Child Portrait Photography: Inspiration & Advice

[igot2pman]

Tomorrow Next Friday I shoot a 1 year old clients child (boy), but I have never shoot portraitures of children. Not charging much so it does not have to be AMAZING. But I do want to see this as a learning experience and wish to do a good job. Even if its late, still post as I and others would still learn from it.

I ask if anyone knows any good resources for information, pictures, or tips your willing to share. Please post them. I will post anything I find of interest for future people to see.

The clients previous pictures were soft ("dreamy") style. She said she would like to stay that rout but it douse not have to be that way.

A little about have I have to work with:
- Big rocking chair
- 2 four foot roman style pilers
- Wood table and small model ship (used one of my own child portraits)
- 2 strobes w/shoot through umbrellas, and 2 speed lights
- 3 muslins (white, black, and blue-tan blotch)
- From 10-500mm in lenses, D300
- Nikon soft filters 1 and 2

Thanks for your help,
-Keven

[Vernon]

My limited experience:

Give yourself time to set up, then relax into the picture taking with the child - they do not recognize your time schedules, etc.

If the child responds to you, great! Snap away and capture his expressions, antics, and any spur-of-the-moment pose you witness through the lens.

Where possible, zoom in a little, then allow mommy to assist (maybe) in coaxing interactions and reactions form the boy, all the while, bringing props into and out of the picture -- assuming you are working in a particular room, etc.

Bracket your shots, to allow yourself possible choices of slight over/under exposure that may help bring about a more desirable picture.
Somewhat subdued/non-direction light (i.e.: no direct flash - maybe bounced flash) will give you a little more depth to your images.

Be generous in your picture taking - it's been my experience that right after I decided I have taken the last picture the child subject suddenly flashes you their best pose/expression/smile. So, when you believe you are done, take one more!

It is likely you already know this and more; others here will assuredly provide you far more advice.
Still, I hope this helps...

[igot2pman]

Hello Vernon,

Good advice and thank you for the reply. I really like the idea of a bounce flash. I’m definitely going to try that. I am probably going to be shooting most of it indoor but im thinking about doing some outdoor shoots.

The down side is that I do not own strobe light meter (I normaly shoot outdoor), so tonight and tomorrow morning I am going to be dialing in the exposure. I am also going to see if I can sync the two strobes with my two speed lights.

Thanks,
-Keven

[Mike]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

Tomorrow Next Friday I shoot a 1 year old clients child (boy), but I have never shoot portraitures of children. Not charging much so it does not have to be AMAZING. But I do want to see this as a learning experience and wish to do a good job. Even if its late, still post as I and others would still learn from it.

I am trying to understand your mind here.

You have presented yourself to a paying customer as a professional photographer that can create a portrait of their child, even though you have never taken a child's portrait.

You will accept a low quality portrait as your final output and justify that by not charging too much for it.

Your customer not only gets a low quality portrait but gets to pay for your learning experience. Do they know that they are getting "double" their money's worth?

What you have posted leads me to believe that you are either highly unethical or trying to perpetuate an outright fraud.

I think that you need to back out of this now. You run a big risk of becoming known as the photographer who cannot do the job. Your reputation is something that you need to guard. Unhappy customers talking about how much they paid and how bad the portraits where is not something you want. And no matter how cheap the price is, if they do not like the quality, the price is too high. Even if it was free, if they do not like them, then they will complain about all the time they wasted with you.

I think that you need to set up some sessions, with the parents knowing in advance that these are learning sessions for you and that there will be no charge for the session and you will trade some prints or files for their time, and learn a bit about what you are trying to do. Photographing small children is an art form that not all are able to do. You should get some practice sessions in to see if you can do it.

[igot2pman]

Hello Mike,

Very interesting response and I am glad to answer.

Originally Posted by Mike

You have presented yourself to a paying customer as a professional photographer that can create a portrait of their child, even though you have never taken a child's portrait.

I never claimed to be a professional, but I am very good (not perfect) at what I do. Can I do a good portrait? Yes. I consider myself an (self) educated user of photographic equipment with pro potential.

I have done this families Christmas pictures before, of which was a 200 picture album. They are aware that I have never shot children's portraits. But they trust in my abilities, and I am confident in them.

Originally Posted by Mike

You will accept a low quality portrait as your final output and justify that by not charging too much for it.

I do not put out low quality. If I can’t put my name on it, it will not get printed. Amazing to me is something that is beyond normal and makes you say WOW or how did they do that?. Good to me is normal. My goal is for the person viewing the picture to say these are good pictures.

