Child Photography - ( Images and Ideas )

[AFrazier]

I'll start the thread and post a few cute pics. Everyone feel free to add to it.

[Janet Petty]

Absolutely perfect in every way including the sweetness factor. You are to be commended for these Alex.

Janet

[AFrazier]

Thank you.

[mtpfamily]

Been working on these pictures for a while. Baby keeps me busy so I dont get much time to work on them. I am including a link to a picture as well.
It has a few other pictures I have done.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4162080...7622406215161/

[AFrazier]

Those are nicely done. You might consider, though, adding a little more contrast to the black and white processing. There's nothing wrong with the way they are, but the adjustment might make them even better.

[wardpics]

Here are few I worked on this weekend.

[palms]

ok here's a start for me in this thread

my two week old Granddaughter

Palms

[palms]

Alex those are real nice, and the high key ones are what i like best and will be trying to emulate that look in time

mtpfamily again nice photo's and i like the mother and baby ones ( dont think my daughter in law will go for that though )

wardpics those are very nice seasonal photo's and has given me some food for thought when the xmas tree goes up

Palms

[Mike]

wardpicks, I find the background too brite and too busy. Distracts from the faces. If you made them darker and fuzzier (is that a word?) it would help.

palms1, next time try to light so that you get some separation between her head and the background. She just melts into the background.

Its nice to see that so far no one has posted the normal "looking down at the child from above" shot that really bugs me! We all know that children are smaller than adults, no need to emphasize it.

[palms]

Thanks for the tip Mike, i can always use lighting tips, mind you it is hard with one so tiny especially as i wont use the flash,

mind you i have altered the background on this one

Palms

[AFrazier]

Here are a few relatively new ones.

[AFrazier]

Ward, I have to agree with Mike. The images are priceless, but the backgrounds are terribly busy, and the images could be much better without the distraction. If you want the Christmas tree background, try throwing the trees out of focus with a wide aperture so the eye goes to the children rather than the tree. Or move them farther away from the tree.

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by palms1

ok here's a start for me in this thread

my two week old Granddaughter

Palms

Love it. Absolutely love it. I can't even suggest converting it to B&W. The colors are too soft.

It just makes you want to pinch her cheeks.

[wardpics]

Originally Posted by AFrazier

Ward, I have to agree with Mike. The images are priceless, but the backgrounds are terribly busy, and the images could be much better without the distraction. If you want the Christmas tree background, try throwing the trees out of focus with a wide aperture so the eye goes to the children rather than the tree. Or move them farther away from the tree.

Thanks for the tip and I agree with you totally! I'll have to get my photography to set the aperture wider for sure. She was using an 85mm prime so moving the kids forward away from the tree wasn't going to work as we were shooting in a narrow room. I guess I could select the background in another layer, gaussian blur it, blend it to soft light, layer mask the girl, flatten the layers...see?

[swarbees]

These are my grandkids---not pro like some of the others here but not too bad for snapshots

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by wardpics

Thanks for the tip and I agree with you totally! I'll have to get my photography to set the aperture wider for sure. She was using an 85mm prime so moving the kids forward away from the tree wasn't going to work as we were shooting in a narrow room. I guess I could select the background in another layer, gaussian blur it, blend it to soft light, layer mask the girl, flatten the layers...see?

Significantly better. There is less attention on the tree and its lights. My eye went straight to her face.

Try the lens blur filter in the future, though. It has a more realistic depth of field blur.

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by swarbees

These are my grandkids---not pro like some of the others here but not too bad for snapshots

Those are very well done for "snapshots." Nice mood to them.

[palms]

Originally Posted by AFrazier

Love it. Absolutely love it. I can't even suggest converting it to B&W. The colors are too soft.

It just makes you want to pinch her cheeks.

Thank you Alex , and another great two from you, Love the one in the chair
and another great tip about using the lens blur I would of gone down the same road as wardpics, but tried out the lens blur and liked it

Swarbees great shots, and great keepers
Some great ideas and tips coming out of this thread, great stuff

Palms

[swarbees]

Thank you Palms -- when my granddaughter was brand new I took pictures and adjusted the backgrounds much the way you did but it wasn't as good because the baby was laying on knees and when the knees went away the baby was floating in mid air. Yours is priceless!

