The photographer Anton Unitsyn shares the ideas for a photo shoot with children on the example of filming three different families.
Whenever you are planning a new photo shoot, start with values. Ask yourself the question - what is valuable in the photograph you plan to take? I always try to try it on myself, and ask myself - why would I want this kind of pictures?
My answer is simple - it’s worth shooting so that after many years, there is an opportunity to return emotionally at the moment, relive it again. Therefore, when it comes to a family photo shoot, I choose a non-stop approach. Production portraits can be very beautiful, but they do not have real life. And when some time passes, looking at the photos of the family, the person actually remembers how they put it, how they took it off.
It is a completely different matter if a real emotion or condition is caught. when people really experienced what we see in the frame, rather than playing, not posing. Then, through the years, looking at family photos, they will be able to return that very day and relive it. Photography becomes a kind of memory diary, a bridge with which we can travel in time.
Based on these values, the objectives and structure of the survey are formed. I do not try to conduct a family photo shoot in the studio, or in a place where it would be convenient for me to shoot. I try to shoot in places where my heroes are interested, where they want to be on their own, and not for the sake of shooting. Then in the pictures there will be real life, the attention of the heroes will be drawn to each other, and not to the photographer.
This approach will convey the personality of the heroes, their hobbies, hobbies, addictions. Therefore, at the preparatory stage, we communicate with the family, I always try to find out what they like to do, how to spend time, what they are fond of, so that ideas arise for a family photo shoot. All this allows you to make the shooting not only lively, unique, real, memorable, but each story is different.
The first story - a family photo session on a yacht
I rented a boat trip for my friends. Sveta is a photographer, and when colleagues invite, it is always exciting, responsible and pleasant, because the photographer doesn’t call anyone, people, as they say, rummage in the subject. The guys said that they always dreamed of going to sea on a yacht, and besides this they have a hobby - aircraft modeling. As a result, we had two locations for a family photo shoot in nature: the Ob reservoir - for a photo on a yacht, and the fields - for a photo with airplanes.
It so happened that just before that I went to Croatia to shoot a sailing regatta. And it turned out that the shooting experience in similar conditions was completely fresh for me. To shoot, the guys had to take care of renting a yacht. The main difficulty of a photo shoot on a yacht is crowding. The space is limited, while I want all the members of the family to get into the frame, and at the same time, to have a movement, some kind of drive. Therefore, on a yacht, I always used a wide-angle, without it there is nothing to do there, though you need to be very careful, placing the heroes closer to the center of the frame, so as not to distort people in the picture with distortions. Very often, at the same time, I myself got into the frame, but it seems to me that in this case it is not scary.
Having taken a photo on a yacht, we returned to the car, and went to the fields. By that time it was already a good evening light, and got a few shots with aircraft models. Starting an airplane or a kite is a good idea for a photo shoot with a child in nature. In total, to take dynamic and beautiful family photos, it took us about three hours of clean shooting time, plus the road. We spent most of the time on the yacht on the yacht, and we shot in the fields for about an hour.
Life hack from the photographer. Keep in mind that “yacht is the sea” and “yacht is a reservoir” are two different stories. If you are shooting a trip not to the sea, where there are blue expanses around, you will certainly encounter the problem of color of water. For example, at the Ob reservoir, the water is usually a sickly pale green. But in good weather, the color saves the reflection of the sky, especially if you use a polarizing filter. In sunny weather, I always use it, this survey was no exception, and I managed to make the water more marine in color.
The second story - school, home, training
Usually, if I am renting a family, we either come up with some ideal day during which family members realize their dreams, or we take an ordinary day out of family life, during which everything happens as usual. In this shoot, we went for the second option.
Filming began in the morning. I came to school with my eldest daughter, took lessons, talk with classmates. The photo shoot at home continued.
Since the guys wanted a beautiful family portrait, a small production part arose. But while preparations were being made for filming — my mother combed the girls, my father vacuumed the room, I shot this “backstage” of the production part of the photo shoot, and in my opinion it turned out to be very valuable, conveying the atmosphere. Some special ideas for a photo shoot at home, in the format in which I work, are not needed - life goes on, and I fix it.
Then the girls went to a dance class with girlfriends and a teacher, and a small training room was organized right at home. And finally, we took another family photo - with grandfather and grandmother, who by that time had come to visit.
Life hack from the photographer. I don’t attach importance in what clothes the family will be removed. I always want to achieve maximum naturalness, and most importantly for me - emotions. But if you want to make a family bow, it can be done very easily, for example, in this shoot, the guys picked up white t-shirts and jeans for this purpose. Of course, photographers do not like white and black, because white is prone to overexposure, and black is prone to overexposure, but modern cameras have enough dynamic range to cope with this task.
The third story - a photo session with a child in the pool
The main action on the day of the photo shoot was scheduled in the spa with pool. But we met in the morning at the guys' house.
If a small child participates in the photo shoot, I usually don’t start shooting right away, it takes some time before the baby gets used to you. One of the first shots shows how the girl assesses the situation, looks how dangerous the photographer is.
The first part of the photo shoot took place at home, the girl showed me her drawings, told me that she was painting, we started a dialogue, interaction and it was easier to shoot further. We drank tea all together, and then went for a walk.
In the pool, we splashed a bit, lay on the sunbeds. I specially prepared a goupro camera for this shoot, which has a waterproof case. I really wanted to take a photo underwater, but the girl had not yet learned how to dive, and did not dare to dive, but her dad was not afraid to dive, and there are these moments on the frames. Then the guys just rested, ate ice cream, swam. The weekend was very relaxed, and at the same time we got a warm family photo shoot.
Life hack from the photographer. When you are preparing for each new shoot, think about what opportunities a new plot opens up for you, and what you need in order to realize them. I prepared for shooting in the pool in advance. I wanted to take a photo under water, and in order to understand how well the camera will be controlled, I trained in the bathroom. I used gopro on a monopod, while controlling the shooting with the phone. With the help of Wi-Fi, the signal went to the phone, I could see what I was shooting, and I could control the shutter from the phone. The only thing was that it was not possible to lower the chamber deeply, because water damped the signal, so it had to always be kept near the surface.
