Problem photographing children

[morfasie]

Hi everybody,

just a question to the pros? How do you take snaps of a child in indoors at a party without using the flash? They move so fast so I have to get my speed up to about 160th but then have to up the ISO to 400 or even 800, which in turn gives me noise?

Here is a sample: You cannot see the noise on this size, but it is def there.



Any tips for the photo? Should I increase the light? Remove some of the yellow?

[Digidave]

There's a couple of things you can do besides upping your ISO.
1) Get a faster lens(Smaller f/number). That allows more light in, so you can use a faster shutter speed. This is the expensive route, usually. Except for the 50mm f/1.8. Very good lens for the money. You'll fall in love with it.

2) Use a flash that you can bounce off the walls or ceiling. For a Nikon this would be SB400, SB600, or SB800. I'm not certain about the D40x, but you should be able to get at least 1/200th if you go into manual mode or shutter priority mode.

By the way. I'm not an expert, so others may come along with better ideas for ya.

[morfasie]

Thanks Digidave, problem is you cannot take that mmany photos while using the flash? Or can you?

[aakash_vakil]

I believe the flash will take some time to reacharge before ready for next shot. I am not an expert at this, but this can be considerable when we shooting candid children photographs.

besides, you risk pissing off the kid due to flash in eyes ;-)

Regards,
Aakash

[neilwood]

Originally Posted by aakash_vakil

I believe the flash will take some time to reacharge before ready for next shot. I am not an expert at this, but this can be considerable when we shooting candid children photographs.

besides, you risk pissing off the kid due to flash in eyes ;-)

Regards,
Aakash

The flash should not take too long to recharge (so long as its not the onboard flash). I use my sigma 500 flash and in a small room it can easily keep up with my camera becasue its only firing at a fraction of full power.

There shouldnt be an issue of flashing the kids eyes as you should try to "bounce" the flash. Basically pick a nearby wall or ceiling (preferably white to stop colour balance issues) and aim the flash at it. The camera (using TTL) should meter the flash accordingly.This has the effect of spreading the effect of the flash and stopping the harsh shadows that flash normally gives.
Only issue is that you might need to use Exposure Compensation/Flash Exposure Compensation ( just dial in what amount you need).

Hope it helps - flash can me a minefield til you get used to it (and im still learning!)

[wulf]

I would definitely advise the faster lens route. Ebay or a camera shop should throw up something inexpensive, especially if you are happy to work in manual mode. My second lens was an old Nikon E series 50mm f/1.8 lens, which has become my standard choice. The only annoyance is that, because the aperture is set using an external ring, I have to manually note that information to go with the photos but, otherwise, it is a joy to use.

Indoors, you can use a fairly wide open aperture which, combined with perhaps a small boost to ISO (say 400), should give you amply fast shutter speeds. You will also get a shallower depth of field - this can be a challenge but also catches the subject in focus while leaving the background subtly blurred and less distracting.

Wulf

[bigdoggold]

Buy a 50mm f1.8 lens...great low light lens, good DOF, and a classic for portraits.

Or buy a flash that can bounce, but I agree the flash sometimes can just distract the children.

Best of luck

[clockdoc]

Great advice on the faster lens and bounce flash. One thing to try is ways to keep them "entertained" while you are shooting their photo. At her age a couple of tricks that may work are to put a small coin inside of a sock. As the child fiddles with the sock to get at the coin, attract her attention as you please. Another trick is to use some Scotch tape or cello tape. Place a small piece on the back of one of her hands and as she tries to remove it, snap away. The bonus here is that the hands are more under control and together. Ane last trick with the tape is to place a piece on the back of their head/hair. Again, as they fiddle with trying to remove it, you have the hands up and behind the head which can lead to some cute poses. Good luck and Ilook forward to seeing more of your work.

[morfasie]

Thank you very much everybody for the great replies. I will definitely try the bounce flash, will have to get the faster lens at some stage

[wulf]

Originally Posted by morfasie

Thank you very much everybody for the great replies. I will definitely try the bounce flash, will have to get the faster lens at some stage

Have you played with manual mode on your camera? If you can get the hang of that, it opens up a wide range of Nikon mount lenses, which should give you plenty of affordable options. I'm pretty sure the D40X is the same as the D40 in this regard (although I've no idea about camera shops in Pretoria!).

Wulf