Tips for shooting kids....

Robbo

Robbo

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Yes
....not with a gun lol

Ages 6 month to 3 ish

Shot in a studio style 3 lights high key style.... Any help welcome
 
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don't get a 4 year old how has an attention span of around 30s and just cannot sit still - such energy though, not sure if we have ANY decent pictures.
 
Try to keep it fun, act like a child yourself behind the camera to get them laughing. If you struggle and the child is a little upset have a nursery rhythms cd handy to play or have some bubbles available and get the parents to blow them if smiles are hard to come by.

When shooting keep down low or at the same level, show the older children a few images in camera and they generally respond well.
 
Try and get the parents to not interfere, they will start telling off the kids for not sitting still, and that makes the kids worse...!

As Adam says get down to their level, i shoot little kids laid out on the floor if i can...!
 
I can never get my Grandson to sit still for 10 seconds. We recently took him to have his photo taken at his Nusery and the guy there asked him to do a few poses and he did them straight away.....no problem, the photographer said that he had been the quickest all day......so the answer is you (as a stranger) may be OK getting the children to pose but dont ask the parents to get involved......or grandparents!!
Best of luck
Dave
 
Yup, manage the parent first or they will keep telling the kids to smile/shout at them for no good reason and generally raise the tension.

Then manage your own expectations. It is unlikely you will get a portfolio of shots from one session. Have a small number of shots you have in mind and run through those as quickly as possible. Any more is pure bonus.

Be prepared to give the kids time (if possible). I've done some shoots where I got the shots in the first three minutes, others took half an hour to get them to relax.

Be prepared to think on your feet - you have to be able to respond to the situation as the kids adapt to the shoot.

Good luck.
 
I allow two days to shoot a decent sized nursery of about 50 kids.

Good advice from Adam, if the child is really upset then I let them stay and watch the next two or three have theirs done so that they can see what it's all about. You will always get one or two that WILL NOT even come in the room.

The younger ones are the biggest challenge to get a smile, the older ones will do some jumping up and down and copy poses (of sorts). Pre-school age is by far the easiest.
 
I would also suggest allowing more than an hour for family photo shoots especially with toddlers, to get the very best images, some times it does take 40 minutes for a child to relax, it is like flicking a switch and then all is fine. There is nothing worse than red eyes and cheeks from rubbing the tears away, if they need a feed take a little rest, I double up as chief bottle warmer.

Parents as others have said are part of the battle especially when they start manhandling them into positions it rarely helps and makes me cringe I know hoe the child reacts to that form experience. Just let them have a little play with some toys, then remove them once happy. If they are scared as some are do a few with the parents included, nice candid shots, often parents say they don't want to be in the photos but love them and you will sell more.

Good luck
 
Get a helper to blow bubbles, put toys on your head, do the "He's behind you routine" etc.

Also, make sure the parents are directly behind you. Keeps the child's eyes focused on you.

Good luck
 
Handy tips i could use on my own 2 year old, ive found the only way to guarantee a really nice photo is to just keep taking lots, i bin half on them but out of whats left i always find one or two really special ones which i caught just at the right moment.
 
FlyTVR said:
Get a helper to blow bubbles, put toys on your head, do the "He's behind you routine" etc.

Also, make sure the parents are directly behind you. Keeps the child's eyes focused on you.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Instructing the parents with exactly what they need to do is key with this, if they get it wrong, the kids get it wrong. You have to make sure the parents are as good as peering over your ears to get the subject to look directly down the lens.

Other than that if you dont know already, then get up to speed with latest trends so you can talk, joke, shout key phrases out, that kind of thing. Examples are... Peppa Pig, Toy Story, Bob the Builder, Handy Manny, Chuggington, Ben 10, that kind of thing.
 
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