Originally Posted by Mike

What you have posted leads me to believe that you are either highly unethical or trying to perpetuate an outright fraud.

Unethical? I’m sorry for not fully explaining the situation. I could write pages to explain the full story but who would read it. I have not deceived anyone.

Hope this answers everything,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

Mike,

You sound very insightful, and as you have been here since 2001, you obviously have been doing this for a while. Maybe you could possibly share some of that intellectual wealth on the topic.

----------------------------------

To all,

I know how to take a photograph; I am more looking for insight on how to take it one step further. Something that can only be found through experience. Maybe even some lost old school technique.

Examples:
Sports: Having the subject in a lean and with bent joints or slightly slow shutter speed to blur moving parts.
Cars: Panning with slow shutter speed with the car to blur the background and road.
Old school: FL-D filter will turn a sunset purple.

-Keven

[igot2pman]

Very good
Photo References:

Martha Abelson Photography
http://mabelsonphoto.com/blog/

Linnea Lenkus Photo Studio
http://www.linnealenkus.com/children.html

Will add more here as I find them

-Keven

[Gobsmacked]

I wouldn't worry too much about props . Try to make a game of it , shoot at their level so that you are not looking down on them . Follow Vernon's advice .

[igot2pman]

Gobsmacked,

Shooting on their level is most definitely a plus and a must (most the time). Would you recommend the photographer to sit (kneel, lay) or raise the child up on a table. Or would that be too risky with a 1 year old. What are your thoughts?

The mother is bringing lots of toys and im planning on using them to possibly frame or catch reflections off of. He loves his FAKE cell phone and im going to try and get some good ones from that too.

Thanks,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

Composition

I have knottiest a few things in children’s photos:

1. Close head shots
2. Full length body
3. laying down

I have also seen some good photos at a park where there was other kids running around. Basically you have to just isolate the child and blur the rest using a high aperture (F/2.8 and below). The silhouette of the blurred play area is fine as long as you can realize it’s a play area.

Will add more here as I find them

-Keven

[Gobsmacked]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

Gobsmacked,

Shooting on their level is most definitely a plus and a must (most the time). Would you recommend the photographer to sit (kneel, lay) or raise the child up on a table. Or would that be too risky with a 1 year old. What are your thoughts?

The mother is bringing lots of toys and im planning on using them to possibly frame or catch reflections off of. He loves his FAKE cell phone and im going to try and get some good ones from that too.

Thanks,
-Keven

I took pics. of a 1 year old a while back , I tried a few with him on the floor of the Studio , but naturally he wouldn't stay still !
The best shots were when I sat him in a Bar stool type seat , almost a high chair without the tray .
Both Parents were present , snag was I got a lot of shots of him looking off camera .I persuaded them to stand to one side so they wouldn't distract him .I built up a raport with him with a lot of laughing , he thought it was great fun !
Oh and I was on my knees ! Go for it , take plenty of shots , weed out the chaff ! Bill

[igot2pman]

Good advice Gobsmacked, and thanks for sharing. Well noted and I'm thinking about buying some knee pads or having a pillow handy.

-Keven

[igot2pman]

Tips

Below are some PDF's of tip's I found from some web sites. Mostly the same as what’s been said but here but there are some diffrent tips. Quick read.

I made a PDF of them so it’s forever on RTP just in case the web site goes down.

Will add more here as I find them

-Keven

[igot2pman]

As this is a retouching web site, is there any advice on how I should take the editing. I have seen both versions, raw skin look and soft glow. Also a lot of B&W.

I know the real decision is with the client, but optimally what would be the best direction to take things. D&B? Surface blur? Other?

All advice or opinions on any of the topics are still welcome and appreciated,
-Keven

[Ziaphra]

Let's have a look at a couple (if you are allowed to post them of course).

[HuBBa]

igot. As for retouching, it all depends on the application really, you have both extremes represented here on this forum: from 100% untouched portrait to 100% retouched pageant look.

Me i prefere closer to the untouched than the retouched. I may remove small blemishes, scratches and bruises (which is common with kids but i will not do anything harsher than that since the very few times i shoot kids, its pretty much always in a portrait fashion.

On the other hand Jill Greenberg has a few that is retouched to a very heavy degree so my advice would be to check with the client first. They want their kids to look their best on the image, not like some otherworldly alien

... and then you have parents who want that.

