Oct 4, 2012, 20:20
Photographing children is quiet an adventure itself. Whether it’s your own children, or someone else’s, it's always difficult to stick to the same procedure you follow to photograph a grown up, or a model. After all, children are children. They are brisk, extremely busy with their own minds and hardly pay attention to you when you tell them you need them to pose. Here are some tips you can follow to get perfect children photographs.
1. Shoot in manual or aperture priority mode. Use a wide aperture and a faster shutter speed (at least around 1/500th of a second) if you are not aiming deliberately to introduce some blur to signify the actions and the brisk nature.
2. Use a lens with zoom capabilities. 70-200 mm f.8 is an ideal solution however the price is quiet high. For the average shooter however 50 mm 1.4 and 85 mm 1.8 are ideal solutions, although they are primes.
3. Limit your usage of built-in flash. Use natural light as much as possible, if you have an assistant make her hold a reflector to illuminate the subject. A golden reflector does an amazing job, introducing a nice warm effect to the photograph. If you have, use a fill flash, bounce the flash off a surface. If not use a diffuser.
4. Let the children have fun. Do not scare them away showing your camera, lens and all that. Be fu yourself. Remember, if you are going to capture their personalities, you have to enter their world as a guest.
5.Be patient. Children are busy with their own business, so that they hardly pay attention to yours. Be patient with yourself too. Set the camera right, wait for the right moment, and shoot.
6. Get down to the child’s eye level. Kneel down or lie on your tummy to get a different angle.
7. Take candid shots. I find candid moments are much more vivid, and live than the posed shots, when it comes to children photography.
8.Shoot indoors as well as outdoors.
Always learn from the professional photographers around the world. Use a website like flickr, or a personal website of a professional children photographer to observe their photos, and learn from their photos. Think about what makes them rock. Try their angles, perspectives and techniques with your photos, and keep practicing.
1. Shoot in manual or aperture priority mode. Use a wide aperture and a faster shutter speed (at least around 1/500th of a second) if you are not aiming deliberately to introduce some blur to signify the actions and the brisk nature.
2. Use a lens with zoom capabilities. 70-200 mm f.8 is an ideal solution however the price is quiet high. For the average shooter however 50 mm 1.4 and 85 mm 1.8 are ideal solutions, although they are primes.
3. Limit your usage of built-in flash. Use natural light as much as possible, if you have an assistant make her hold a reflector to illuminate the subject. A golden reflector does an amazing job, introducing a nice warm effect to the photograph. If you have, use a fill flash, bounce the flash off a surface. If not use a diffuser.
4. Let the children have fun. Do not scare them away showing your camera, lens and all that. Be fu yourself. Remember, if you are going to capture their personalities, you have to enter their world as a guest.
5.Be patient. Children are busy with their own business, so that they hardly pay attention to yours. Be patient with yourself too. Set the camera right, wait for the right moment, and shoot.
6. Get down to the child’s eye level. Kneel down or lie on your tummy to get a different angle.
7. Take candid shots. I find candid moments are much more vivid, and live than the posed shots, when it comes to children photography.
8.Shoot indoors as well as outdoors.
Always learn from the professional photographers around the world. Use a website like flickr, or a personal website of a professional children photographer to observe their photos, and learn from their photos. Think about what makes them rock. Try their angles, perspectives and techniques with your photos, and keep practicing.
