5 Quick Tips for Better Child Photography
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1. Don’t make it a big deal.
My favorite shots are always ones a capture when I am not stressing about lighting, posing and “making a great portrait”. Now wait just a minute, listen to the photographers freak out about planning is the best way to get great shots. This is true for many kinds of photographs and for sure you can ruin an otherwise great shot by shooting it in harsh mid-day sun but really who cares? If you shot enough you will start to learn things like early morning and late afternoon is when the “good light” is and plan accordingly but never pass up a chance to shot that birthday party that is from noon-2pm just because the light will be bad. My motto “Always be shooting”
Also while nice formal portraits are fun, stressing out, dressing up the kids and posing them generally leads to static boring images. It is fine to get a few of these but I bet the ones you get while not posing will be more precious to you.
2. Get some good gear.
Yes you can get great images using your 30 year old 110 instamatic but it is going to be really hard and you are going to miss a lot of great shots in the process. This does not mean you have to go out and drop $5,000 on a camera either. All of my pictures are taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. You can find kits on Ebay with the camera, memory cards and lenses (everything you need to get started) for between $600 and $800 dollars. Yes this is more than your $150 point and shoot but it is worth it. The single biggest issue you run into when taking candid shots of kids is that they are fast so you need fast gear, the faster the better. The Rebel XTi is about as slow as you want to go. I still get a lot of fuzzy out of focus shots but I can’t afford the faster cameras like the Canon 40D or Nikon D3.
Get big memory cards. No bigger. Because you need to…
3. Take a lot of pictures.
The last birthday party I went to I took over 150 shots. Out of those 150 shots I got about 35 images I was happy with. This is roughly 1 out of every 5 shots I take will pass my test. I am pretty happy with this ratio but with digital you could be at 1 to 10 or 20 and not really have to worry about. You just need bigger memory cards and probably a bigger hard drive in your computer.
4. For Pete’s sake don’t ask them to say chesse!!
Well unless you want a shot like this.
That’s cute, once.
I get the best looks by asking questions. Sometimes I ask silly questions, sometimes I ask serious questions and sometimes I just shut up.
5. Get down on their level
If you find yourself standing up taking pictures you are going to get some pretty boring stuff usually. You either need to raise the kids up (table, couch, playset) or bend your achy knees. Heck lay down even. You will find the kids will laugh at the old person creaking and screaming while they sit down, just keep shooting through the pain.
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I get the cheesy “cheeze” grin all the time! Thanks for the tips!
great tips! I stumbled it.
blessings,
Karla
These are all great tips!
As far as gear goes, upgrading your lens will speed up your camera. Autofocus speed doesn’t come from the camera body alone. Better lenses will have better AF performance too. Lenses stay current for 10-15 years. Glass is always a better place to spend your money than the camera body.
Get to know your camera. The less time you spend fumbling with it, the more opportunities you have to capture moments.
All good points 21st Century Dad!
[...] 5 Quick Tips for Better Child Photography [...]
Nice tips. You have a talent.
Thanks Laarni!
nice tips here i will take that as an advice thanks ^_^
Hello Bill, I’m a regular dropper on your blog, wonderful blog you’ve got, I make it a habit to skim through your cute pics everyday. However, I think for the past 2 days you’ve been having a serious problem with your hosting. The loading times are sporadic and to drop today’s card I had to refresh the page 4 times, believe me. I just thought maybe if no one told you yet I’d be doing you a favor by doing so.
These are great photography tips. Right now, in the digital world, I’m saddled with a Canon A-520 point and shoot, but it looks like a Nikon D60 is in my immediate future…if the money really pours in, then perhaps a D300. The D60 is the fastest camera I’ve actually used, film or digital.
Here’s a kid trick I had had some good success with:
I like taking the unposed pictures best, but sometimes I get a good shot by first taking my unposed shot, then calling their name. The instant they turn, or look at me, I snap the picture. This avoids that “cheese” look…which my girls do in a horrible way!
Another tip I would have for portraits is to not be afraid to totally fill the frame with their face. This can also be achieved through cropping a digital photo. Some of my favorite portraits have been achieved this way.
Great shots, BTW. I can’t wait to look through the rest of your site!
Very useful and direct to the point tips. I especially like tips 1 and 4.
oh well, I stumbled this one too!
Thanks for the tips! I’m so excited to shift from a point and shoot camera to a DSLR and explore photography.
great photos! I see a Shark jersey
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