chapter 6, we're going to talk about photographing kids and babies. Really

all ages, all the way from babies to teenagers.

So let's start by talking about how to take pictures of babies.

One of the challenges of taking pictures of babies is that you need their parents

involved, because they'll be holding them and keeping them safe and making sure

that they're comfortable.

One great way to get a shot of a infant is to have the mother and father put a

blanket over them as a backdrop and then hold the baby through the blanket. And

then you can take a close up shot of the baby while it's comfortable and sleeping

in a safe place.

Yeah you can't really count on babies to do much of anything but lay there.

So basically what happens is, they will alternate between sleeping and crying

and if you're lucky there'll be a few moments in between where you can

actually get them to open their eyes.

So be ready for that moment but also be prepared to take pictures of just a

completely sleeping baby cuz i would say seventy-five percent of the time the

baby just sleeps through the entire session.

It's also nice to get close-up photos of the baby so you can get pictures of

their little hands or their little feet together,

any little feature that makes them unique, maybe they have particularly cute

little lips or something.

Technically you might even need a macro lens or at least some extension tubes so

check chapter 12 of Stunning Digital Photography for information on how to do

that. They are awfully tiny. And a word about lighting; you know I really prefer

to work with natural light with babies because I don't ever like to use any

kind of direct flash, it'll just upset them.

If you do need to use a flash just use a bounce flash and bounce it off the

ceiling. That will give you the kind of like soft, natural lighting that you

really want, because you don't like any hard shadows on a baby.

They have this beautiful soft skin and the way you're going to really

show that form is by nice, soft, even lighting.

Next we'll talk about taking pictures of two to six year olds. They're a bit more

of a challenge than babies, because you have to interact with them directly.

You might want to get to know their hobbies, things that they like, maybe they

like cars or princesses or just running around. So get to know them, because

interacting with them will be crucial to getting a really nice expression out of

them. -And sometimes you'll just get a shy kid in and with a shy kid or an introverted kid, it

might be better to even give them a little bit of space, just let them be by

themselves in the area. So it might feel weird to be ignoring them for a little

bit, but that will actually let them get more comfortable and then after a few

minutes, they'll be more comfortable talking directly to you.

Another challenge with the 2-6 year old range is that they're moving around a

lot. So sometimes it can be a challenge to keep their clothes or them tidy, so

make sure that their parents pack wet wipes, a comb,

anything that they might need to keep them from getting a little scruffy

during the pictures.

Yeah and don't let the kids pick out their own clothes, because they're going

to end up in these brightly colored things with like cartoon characters all

over them and it looks awful.

Tell the parents to dress them in these simplest clothes that they have.

A white dress or white shirt and jeans is perfect.

When you start taking pictures of the kids,

you might want to get down at their level and start engaging them. So you can

use little toys like this.

Some people put a PEZ dispenser on their hot shoe to give them something to look

at, and one thing that's popular with little boys are a little lights and

things.

Now, this is a last resort toy because you can't give it to them in the photo

but you can at the end of the shoot, if they start to get tired say "hey, if you

smile then i'll give you this." So -yeah, these glow sticks are awesome. I use

these for light painting, night photography. You'll see in chapter 10 of

Stunning Digital Photography. But I found that little boys in particular love them,

they're like tiny light sabers and they're only like three or four bucks.

So if you let them, if you show it to them they're gonna want to play with it,

and if they get it in their hands,

they're not going to leave without screaming. So buy a few extra and plan

to just give it away as a freebie at the end of the session.

So when I'm photographing kids, I usually like to take the pictures outside. In a

studio they can feel a little confined, it's kind of a stuffy environment. But

when they're outside they can roam free, they have a little area to run around

and I just try to take pictures of them candidly having fun and enjoying their

environment.

I think that's a great way to show their personality. But a lot of people also

want traditional studio portraits, so you know frankly, the bigger the backdrop, the

better. You can get by with an adult in a pretty narrow backdrop, but the kids

they're always going to move around. So you really need as much space as you can.

And I've always just try to light the whole room, because you don't know

precisely where you're going to be so there's no precision lighting. But

that's good, because it can be as simple as just bouncing a flash off the white

ceiling. That will fill the room with nice, soft light and it's cheap to do too.

When taking pictures of teenagers and pre-teens, my suggestion would be to talk

to them beforehand and see what kind of photos they want. You want them to look

natural and comfortable in front of the camera and I think that they're more

natural if they have a vision about the picture and they're excited about

working with you on making it.

Yeah, just be careful the pictures that you show them, because people that age

can be a little self-conscious so show them pictures, but only show them like

the really great pictures and maybe don't zoom in on any details, at least

until after you can process the picture.

Up next we have a behind-the-scenes shoot without one of our favorite

portrait photographers,

Samantha, from that Samantha Annette photography. We asked her to photograph

our daughter and her best friend. And I'd like you to really pay attention to the

way that she talks to the girls, because she provides excellent direction without

ever intimidating them.

I'm here with Sam and she's going to show us how to take pictures of kids

ages about 9 to 10 and I'm going to be acting as her assistant.

So what's the first thing that you would do in a shoot like this, Sam?