[swarbees]

same kids different day

[AFrazier]

A few from yesterday. Still processing a good majority of the images. These were just a couple that I particularly liked.

[michaelbs]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/...22eb71de4a.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/...fe26891704.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3441/...30b53fb59f.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/...46d11fc204.jpg

A few of my daughter. How do you embed pics here btw? (I'm new here)

[pellepiano]

Heres a sad one.

[palms]

Swarbees they are lovely particularly like the middle one

Alex nice ones especially the second one ( except the nail varnish draws my eyes ) it gives of a feeling of protectiveness

Michael some great shots and processing really like the colours and feel of the first one

Here is some info and adding your photo's, yes you will find them small but add your links as well that way when you go back in a few years your links might of gone but the smaller images will be there, it works well for reference etc

Pellepiano lovely makes you wonder what the child is looking at ! !

for the more "professional" photographers does is take a lot of work to get the children to pose or is it just see what happens (if you know what i mean )
and how do you stop the older kids from pulling funny faces or crossing there eyes etc ( I have one granddaughter who does this loads ) I have taken a nice shot of three of them only to find upon closer looking she has goofed around some

Palms

[AFrazier]

It's a patience issue. If you do the Walmart-like route and try to just get that first smile, you're going to end up with a handful of shots that range from okay to acceptable. If you want to land "the shot," you have to entertain the child, have the parents entertain the child, etc. You have to be patient enough to stop, sit back, and wait for the child to calm down if they get upset, or in the case of older kids, wait for them to settle down.
But keep the camera ready and focused. When that smile happens, snap it. Then snap it again. And then again. You'll get a handful of brief smiley/laughy moments. If you shoot five to ten shots per instance, you'll have a good number of quality shots when you're done. And there's always one or two that stand out.
I personally spend about two hours on a kid shoot. I'll snap about seventy to a hundred frames, give or take. I generally come out of it with about forty to fifty quality shots, and at least three "wow" shots.
When you consider that high fashion photographers will shoot dozens of images, and with experienced models that can take direction, just to nail a single shot, my track record is pretty good. I land approximately one "wow" shot per twenty-five, and at least five quality shots.

I sold over $300 in prints off the shoot those two recent photographs came from. Again, it all boils down to patience, and being ready to click the shutter when they make the expression you are looking for.

[AFrazier]

It also helps, if you aren't practiced at shooting children hand-held, to set the aperture small (about F/16) for greater depth of field. Then prefocus on the eye, and make sure you have 1:1 lighting so it doesn't matter which way the child turns when they start to play around.

If you set up this way and use a tripod, you can walk away from the camera and use a cable or remote. Funny faces go away when children think you aren't taking their picture.

[AFrazier]

michaelbs, I especially like the post on the first and fourth ones. The fourth has that polaroid-like feel to it. It's ironic that camera and film manufacturers have spent decades trying to get away from that look and generate true color, and now that they have, we spend our time trying to create nostalgic looks.

[palms]

thank you Alex for your reply and tips, i sort of guessed it would be patience,
I think we "non pro's" think we should be able to get the shot in one go ! ! ! ! ! not realising that pro's take more than one ! ! !
I will try out the aperture setting
unfortunately i don't have a remote or cable, but my sort of trick is, Is to frame the shot and hold the camera as still as possible and look away then press the button, fooling them sometimes ( adults have fell for that trick as well ) sometimes it works others either i or they have moved.
Also i will use the continuous button so i get 2 or 3 shots and hope one is ok
Failing that i chase them and tickle the little blighters

Palms

[AFrazier]

Most of the digital cameras today come with a wireless remote. What are you shooting with, if you don't mind me asking?

[palms]

Originally Posted by AFrazier

Most of the digital cameras today come with a wireless remote. What are you shooting with, if you don't mind me asking?

Not a dslr
but a fuji finepix s5800

Palms