Photographing Young Kids

[Happy_Mummy]

So I love taking pictures of my kids, but I find they aren't always the greatest (sometimes the kids, most of the time the pictures ;P), just thought I would start a thread to see what others have found works for them. The only professional photos I've had done was when a company called my house shortly after Vanessa(my first) was born. I got the basic idea of how to get the cute head shot by folding the baby's arms and that 2 months of age is a good time since they still can't roll, but they will smile. I find it takes a zillion shots for me to get the perfect shot, but it is doable. I actually like the pics I did of Cassie and Martin more than the professional shot of Vanessa, maybe because I knew what they looked like and the ones of Cassie and Martin are truer of what they look like and their personality Not to mention that we had 2 of the professional's photos in that pose and over a hundred of the ones I took! lol? By "truer looking photos" I mean that photos can sometimes distort faces and doesn't actually look like the same person. I know the very basic lighting stuff and get down to the kid's level for the really good shots, but it just seems lately I don't really feel like I'm capturing the moment. Also I have tricky lighting in the main play area since there is no overhead light, just light from 3 almost floor to almost ceiling windows. I use AEL like crazy, but it is annoying and I don't always remember with every shot. I also know that I can just point the camera to the right light, but that also sets the focus so that is off. And when I'm trying to capture a moment it is hard to do all that and account for the camera delay!!! I think I want an dslr, but it's not in the stars atm, it is too much money and there are other more important things to spend money on. This is just a hobby and I don't want to turn to using light screens, etc since we have no room and I'm not that serious, I'm just looking for soft lighting and maybe a way that I can change a setting for a gentler flash, it seems lately that many of my photos are very front lit which I find throws me off for the photos because the background is so falsely dark.

I'm also wondering about how you "pose" your kids for photos. There is always one child not watching the camera, thankfully normally they are looking at another family member so we make it work. And it still turns out cute. We have tried toys, light, dancing around like monkeys behind the camera, etc!!! I think the worst is when someone is trying to "help" but they are sitting more next to the kids instead of behind me. I realize slightly beside me can be good, but so that I get profiles, is no good!!! I have become better at asking people to move if they are going to try to get the kids to laugh so that they are near me. I don't like really posed kind of photos most of the time, but having a family pic of everyone looking at the camera and smiling would be pretty neat! lol Typically I get two "cheese" grins and Martin laughing at the girls.

For the candid shots that I take I just can't seem to find the right angle, any advice of what people have found to compliment their kids' faces? I am looking for ideas of pictures of all the kids as well as them on their own. I just never get that focused look that kids have all the time while doing things. I do my best not to interrupt and just get the photo.

Anyone who wants to share what worked really well or didn't work at all, I would love to hear it!

Might help if you know the ages of the kids - Vanessa is 4, Cassidy is 2.5 and martin is 1 this weekend.

[kristenh]

Tori, i am in the same boat that you are. i'm not a professional photographer, but i want to take great shots of my kids- my younger two are young like yours- 17 months and 3. they're both boys and highly active. the first thing i'll say and this is after quite some time experimenting and trying- you have to have a dslr. i can't even begin to tell you the difference that just doing that will do. b/c the kids are constantly moving and the shutter lag will always, always, always, cause you to miss great shots. i'm the owner of quite a few p and s's and have concluded that for kid photography, at least when they're young and wild, you need that speed.

next thing i learned- i'm not good enough to take indoor pics. i need the consistent and bright lighting of outdoors - usually in light shade- to grab those moments. i'm working on it, and reading and learning more about light, and my camera allows a pretty high ISO, and i've gotten some good window shots, but i think indoors will take me some time and practice.

next thing i learned- i need to be happy wtih/specialize in candids for the time being. i can't really get mine to pose, and if i do, they avoid looking at the camera. i bring the camera everywhere and take thousands of shots. one thing that will get them to sit is to have them eat something. you can ask my husband about the popsicle shot project i've had going for about a month now. we have hundreds of shots of the two of them plunked somewhere eating popsicles. i believe 4 are good one thing that is starting to help- i show the 3 year old the photos on the viewer at the back of the camera- and this is starting to interest him- he will sometimes now ask to have his picture taken...

i read up on photography every chance i get- i highly recommend bryan petersons understanding exposure. you will be able to change your settings even on your p and s, at least i believe that is true for most models, and this'll help you understand what you're doing when you do.

i spend whatever free time i have surfing the web and looking at others' photos to get ideas and try and critique them. a very experienced person on these boards once wrote that he only gets about 10% "keepers" with his photos. i found that very inspiring. i've also realized that just about every pro does light to heavy post processing. never knew that before and find it comforting, as i have no knowledge in that dept and am comparing my sooc photos to theirs.

thanks to birthday funding from my MIL, i took a couple photography lessons with a pro- that was very very helpful.

hope all this helps- i've been at this for about 5 months and i'm amazed at how different (better) my photos are with all this studying, practicing, etc. i've had 4 people approach me and ask to pay me to take photos of their kids.

GL! they're only young once.

[BigFuzzy]

It's really difficult for many of us to tell you what to do, or what works for us, because we simply don't know your conditions.. particularly the lighting conditions.
I honestly think that if you posted some photos that you didn't like but can't figure out how to fix, guys like me might be able to give some suggestions, because, honestly right now all I could say is to learn your camera, shoot in manual, learn f/stop vs shutter speed, and learn about light.. but that doesn't really help you much does it.

[Happy_Mummy]

Kristen - I have to figure out shooting indoors, since half our year is spent there!!! We have a 6 month winter (sometimes longer) where temperatures are typically below -4F for 3-4 months of that and 1-2 feet, sometimes more of snow, which has it's own shooting difficulties! Also I just want to have the memories of what the kids were up to when they were little. I take close to 1000 photos a month! Sometimes less, sometimes more... Because my purpose is remembering when they were little I will use probably 1/4 of them (I typically take 3-4 pictures, sometimes more of the same thing, when I say thing, I mean thing, not event!!!) in a photo book. About once a year we go through the photos and pick 5 to display on our wall (we get them printed on foam paper and use no frame). We have been asked by friends who we have take photos of our kids, so some are keepers. I have chosen to stay away from the paid photographers because I either don't like the posed, clinical look, or I don't like the way they "fix" the photos after - I find many professional photographers make the colours look harsh. They look professional, because the colour looks wrong. I like the natural type photos and with three kids 4 and under I definitely don't have time to edit each photo (nor the will or want to do so)!

I read the book you mentioned and it helped a bit, but since then I have been frustrated with taking photos because I know there are things wrong with where I'm taking photos, but that is where the funny and memorable things happen. I think I will look at purchasing the book so that I can keep referring to it. Our playroom as I said has natural light, however not enough light that I can get away with no flash. Also our playroom is open to our kitchen so all backgrounds are busy which I find really distracts from the photo. I just can't figure out how to use the busy background to my advantage.

Big Fuzzy - if I could figure out how to post photos I would, but I have tried in the past with no luck. If you could guide me through that it would be appreciated. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I use iPhoto on a Mac, I think the issue was the photo files are too big, but I can't figure out how to make them smaller to load them.

eta I'm saving up airmiles for a dslr camera, I have my eye on the canon rebel t2i. We can't afford to buy it outright, so I'm anxiously awaiting getting enough points, I have about 1000 to go. I'm reluctant to get the external flash for my current camera because we are looking at getting the new camera.