As for the shooting i saw a nice setup on the pocketwizards blogg actually where the guy set up a camera with a fixed focus point (marked on the background) and triggered it with the pocketwizards (ie. triggered both camera and flashes). The benefit of this was that he was not hiding behind the big lens (which is the only thing you would see otherwise) but could communicate and talk with the kids. So when he had the shot, he could just press the pocketwizard he held in his hand and the picture was taken. *edit: You can watch it at http://pocketwizard.wordpress.com/20...ra-triggering/

Sometimes you can have parents be the focus point for the kid, but that doesnt work always. Also toys are great things to use so tell the parents to bring their favourite toys if possible.

[igot2pman]

Ziaphra,

I will most diffidently try to post a few. But the shoot is this Friday. I will try and get them up by the end of the weekend if I can.

Thanks for your interest,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

Hubba,

Thank you for your replay, and opinion. As for the surface blur, I was speaking more in an artistic Jill Greenberg kind of way, not pageant. Or as a degrunge style quick edit. Or even to just soften the picture a bit. I’ll try and do a Jill Greenberg style photo if the child starts crying a lot.

I too think a natural look for a child would be preferred (minus the blemishes). But I have seen plenty of good quality slightly blurred photos. Also my fare share of bad ones. Have not decided yet, I guess i'd "let the picture speak to me"

And thanks for the video link, very insightful. I unfortunately only have a remote trigger for my D40x. But I did like the idea of not being behind the lens all the times. Thinking about just setting the focus and just pushing the trigger (assuming you don’t have to frame every time). A good idea as if the camera has to focus every time, you could miss the perfect shot. I need to save up for the D300 remote trigger... pocket wizard seems do be a good idea as is doubles as a wireless trigger for both strobes and camera.

Thanks,
-Keven

[HuBBa]

The Jill Greenberg retouch is a very harsh retouch though so make sure the parents know you are doing this to practise (since they may not like the results, looking "overdone"). If they know you are doing this to learn you can always first do a more normal retouch and then get creative That way they may even get double their worth (2 pics retouched / shot).

But important point here. Remember that when shooting a private person, specialy in a studio environment, you will need their consent (model release) to use it for your own promototion (showcase on the web). And since we are talking minors, that is not even optional but mandatory. If they don't like to see their kid show up on the web with your photographer/company name on it, you will need a paper showing their consent or you will be skinned alive in court. Remember that a verbal contract is worth the paper its written on

As for blurred skin, it is quite often done (and i must confess, i have done it) in batch processing or for a "glow" effect and it can work just as well for that kind of family picture. The skin of kids however is often pretty smooth as it is so usually not an issue. Teens with bad acne however can be a totally different issue =) Just a little note on acne teens though, make sure you don't overdo it. If you remove what you percieve as a blemish, that they maybe actually consider a part of their character they may not be too happy. Self-image is a fragile thing. Same goes with any form of slimming and such.

And finally (damn im starting to write a damn novell here the autofocus feature can be a boon but also a crutch. If you are shooting at say F8 on fullframe, and have the subject 7 m from you a 70mm lens will give you a DOF of 3.81 meter, from 4.65m to 8.46m so if you have set the focus once, unless the model runs halfway to you, it's pretty useless to set the focus again. So instead set the focus, and shoot away keeping a good pace and flow on the shoot.

(btw. if you want to play with the DOF figures, http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html =)

Sorry for the long post but i tend to rant a lot

[igot2pman]

Pocket wizard Plus 2 will cost you around 500-600$ for 3 (minimum needed to remote trigger plus one light). About 200 a pop. A very usefull divice but it may cost you a grand or more depending on how many lights you have. Go HERE for a 25$ off rebate, good through December 1st, 2008 - February 28, 2009.

-Keven

[igot2pman]

Originally Posted by HuBBa

Sorry for the long post but i tend to rant a lot

Dont worry about it, as long as its helpfull, people or I wont mind reading it.

The DOF master is also a very usefull tool. I have used it b4 and it seems to be correct. I once DL a DOF calculator that you can print the calculator so you can have it in the field. If anyone is interested i can try and find it again.

And i will deff get WRITTEN concent, type it up later tonight. And yea, the heavy editing will just be for fun, unless the client wants them... UPcharge.

Thanks again,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

Well it’s over. But I just wanted to give my own advice to anyone.

I found that communication with someone unable to talk is hard. Much of the comments here came true. The mother being there was not helping as the child clung to her for the first 20 min or so. Then I got smart and used the mom’s position to get the child to move around. But in all reality, I think it would have been better with the mom off to the side as suggested earlier.

Toys were a big plus but I made the mistake of having them all out at the same time. Introducing them one at a time would have been better. The cell phone was a big hit, struggled to get it away from him. So if the child has a favorite toy, introduce it last if possible.

A large studio with an all white background would have really helped here as the child would always move around. So a small background like I had was not good. I’m basically going to have to extract the child from every picture as almost every picture didn’t have him in the right place.

