You are facing one of the riskiest situations that you or your photographic team will face. You will see your physical and mental integrity exposed at all times, you will crawl through sand between shovels and threatening rakes, you will stumble upon lego pieces, with screaming dolls, you will leave your precious camera on top of a piece of chewed cookie, or somewhere less than subway twenty and… Zas !, to the ground. And just when you are about to leave, when you think “let someone else do it”, or “I will take pictures with your mobile, I will not take any more risk”… You will see that face, that emotion, that gesture, that look that nobody better than You know, that nobody better than you knows how to immortalize, you will grab your battered camera and full of chewed cookie, and you will resume this work as full of danger as absolutely fascinating and wonderful that it is to photograph boys and girls. And since you risk your physical integrity and that of that beautiful camera that cost you so much effort to obtain ... At least it is to obtain wonderful images of those small, imaginative, fascinating souls that are children. To do this, we go with a few tricks and tips to photograph them with great results.
BEFORE STARTING
GET INSPIRED
If you are tired or tired of always making the same images, if you do not find inspiration wherever you go, I recommend two options:- Analyze your images, what do you like and what are missing or left over to those that don't? What do you want to get? Analyze it, internalize it and once you have it clear, go get it.
- Seek inspiration in others. There are many online photo galleries of children's photography, and much information on the net. Surely some image fascinates you and motivates you to try something similar.
CHOOSE APPROPRIATE SCENARIOS
Whenever you can, find places where children know they are going to have a good time and also provide you with a photogenic environment: The forest in autumn with its millions of colored leaves scattered on the ground, a field in spring full of flowers, a path full of puddles and good red boots of water (Be careful with the camera!) the beach or the river in summer and a long etcetera.STUDY THE PLACE OF THE "SESSION"
Prepare and know the place before you start taking pictures of children, it will help you to know the best places to have good lighting, the best backgrounds, and the different possibilities. So if you don't know him beforehand, before you start portraying the children, take a look and plan the best scenarios.- Find the place and the moment with the best lighting
- Make sure you have enough light (if not, you can open the diaphragm, increase the ISO or use the flash)
- Watch the background; Remember to complement the action, the story, but not distract attention from the main motive of the image. If you do not contribute anything, close the frame or open the diaphragm to blur it.
CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE SHOOTING MODE
Depending on the situation and the results you want to obtain, you must choose between the different modes provided by the camera. Children photography is action photography in its purest form, a good option is the speed priority mode , in which you choose a minimum speed in which you make sure that your images and your protagonists will not be moved.SHOOT IN BURST
It is not too much that you configure the camera to be able to shoot in burst, especially if you anticipate an accelerated and uncontrolled outdoor sessionDURING THE SESSION
GET UP TO IT
People have to look them in the eyes, in the mirror of the soul, and children will not be less, right? We always emphasize the importance of the eyes in any portrait, how important it is to focus them well unless you consciously want a different result. Since they are naturally lower than us (at the moment), the only way to get them framed with a normal point of view is by bending over, throwing yourself to the ground, doing squatting balances or whatever you can think of so that your goal and its Eyes are at the same height. That does not mean that you can not use other angles, chopped, counter-chopped, zenithal images, etc. will also provide you with other interesting points of view.DO NOT FORCE THEM TO POSE
Some will be the one you get to pose for more than a minute with good results, although it is not usually the norm, especially in the smallest and restless. So the best option is to let them unfold in their air, let them play and have fun , the images will be a thousand times better than if you force them to pose, to put strange faces or forced smiles.NOT ALL ARE SMILES
Although the smile of children is one of the most magical and photogenic things that exist, you should not limit yourself to showing only one part, a bias of your character. Do not just look for the smile, also look for everything that is part of them, crying, concentration, eyes wide with emotion. These images say as much as her smile, and also complement her and make you get a complete portrait of her fascinating personality.PLAN AND DE-PLAN
If you had planned something before starting the session, by now you will have noticed that nothing is going as you wanted. Do not despair, planning a session with children is almost like wanting to plan a rain session. But that's not why you're going to stop getting wonderful and spontaneous images, you just need a little patience , perseverance and desire to have fun.ANTICIPATE AND MOVE QUICKLY
If you want to get good images of children, I can assure you that you are not going to get them still, so move around, stand up, squat, stretch on the floor, approach, get away, focus, wait for the right time, and repeat as many times as you need until you are satisfied with the result. Little by little and with practice you will learn to anticipate certain situations and get the most out of them.COME CLOSER
Try different planes and do not forget the close-ups and details, which are the ones that will best allow you to highlight and focus attention on your look or the gestures of your face.TAKE CARE OF THE COMPOSITION
Yes, I know that you have enough to try to get a single unmoved image of your children, an image of the face and not of the child's back running in the opposite direction to you to catch your ball ... But taking care of the composition It is still as important as ever. Think that once you have the image before you you can do it not so well or, for a little more effort, (I move the camera slightly to the right, left, up or down, I descend, I look for the third, I do not look for it because I don't like it, I'm groundbreaking, I'm classic ...) You can have a great image. It is the last and decisive step, a little touch of shutter and Voilà!SEARCH ALLIES
It makes something complicated a child photography session in which you are only at the mercy of children. If you have to watch them and try to immortalize great moments, things can get complicated. So it is best that you use someone to keep them guarded, distracted and, if possible, fun while you dedicate yourself exclusively to chasing them with the camera trying not to intrude and go as unnoticed as possible.PORTRAYS RELATIONSHIPS
Since to a greater or lesser extent we are all sociable series by nature, do not forget to photograph the boy or the girl, whenever you have a chance, with the people around you. The complicit glances between two children, between them and their fathers and mothers, grandparents, etc. will provide you with beautiful images. Especially when they have forgotten that you are there and they give you the essence of that magical moment.TELLS A STORY
Try to go beyond a beautiful image, try to express something else, tell the story of an emotion and a unique and unrepeatable moment. Make the one who looks at your image can follow the threads as if he were reading the page of a novel or a storybook. You can do it in one image or several, the important thing is that they transmit your version of the story.TAKE SOME TREASURE TO SURPRISE THEM
It usually works well to take some small detail that encourages the game and is also photogenic, balloons, soap bubbles, costumes, streamers ... Whatever you can think of. This way you will be able to anticipate those moments of emotion that follow the initial surprise and while they are distracted and fascinated with their new treasure, you can start photographing with relative tranquility.AFTER THE SESSION
Take a deep breath and connect the memory card to the computer, surely you have much more wonderful images than you expected. If the children had a good time, I bet you do too. And most importantly, surely your images reflect it 100%.MAKE A GOOD SELECTION AND DELETE THE REST
It costs, but with time you will appreciate it, surely you have many similar images, be selective, you don't need images of every second of your life. You will not be worse mother or father or person in general for itPROTECT YOUR PRIVACY
We all like to see and share the benefits of our children with the world, the problem is that we rarely take care of the amount of people who will have real access to those images. So think carefully about what material you are going to hang on the net before doing so.- Do not post images of naked children or with very little clothing.
- Do not post images of your children in easily recognizable places (name of school, name of your street ...)
- No images that can humiliate them publicly. Do not do what you would like them to do to you, you will not want to see it shared a million times throughout the planet, right?
- Never hang RAW files from images, it's like giving a movie's negative to a stranger.
- Ask permission to take the picture
- If you are going to publish them you will need (or recommend) always have written parental permission, you can find forms online.
