One of the most popular things we all use our cameras for, is taking pictures of your kids, grandkids, neighbors kids, and on and on. Let’s face it, you pull up a camera to your eye and every child within 100 yards puts that ‘typical’ silly grin on their face. You snap the picture, and then it stays on your memory card, goes onto the hard disk in your computer, or SOMETIMES lands up as your screen saver. You may even print one 4×6” out!
But why is it that we don’t get an image that we’re proud to make 16×20 and hang on the living room wall? Well, the problem is usually one of the following: the image looks too posed, the picture is blurry, they have ‘red’ eyes, the flash came on and just blew their face out, the image just doesn’t look right, or the dreaded ‘same silly grin on every kids face’ look.
So, what can you do to get better pictures of children? Well, here are some tips:
• Get down to their level (and I don’t mean intellectually) – stoop down, get on your knees, crawl on your belly if you have to. As adults, we’ve forgotten what the world looks like from their height, and you’ll get a much more interesting photograph if you use that view again.
• Take them somewhere they can have fun. A lot of times, we just shoot the picture wherever they are – in the house, the car and other ‘routine’ locations. Based on their personality and what they like, it could be a park with a jungle gym, swings and other things, it could be the zoo, a soccer field, whatever interests them. Let them be who they are, not who you want them to be.
• Tell them you won’t take their picture if they make that goofy face UNLESS that’s the look you want. We have trained kids (and I might say adults) to put that face on every time they see a camera. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of seeing the same grin on every child. Doesn’t yours have more personality than that?
• Get them comfortable and in the mood. Whatever the location, get them involved in what they like doing best. What you’re trying to do is take the attention off of you and get them immersed in activity. This is when you can start getting those ‘natural’ images.
• Have several different things you want to do with them. Plan the session out ahead of time in your head. Don’t just take them to the park and say ‘go play’, but have some ideas of what pictures you want to take in that park. It could be that they don’t like the swings, but love coming down the slide. Or, they might want to crawl through the tunnels or kick a soccer ball around. Whatever it is, have some idea of what you’re going to have them do.
• Props – don’t forget the props! Bring toys and other things that they’ll use on location.
• Make it fun for them! Tell them, that if they come down the slide 10 times, they get a prize. Whatever it takes to get their mind off the fact that this is a photo session.
• Think about what they should wear ahead of time. Stay away from crazy designs, striped shirts with slogans and other wild outfits and go with solid colors.
• Pick the time of day – mornings and late afternoons are the best time for lighting. You get great shadows, and a softer warmer color of light.
• Make sure you bring refreshments and snacks!
There are two final elements that are important – lighting and composition. Ideas for both of these can fill volumes, but there are a few simple things that you can do for each.
When it comes to lighting, those early morning or late afternoon sessions already eliminate the harsh noontime shadows and squinting that we naturally do.
If you are going to have the sun behind your child, then you are going to have to have some way to put light on the child’s face. This is either through the use of a flash, or a large white piece of cardboard or fabric that bounces light into their faces.
Cameras want to adjust for the bright sky, so unless you have some skills with using flash (and an assistant if you’re bouncing light as fill), try not to have the sun behind your child. Have it so that the child is not looking into the sun, but that it is coming in at an angle and softly lighting their face.
When you compose the shot, move in close! If the background is not important to the picture you are trying to take, and then get in as close as you can. Most of today’s cameras have some kind of telephoto lens, so use it! Crop out that distracting background.
Also, make sure that you pay attention to what is behind and around your child. One of the biggest mistakes is to have a tree ‘growing out of the head’ of your child because you failed to see it in the background.
Finally, don’t be afraid to try different angles. I’ve even brought a ladder on location to either stay level with the action as they climb that jungle gym, OR to take a picture from a vantage point that most people never think of. Either way, think out of the box when it comes to standing on your feet and just pushing the button while you say ‘smile’.
Beyond that, today’s cameras do a pretty good job of taking care of the exposure, focus, use of flash and other little technical steps for you. In the end, it’s all about getting your child relaxed, getting a great angle to shoot and a natural looking pose – all at the same time.
Landscape and portrait photographer, David E. Warner captures the breath-taking beauty of the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondacks region and its people with his mastery of color, composition & light. He shuttles between upstate New York and Texas for part of the year - working on portrait and film projects.
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All content © 2012 by David Warner Studio