Outdoor portraits with my own kids! So confused and overwhelmed!

[TravelBel]

I'm rather new to photography (other than snapping off millions of photos as a teenager) and have a D5000 that we bought for a vacation to Alaska. I've wanted to take portraits of my own kids and bought a 50mm AF-S lens for my camera and now it's time to experiment! I'm so nervous though... which is probably ridiculous, since they're my own kids and I need to relax and have some fun! There seems to be so many things to remember (white balance, shade, focusing, etc.!). We're planning to go out tomorrow and take some pictures at a park nearby.... I'm hoping to just learn the new lens and not get overwhelmed with all of the other details yet.

Any ideas on where to begin? My camera has a "portrait" selection, which may be the best bet since this is the first time I've done this....?

Tips, advice and words of encouragement are appreciated!

[OsmosisStudios]

Dont worry about White balance: Leave it in Auto, shoot RAW and work with it afterwards if you need to. The Auto WB on Nikon cameras is about 95% accurate.

As for settings: throw the camera into aperture priority ("A" on the dial), set it to f/2.8 and let the camera do the heavy lifting. concentrate on getting the focus right and the composition right.

[TravelBel]

Thanks for the tips! It's too sunny out today, so we'll try tonight when it's not so glaring out!

[SusanH1970]

Adam gave you some great tips. Also just wanted to elaborate on focus and composition - make sure you focus on their eyes (either toggle your focus points or focus and recompose) and watch out for distracting backgrounds (no trees growing out of their heads, etc.).

[TravelBel]

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it! We didn't make it out tonight, which gives me time to remind myself how to use the focus on the camera, especially with 2 kids in the picture (I'm assuming that I can focus on each set of eyes... just need to remember how to do that!).

I will definately look for backgrounds - lesson learned! On our honeymoon, my husband has a great picture of him with tiki torches sticking out of his head!

[Rhondau]

I have had horrible luck mid day...go for morning or late afternoon or early evening...I really can't help otherwise, still learning too!!! Good luck!

Rhonda

[SuperDan]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Dont worry about White balance: Leave it in Auto, shoot RAW and work with it afterwards if you need to. The Auto WB on Nikon cameras is about 95% accurate.

As for settings: throw the camera into aperture priority ("A" on the dial), set it to f/2.8 and let the camera do the heavy lifting. concentrate on getting the focus right and the composition right.

I am a OsmosisStudios fan!

I love the way you put this!


In regards to going out and shooting with your kids... JUST DO IT!
Dont worry about things...
I dont recommend using portrait mode though, especially outside with two kids...