Children and photography. A complicated mix that, sometimes, we dads despair a little when we try to take pictures of our little ones. From Babies and More, I have been asked for this collaboration in the field of children's photography. We started today with the delusion of learning among all to take better pictures of our little ones. Here we go.
Who rules: They clearly
Surely you will not know yet. Nuria and I have two whirlpools, and I say well. A boy, Diego, 5 years old and a girl, Naomi, 2 years old. Both drive Nuria, her mother and me crazy sometimes. I think I cover perfectly, in that sense the stages that are covered in Babies and More, right? I will try to always tell you things from my own experience. From that experience I have to tell you that they send. So clear. Do not insist on taking pictures of a child when he does not want to.
I give you an example. Recently, we made a small photo session for the promotion of a theater with 4 children. Two boys of 5 years and two girls of 4 years. Among them was Diego. Although they were friends, my son got angry and for a while (rather until the end) he did not want to participate in the photo shoot. Nothing happens, although as parents, obviously we get upset. His friend Teo instead, participated in the game that was simply to make them scream as loud as they could.
In another session I was preparing for my sister-in-law, Diego was walking around and wanted to sit down. He started to get serious and said, "I'm going to be Harry Potter and I'm going to cast a wizard spell on you" (I think he still doesn't know who he is because he is too small even for J.K. Rowling's movies and books). As I had everything mounted I let him sit put his face serious and I shot.
What to do: Let's study our little ones
As a hunter who study the terrain to capture their prey, we must study and know what are the best moments to capture photographs of our children. Lately, with Naomi, it has worked quite well for me some days when she gets up from her nap because she has a very sweet character at the moment and is more "collaborative" (it will be because she is still a little asleep). It has not always worked, but the second time was the charm and the result is the photographs you can see, in black and white.
For the realization of this series, I used a 50mm f / 1.4 mounted on my Nikon D7000 (it does not matter if it does not sound to you, we will tell you later). I heard her calling me from her room and answered her, hidden on the other side of the bed in our bedroom, waiting for her to come. He looked for me for a few seconds until he went to the room. She leaned on the other end of the bed with a large smile. I started shooting immediately and using the main light as the window light, filtered by the curtains, which was right in front of Naomi. After those initial minutes I had to give him the home phone to continue the complicity we had found. You can see the result below.
Open spaces: an ideal solution on many occasions
For me it is ideal. Take me the telephoto lens and let them play as they please while I take the pictures. The camera turns out not to be, in this way, a foreign object behind which their parents seem to hide. Well, in those moments they are in their things. A little trick is to be pointing and when you have it focused you call them, as in this photograph of Bruno, another friend of my children.
An aspect to be taken into account outdoors is sunlight. If we take advantage of the sunset time we will get an extra point of quality in the photographs of our children.
Enclosed spaces: a problem that has a solution
It happens to me that I have to alter them at home. Does it sound to you? Surely yes. But if what we want is to take pictures in a more closed and small space such as our houses, then we must use another strategy. One I have already told you, to study the moments.
For example with Diego it worked quite well for him to get under the bed and play to get his head out. I love how he plays there and he knows it. He has a great face in those moments.
Focus attention on details
One of the most important issues in photography is to focus the viewer's attention on the details. In the photograph that heads this article, the detail I focused on is Naomi's hair, her curls. I wanted to do something different. Other ideas as we have seen are born, especially from the possibility of giving children a comfortable environment for them, after that, the photos always come out much better. And if we get that we take pictures is a game for them it will be much better.
In summary
That they send in this matter, it is clear. The photographs must be part of the game with your children and never an obligation, unless you want them to put that "fake smile" showing a little teeth. A thousand ways to get good children's pictures. I've tried to give you some keys, I hope they serve you.
Little by little in this special of children's photography we will discover more things. In the next chapter I will talk about keys to keep in mind and little tricks to take pictures of babies, according to the stages that are going on in the first year.
Photographs | Alfonso Dominguez Lavin
