Asked to take photos fro a family friend and her son.

[Kaeman]

So a Family friend asked me to take some photos of her and her son but mostly her son who will be running around. Do you have have any general tips on how to get the best shot of her son? Right now I got a Canon XSi the stock 18-55 lens and a Canon 55-250mm lens, would these be a good enough for this kind of thing? Could you recommend an Ideal lens I would need for this type of thing.

[Eastree]

Shoot in as much light as possible.
Get low (so you're not hovering over the kid for every shot)
Use a quick shutter speed.

Be personal with him. Make him laugh. You may need to be quick, but something like a funny story followed by, "Hey (name)!" might catch a direct smile at the camera while he's relaxed and playing.

[kristenh]

take him outdoors somewhere- a park, arboretum, playground. outdoors has 3 advantages, in my mind: first, lots of light, second, much less random junk in the background, and third, the possibility that the kid will be playing around, happy and enjoying himself- which makes for nice photos. try to snap your shots when he is in shade, not dappled shade, shade- or pray for an overcast day. get in close- try to take pics from various vantage points- watch out for shadows if he wears a hat. i don't know how old he is, but consider bringing bubbles, balls, balloons if he's a toddler. i always try to get some shots where the kid is looking up and the sun catches his eyes- so i bring keys or some object of interest to get them to look up. or i mention birdies or bats or whatever.

i take a lot of photos of active kids, and i use aperture priority mode, mostly- setting a wide enough aperture that my shutter speed doesn't go below 1/200 outdoors. i use the center point autofocus and usually focus, then quick recompose. but a lot of times i just center focus and make sure that all body parts are in the shot, then crop afterward- b/c they move too quickly for focus/recompose. i don't have a big lens collection- in fact, i have the kit lens and a 35 mm 1.8 and i use the latter almost exclusively.

[candleman]

not in direct sunlight

i wouldnt use a Prime.... certainly not on a running kid.

give him space and dont crowd him/her if he doesntr want to smile, let him play for a while, chat to the mom and get the momto interact with him, tickle him.. etc etc.

good luck

[Kaeman]

Originally Posted by candleman

not in direct sunlight

i wouldnt use a Prime.... certainly not on a running kid.

give him space and dont crowd him/her if he doesntr want to smile, let him play for a while, chat to the mom and get the momto interact with him, tickle him.. etc etc.

good luck

So 55-250MM be good?