I'll look at them and see if there's anything that needs to be fixed, the

strap here, maybe ask mom or whatever parent was here, if the bracelets on the

arms come off or things like that.

I've got my

ISO to about 200, my shutter speed's at about 1/60.

Well, we've got two girls here, so i'm going to probably shoot somewhere around

3.5, 3.2. And I'm just going to take a shot and see what it looks like.

I tend to like my images a little bit on the, not over-exposed side, but

brighter side. So I'm actually going to go down and see what 125 looks like,

1/125th. -1/125th of a second! -Thank you.

I always say to kids on a shoot them,

I want you to have fun, it's not supposed to be stuffy or you don't-

it's about having fun. I want you, if you feel like you're going to burst out

laughing at something. I say it's okay to laugh,

it's okay to be silly. And i'll give you a little bit of direction but I don't

want you to feel nervous about anything okay? Okay good.

So maybe I could have you guys just actually sitting kind of the way you are,

but maybe for this one,

you guys are cousins? So can you put your arm around her?

Yeah that's so cute. So your hair is in her face a little bit, so let's push it back.

Yeah, what's that song? "I Whip My Hair"?Aand so we're just going to

take one shot here.

Good! And Maddy, see how your hair is pulled back a little bit? Why don't you pull that

forward a little bit.

You can pull it right around the side -I can help her too. So it's like, like this?

Yeah let's try one like that. Ok. And let's see,

can you scootch your bodies a little closer together?

Yeah, oh that's very sweet. -They're cute -I love it. -Aw, I really liked that a lot. And sometimes

I'll show the girls what I'm doing in the first shots -yeah -just so they can

see what they're actually, what's being produced. And sometimes they'll say

"oh it's so cool!"

So that's a nice shot of you guys, pretty smiles.

Let's have you guys put your backs to each other.

That's so cute, okay, and maybe let's see, can we flatten her dress a little bit?

There you go. -like this?

Yeah it was just popping out in the in the front, yeah, awesome.

And maybe just fix the strap on her, yeah.

-I'm gonna tighten your strap. -oh that's so sweet! So I want to know which

one of you guys has a boyfriend?

Hahahha -Quincy!

Okay, hands down. So which one of you has a boyfriend? -Both -Both? Ahh!

Good! So sometimes I'll say silly things to get them to laugh or make them feel comfortable.

That will definitely get good emotion out of them.

-That's a good idea. So you're working on eliciting an emotion? -Yes always.

-Boyfriends are a good thing at this age, right? -Yes

Or sometimes with with this age or younger, I'll ask them if they're married and

that always is like "I'm not married!" So that will give a good emotion. I would say

shooting children,

I would never say "say cheese" or anything like that, because you will end up with a

stiff face.

[through teeth] this doesn't look good. Never ever say cheese and you will hardly ever hear me say smile.

I don't like artificial smiles.

Yeah so I don't ever ask for them. Kids naturally kind of smile in front of the

camera if they're happy anyway, so I never really have to say it. Sometimes if

they're really unhappy children, I will get on the ground and make animal

noises, or hop like a frog. I have done that many times and it gets kids to crack up!

If I got on the ground right now

and I started taking pictures like this, you guys are gonn crack up. Because it's funny, right?

And then that makes the best pictures.

So we've moved Maddy to another spot over here

not far from where we were before. The light is a little darker over here, so

I'm going to make some changes to my settings.

Initially I was at 1/160th and 3.5 and ISO 200, so I'm actually

going to start with slowing down my shutter speed versus increasing the ISO,

because i want to keep that as low as possible. So i'm going to go down to

1/125th and i'm going to also bring my f-stop down, because instead of two girls

I just have one. So i'm going to go down to 2.8 and 1/125th and see what I get.

And this is just a test that you can just relax. So that actually is right

on, I'm happy with how that looks.

And so I'm actually going to take a couple shots. Hmm, maybe, just see how her

hair is really like..

yeah, and yeah and maybe we can just smooth out a little bit.

Kids naturally pose themselves very well typically, so if it doesn't look awkward

and they look comfortable,

I would rather leave them how they are then try and maneuver them. Because if

you can get a good expression and they look comfortable that makes a better

picture than a very posed picture with a half-smile. So, she looks awesome

the way she's sitting there like that, so I'm going to actually just

snap a shot. And you look so good, I love it

So nice. And because i'm shooting at 2.8, I will typically take a couple of

shots in a row just to make sure that i do have the eye tack sharp in afterwards.

So I'm going to take a couple of more and could you relax your shoulders a little bit?

There ya go it looks so much better, good job.

Awesome awesome. And can you also see the hand that's

kind of hanging around, can you maybe put that in your lap?

Very nice.

I really love it. Okay I'm gonna stand over here and you can follow me with your

head.

Awesome. So keep your body more over there,

yeah, just turn your head. Awesome! Oh you are pro, i love it, love it.

Are you a professional model? You look like one!

So now I'm going to have you facing this way and i'm going to come stand where

Chelsea's standing just to give a different angle, even though we're in the

same spot.

Sometimes you can get a completely different look just by moving your feet

a little bit. So i'm going to actually have you put both of your feet up here,