Asked to shoot friends son

[stacy87]

I'm hoping that I'm posting this in the right section! I've only had my camera a few weeks, so am still very new to all this! I've been building up my knowledge of all the settings/aperture/exposure etc and think I am getting to grips with all that now.

An old friend from school seen some of my photos that I'd taken with my camera and has asked me if I would take some pictures of her & her son at the end of the month (her sister & her 3 young girls are interested too!). What I'm hoping you can help me with is, what else can I do to ensure I can get them some really good photos? I have a Canon 500D with the 18-55mm kit lens and a 50mm f1.8. We are doing the photos in her house.

Any advice you can give would be extremely helpful!! Thanks in advance

 

[Lindsay D]

Like many people, your friend probably thinks the camera takes the picture. What is she after? Simple snapshots to be casually enjoyed or does she hanker after the sort of polished professional pictures she may have seen in magazines or studios? If it's the latter, you'll need to make sure she understands that takes many years of dedication and learning. She'll need to take into account that you're a beginner, and lower her expectations accordingly.

I'd suggest working outdoors if you can, because 'in the house' could pose some challenges to a photographic novice. Your 50mm f1.8 is a decent enough lens for portraits on an APS-C body - if you're shooting at a fairly wide aperture then try and make sure your focal point is on the subject's nearest eye (choose the centre focus point). Children move, so to get an appropriate shutter speed in low light you may need to increase your ISO. Try and make sure there's nothing too distracting or messy in the background - if so you can blur this by moving your subject away from the background and shooting at a longer focal length. I'm reluctant to tell you to whack your aperture wide open as this takes some skill to maintain critical focus. Look up the Rule of Thirds and you'll understand more about how to place your subject in the frame. Don't think too hard about 'posing' a young subject, just move about the place and capture some nice moments. Children have a short attention span - games and distractions are important, as are regular breaks.

The book Understanding Exposure by Byan Petersen is widely regarded as the best starter book for beginners, you can get it off Amazon.

 

[stacy87]

Thanks so much for responding. She is looking for quite casual pictures, as I've made her fully aware that I am completely new to this and can't produce those professional-standard photos.

Thank you for all the advice. I've seen that book recommended on here quite a lot, so will look at getting that in the next few days too