Advice on shoot with kids

Skidder

Skidder

Skidder

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28 Nov 2007
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Hello,

My wife and her sister want some pictures of my son, neiece and nephew to give as an aniversary present for the grandparents. It is their ruby aniversary so they want to theme the shots with the kids in red clothes and with pretty stark backgrounds. Let's say the kids hopefully naturally posed with the backgrounds effectively white or washed out.

Following a (thankfully) aborted effort to get shots done through Venture (rip off merchants and poor service IMHO) the task has fallen to me.

I am enjoying photography and I guess I have the basics down but I'm seeking a bit of advice as to how to get teh best from this, as the kids patience will not be unlimited. The kids are 7 months x2 and 2 years x1 so they are moving targets and unpredictable!

I have a 400d and plan to use an EF 50 1.8 and Tamron 17-50 2.8. I have a 430 ex flash gun.

I would like to get shots that show the kids clearly and bring out the red in their clothes but have white / faded backgrounds.

What would you guys suggest? This will most likely be indoors. Would a sheet as back drop be a help?

Wide aperture to fade the background? How best to use the flash? Any tips in advance of this would be much appreciated. Thanks

Skidder
 
Do a mix of plain backgrounds and insitu ones but reduce as much distracting clutter as much as possible to main focus on the subject. Photos get boring if they all look the same. Try some 'staged' candid's as well as more formal stuff to mix it up for the aforementioned reason. Get their favourite toys on standby and introduce new things they haven't seen before because you should get a good reaction from it and hopefully it will translate to your shot.
 
I read somewhere that to keep the kids still, put a clear plaster on their thumb to keep them amused long enough to keep them still (or as close to still as a one year old can get :p).
 
get down on their eye level.

Bounce the flash off the ceiling for a more filled effect.

Take hundreds of shots.

stay around the F4 to F8 range so you blur the background but keep them in focus.

Good luck!!

Hope it helps.
 
Oh and I'd stick with the 50 for most shots but mix in wider ones with the other lens as well. The 50 will give you your sharpness and dof, even stopped down. Get a split of close shots and widers ones, i reckon some of the best shots i've taken of my son are when he's totally filling the frame as it stop being a snap shot type photo and becomes a lot more. Also use the flash in there as well for some (ideally getting it off camera) as it will produce nice catch lights in their eyes etc.
 
I tried to replicate the venture look that my wife and sis in law liked with them. I'm pretty pleased given that I am very much in the early stages of learning photography. The lighting was terrible and I only had about 5 mins of the three kids cooperating.

I welcome any feedback :)
 
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I would say that the last one was the best of the bunch. would clone out some of the creases around their heads also I would extend the canvas to the right a bit to give the leg a bit more room.
 
not to shabby at all.

You needed a slightly faster shutter speed as there is some blur where they have moved.

Composition is spot on, although I agree a little more space on the left would be nice.

Overall not too bad. be proud my son :)
 
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