Over shooting is a must as most the shoots will be bad due to bad position or blinking or blurry. I would not recommend using a tripod unless the child can sit or stand still. But at 1 year old, it was hard. I was definitely on the floor and sometimes laying down. So a pillow is a nice thing to sit on. If you’re behind the camera directing the child is near impossible and I would recommend an educated assistant if possible if you have to be behind the camera. I say this because by the time you get in position, frame, and focus, the child is most likely moved. Being fast is the key here.

As for the lighting, I would recommend a simple set up for young ones that move a lot. You need the lighting to be perfect every time, so the simpler the better. I used a two strobe set up, both at 45 degree. This turned out well, as I never had to change my settings.

Unfortunately the family did not want to give consent so I cannot post them here. Sorry, I really wish I could see what some of you all could come up with.

Thanks all,
-Keven

[Gobsmacked]

Glad it went OK for you . Just to put you in the picture so to speak . My " Studio " is a spare bedroom with white walls and ceiling . I've fixed a frame with a Black background to one end wall . I've got various backgrounds which I can drape over it .
Lighting is a softbox and brolly with overhead fresnal for the Ladies .For men I use barn doors or a snoot .
I use two cameras ( 20d & 5d ) with different lenses . ( I never swap lenses )
I don't use a tripod and have an Infrared trigger which allows me to be mobile . I'm either on my kees or stepladder to vary the view points .
For head shots needing a white background I've found that a projection sceen fits the bill . Hope this is of interest to you ! Bill

[igot2pman]

I’m kind of doing the same thing but The bad part is that the white walls are dirty and floor was a white carpet. So I put a white sheet on the floor but since the child kept moving, the background almost always had carpet or the moved furniture.

I don’t do work in there enough for a full convert to a studio. So until I do, I will settle with cropping children out. It works well for adults, as they can stand still. But a child is a diff beast.

Tanks for all your advice,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

Hello again,

I got some good news today, I further explained what RTP was to the client and they allowed my to post a few. So here some are. I will also be posting the NEF's of the below pictures so you all can have a go at it. These are 5 of 300+ total pictures.

The below were only edited in lightroom. Softening is due to clarity reduction.

Have fun,
-Keven

[igot2pman]

I have made a new sister thread for the editing. The NEF's are there.

Child Portrait Photography: Editing advice

Feel free to keep posting here about advice and insperation.

Happy editing,
-Keven

[0lBaldy]

Well shucks, I already started working this up using the first pictures (before the NEFs)

Your Cowboy came out pretty good!
When I played with it I selected around the football feathered a bit and did some lens correction.. just an idea

Oh well, Here is the other one I played with just keeping it simple and standard
Tried to stick with the 6X9 format

[Gobsmacked]

Looks like you got some good shots . My only crib is no eye contact ! That is what I meant by trying to keep parents out of the way ! Bill
PS. I like your work with the football ! Too advanced for my capabilities !

[lolli]

adorable baby and so glad it went well for you I mostly shoot little ones and find them to on the whole be more play than work . I did just shoot the girl from heck tho who really tried my patience. I usually can get kids to do exactly what I want but this one was 2 hours of no fun got a few good shots so all is well My next shoot with her is on the beach so she can run amok there. To get eye contact I have bizarre hats with toys animals bugs ect. attatched that I wear to keep there attention on me and camera. I look insane but it works Pat

[igot2pman]

Should I start a new thread in the right place for the editing?

Olbaldy,

Great! That head addition! I’m definitely going to give that a try. I really like what you did here. Great creativity… Try again with the NEF's, I hate working with thumbnails. Plus you will be able to do the raw conversion to your liking, not mine or the clients.
____________________________________________

Gobsmacked,

I know how you feel... I wish I got the eye contact, but at least he's happy at the ball... It’s just that everything else was present...Good pose, frame, smile. It was hard to get them all in one shot. I have more with eye contact, but the look is more confused with no smile. Still cute but not everything you want. Thinking about doing what Olbaldy did....

P.S. capabilities aside, just give it a try, I’d like to see what you could come up with; if you have the time. If backgrounds aren’t your thing... pick one of the ones with good backgrounds.
____________________________________________

lolli,

I agree, wearing the toys is probably a better idea then putting them all on the floor lol. Plus the hat can double as a flag to block the flash from making ghosts. I could not get the kid to stop playing and taking a toy away would just make him cry lol... so I got what I could and said I’ll just edit the mess out later. A lot more work... but luckily they only want about 10 or so...

Thanks for the replies,
-Keven