Ok, now I am not going to pretend that I am an experienced child photographer, by any means, but last week I had the opportunity to photography my friends youngest son. As a San Diego Photographer, I find that I have many opportunities to shoot different people, places, or things.
A friend of mine approached me to photograph her second son. She claimed that they had hundreds of pictures of their first born and would like a few of their newborn, which I can understand, for the family back home. For some reason, the second child always seems to get the short end of the stick. J I have to say it was an experience and the closest that I can explain it, is photographing people’s pets. One reason, I say this is that young children are constantly on the move, you will need to keep your speed up to capture every cute moment and pose. Here are a few tips that I picked up:
Try a practice shot with Aperture only, then switch to manual mode keeping speed in mind.
Place the child under a tree keep him or her away from direct sunlight.
Bring props for posing or just to keep baby happy. (Balls, books, or Toys work great).
Bring a blanket for the child to sit on. (Make sure the blanket is not shinny or reflective. You don’t want to cast an additional color on your subjects).
Set the shoot early in the day. Young children tend to wear out easily and you want them fresh and ready to go.
Set your aperture at f2.8; unless shooting with multiple subjects.
Have mom, dad, or sibling stand behind you to grab the baby’s attention. This is key, because the child’s eyes will be going everywhere, but where the camera is.
Bing flashes, umbrellas, and light stands if you got them. If you are shooting outside, you might want to bring a sandbag or two, in case of wind.
And last but not least, clean and inventory your equipment the day before. You don’t want to arrive on location, just to find out that your lenses have seen better days or your forgot to bring extra batteries. Remember my slogan Be Prepared, because you never know what will go wrong
All and all it was a good learning experience. I have photographed children before, but never this young. Just remember my tips, and you can always modify them to suit your needs. Kids are cute, no matter how bad the pictures.
I hope I have not bored you too much. I had a lot of fun writing this one like all of my blogs. I trust I have given you some valuable tips to think about, before planning your next shoot. It’s not all bad, just be clear and informative, it will save you a lot of headaches. Remember nothing is set in stone and there is not a perfect formula, so go out and have some fun.
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