Kids Photography
A lot has already been written about kid’s photography, but this is an area of photography that, thanks to digital photography, has changed a great deal and for the better in the last few years. No longer do parents accept the rather static formal portrait of a few years ago often the session was fraught with moments of parents trying to keep the children sat still and being told to just ‘smile’ with the promise of it will be over soon, like some traumatic medical procedure rather than a fun filled memory. Today thanks to digital photography those candid images of children at play that all parents love are now more accessible than ever.
Back in the day, film after film could have been exposed in search of those perfect images, the cost escalating with every click of the shutter, always unsure of the results until after the film was processed. After which a compromise was quite often made as to which image to accept, because the family did not want to repeat the process all over again.
Thanks to digital photography this has all changed, obviously firstly no films to purchase and process, image after image can be captured without a thought of spiralling costs in search of the perfect portrait, also there is no guesswork involved you can check each picture as you go along, knowing exactly what has been taken before you finish the session. This is truly a win-win result with no doubt that that the family’s wishes are fulfilled before calling the session to a close and therefore no reason not to love the portraits.
Photography tips for kids.
My biggest tip in photography for kids is not to rush up to the children I always find that this can unnerve them as opposed to perhaps not ignore them, but perhaps chat to parents or older children thereby giving the younger ones a chance to ‘take stock’ of you as it were, this gradual process can reap huge rewards in the ensuing photographic session.
If you are a person that has an immediate empathy with children, this can work against you, as well as for you in kids portrait photography as at some point in the session, you will need the children to forget that you are around them, as they play naturally allowing you to record those timeless images that all the family will love. If however they want you to continue at play you may find it difficult to take that step back and get the all important portraits, this is something to be aware of and so try to slowly wind down your play with the children, let them take the main role in the game; this should give you the opportunity to get those wonderful candid images recorded.
The portraits in the main should be taken from the same level as the children are playing, if they are lying on the floor you need to be lying on the floor. This simple trick will make every portrait or picture an absolute winner! Simply photographing children at play from a normal adult height is not the way to achieve those special portraits, an exception to this rule can be to take a picture from right above the children with them looking up at the camera as you look down at them, this works especially well using a wide angle lens and can be a great looking portrait!
Children can get upset at times and also don’t always do what we adults want them to, my tip is to wait it out if you can, patience must be your friend, especially in respect of children’s portraits if you are not a patient person this may not be the right area of photography for you, many times upsets and tears can disappear in ten minutes and you are back on track for those beautiful portraits.
It must also be said if the child is truly upset there may be a genuine reason, it could be the beginnings of an illness or perhaps a tummy bug; if this is the case then just stop the session and reconvene on a new day, the beauty of kids photography is that there are little or no time constraints, it can be done again tomorrow. On a fresh day you can start from where you left off and carry on creating those beautiful portraits.
These are just a few tips about photography for kids, this is usually always a very profitable branch of photography and if you are a person who can take these portraits there will always be this enjoyable work available to you.
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