your eye away from the subject.
2. I look for solid areas.
You’ll notice in the image above there are areas where light was striking the ground just enough to add interest and not enough to create “hot” spots.
A neat trick to check out a potential background is to hold your finger up and focus on your finger which will cause the background to go soft (Out of focus), which is how it looks best in a portrait.
In these pictures of Danni I purposely positioned her “near” the background with a large light source (Open sky, not direct sunlight.) illuminating her. I did not put her in or close to the background. I wanted ALL attention on her and her expression and the background to generally provide a soft wash of color.
Getting ready to take pictures
With the background selected next order of business was to coach mom in what was going to happen. I explained that I would be using a “controlled candid” approach to photographing Danni. Essentially controlled candids revolve around setting up a situation and then taking pictures of what happens. This beats running around the park taking hundreds of traditional “candids” of Danni playing in an attempt to capture just the right expression.
Camera settings
So that I don’t draw attention to the background I set the camera on aperture priority and adjusted it f5.6. I knew if I positioned Danni far enough in front of the background and set the camera at f5.6 I could be assured the background would go “soft.” These pictures were taken at 2:30 in the afternoon so there was plenty of light which meant I could hand hold the camera and did not want to rely on the tripod. With a very mobile one-and-a-half year old tripods don’t allow you to move about fast enough, but they do make a great place to hang clothing changes, toys and the camera bag.
In this image a flash was used and while I generally don’t like to use flash outdoors I’ve learned it’s a good idea to take several photos with strong frontal lighting like this just for variety.
Flash or not flash
I used a flash in some of the photos, mainly for variety. I mounted the flash on a bracket that positioned the flash unit high above the camera. I also used a diffuser over the flash to soften the light output. Personally I prefer to use natural light but in order to deliver variety I used the flash for approximately a quarter of the images.
Natural light gives you two distinct advantages
1. It accentuates texture and form.
2. It gives photos a three dimensional look.
Setting up a controlled candid
Mom was holding Danni and I positioned myself with Danni’s dad directly behind me. I directed dad to communicate with Danni and show her one of her favorite toys. Depending on how I wanted the light to fall on Danni I would coached dad into position and let him know when to start making a fool of himself. This approach lets me maintain creative control without the situation getting out of hand and the little one scurrying here and there.
Get close – really close
The closer you get in most photo taking sessions the better the results are generally. I did not want people to look at the photos and comment, “Hey, that’s a pretty park.” As I stated earlier, I wanted Danni’s backgrounds to be a wash of color.
Painting with light
In the photo above I coached dad to move into a position so Danni was looking away from the camera. I did this so the main light source “painted” the front of her face and the side of her face fell into shadow.
Another “Controlled Candid”
Photographs at the park would not be complete without taking a few “playground” images. Again, I used the controlled candid approach with mom at the top of the slide, dad at the bottom of this VERY short slide. I positioned myself, focused in tight and then asked mom to hand Danni off to dad. It took a couple of times to get the right picture but to mom and dad it was worth it.
Your turn
Child photography is fun! Especially when you think the process through and know in advance what you’re looking for.
Remember…
Pick the right background (Use the finger trick.)
Use aperture priority (To control background softness)
Move the child AWAY from background (For an artsy look.)
Move in close
Controlled candid (Setup the situation and photograph it as it unfolds.)
Bring help!
