Trouble with twins ..

[SW3105]

Evening all,

Since I've been learning about the camera and getting better pictures of my children, my local toddler group leader - who is a great friend asked if I'd take the camera into group and take pictures of all the children there. (Parents signed consent forms etc but we're all a group of friends rather than an organisation) parents were asked to make a small donation towards the toddler group for a picture of their child.

Obviously I can't share the pictures but I was very happy with them, I set up in the sunniest corner of the group, hung a sheet from the radiator and laid another on the floor so I had a nice plain background (although unironed!) Most of the photos came out fantastically! Great attention to childrens eyes, fantastic focus and .. the parents who have seen them so far are really happy with them. I went mostly for wide aperture as I'm using my kit lens on the D3100 with no flash at all, so relying on that low F, and high ISO.

I did notice two problems though. One some of the pictures where I've had the child looking up at the window, one eye is in perfect focus and the other is slightly out. I use matrix metering but I wonder if, rather than messing with that, I just close the aperture a little? Would that help?

The other, which is something I really want to fix is that there is a set of twins - they're about 3 months old. Mum says that around 10:30-11 is their best time so I waited, but one of the twins just cried. I'm not worried about that so much but more about the fact that when we sat them next to eachother, as I was at a distance, there was no real detail to their eyes. For me, a childs portrait is about eyes .. so I was pretty disappointed although she loved the picture I got - except the background. What tips does anyone have for photographing baby twins? I had one twin on her tummy and she was qiute happy lifting her head and looking around, the other was propped up sitting but trying to arch back so I didn't really have time to compose. The group have one of those donut rings - would it help if perhaps they were wedged into that together? What poses work for twins? I've done a google image search but the images coming up are mostly of Mariah Carey and some rather questionable images!!!

Thanks for your help. I'll take pictures of my girls at the next session as I know there are no problems with sharing pictures of my own children, so as to give an idea of the shots I was doing.

I am glad that I can see the technical mistakes I'm making though .. feel like I'm getting somewhere!

 

[Kalibr8]

Firstly well done on getting your first gig! Nursery shots are hard and if kids are crying on the day it is just the way it goes. Bean bags are a good thing to position kids on cover it with a nice throw sheepskin etc either put them on their tummy facing you with arms over the front or you will have to shoot them on their back. Being so young the only choice is to have the mother their to support them - don't move them yourself encourage the mother to assist. Are you covered by public liability insurance? If not you shouldn't really be doing these sort of shoots at all.

If you are finding one person out of focus you need a smaller aperture ie f8 or something with a fast shutter speed. Your only choice then is to up your ISO (lower quality picture) or introduce flash/lighting

 

[Andy_S]

I use matrix metering but I wonder if, rather than messing with that, I just close the aperture a little? Would that help?

If i'm thinking correctly, matrix metering will affect the cameras choice of exposure rather than the focus point or depth of feild. Spot focus will let you get it focused where you want it.
You'd need a smaller aperture to get more depth of field. As mentioned, f8 should get everything in focus for a portrait.
As for the photos, a photographer looks for sharp eyes, soft light, good use of shadow and all the technical stuff, while a parent will pick the one with the biggest smile

 

[dubcat]

I have twins and often find one a little out of focus. I have taken to either going for a really small aperture (f/11 at most with lens at 50mm) and use high iso or flash or alternatively going totally the opposite direction and using a very large aperture so one is intentionally out of focus but still recognisable enough to show who she is.

Believe it or not I have managed to regularly get one twin slightly out of focus at f/8 at 50mm on a regular basis. The worst thing about that is that because they are ALMOST in focus it obviously looks like a mistake.

Dub

 

[Andy_S]

If they don't move too quickly, would you be able to take 2 photos and layer them in post?