A once commercial photographer who did a lot of sport and magazine work, Graham Monro took his professional skills over to the domestic field of photography where he exclusively shoots portraits. In this video, he explains great tips to achieve phenomenal photographs of families and children.
Though the video’s title explains that it explains wedding photography, in actuality this video focuses more on photographing children in their environment. However, his tips can easily be used to achieve a successful wedding photography as well.
Main points explained by on Photographing Children and Families in the video are:
– For getting the best reaction is to establish yourself with them. meet with the child and have a good chat with them. Then, keep them active.
– For interesting photos, ramp up the variety of the fun. Shooting really low or an out-of-focus foreground objects create dimension.
– Bloopers are usually fun and are usually the most interesting.
– For babies, wait for little reactions that make the photos interesting. Macro shots of little smiles and yawns are usually crowd-pleasers. Also, photograph macro shots of various appendages such as their tiny feet or hands.
– Get the character of the child you are photographing.
– For equipment, one DSLR body and a couple of lenses is enough. A couple of DSLR bodies with two different lenses attached works better though.
-When shooting with a wide aperture lens, the trick is to focus on the eyes and let the rest fall out of focus.
– Photographing kids while they’re actively playing makes for interesting photographs. These require high shutter speeds and should be done towards the end of the shoot.
– For flashes, it is best to use the TTL setting. Also use an off-camera flash to get different light directions.
– Reflectors are also a great accessory for photographing outdoors. They are all about lightening up the eyes.
– For indoor shoots, it is best to use natural lighting. Without the feel of being photographed, the kids are more natural and feel more relaxed to play with each other. To avoid blur, increase the ISO.
– For children photography, the main key is to have fun. If you have fun, you will get good fun shots. If you’re playing and putting in the effort, they start to have fun and play with you as well.
– The best tip for those improving their photography is to continually shoot. Do not over-analyze. Keep practicing and the progress will naturally flow.
Try these tips out on your children or other family member. Remember and have fun. The fun vibe will translate into fun, vibrant photographs.
Images Source : Graham Monro Photography
