Get down on their level! Avoid the 'just standing there, pointed down and snapped a shot' look.
Stoop, kneel, sit, lie down, whatever it takes, get down on their level.
Lay down so you are eye to eye with them
Get in close
And let them do what they want to do. Especially the little ones, if you try to hold them in one spot they get cranky FAST.
The others have given some good advice. Just keep your eye to the viewfinder and just watch them. Fire off shots when you see something catch your eye. Doing this is easier than trying to fire off the occasional shot.
Also, don't forget the little things. Close ups of hands and feet make for some memorable pictures.
Point and shoot. ...and shoot and shoot and shoot. One out of 20 is a keeper. The others are motion blur, eyes close at the exact moment of the shutter release, your own hand reaching in to keep the poor kid from falling off the precarious perch you set him on, etc. :)
...and shoot and shoot and shoot...
And then look at everything you have. What you may have been wanting to get might pale in comparison to what you ended up with.
And timing can be critical at times.... Hehe.. Sometimes you only get one chance :) I think my wife would kill me if I asked her to go through it all again.
In general, you can pull 20 min per year for age of attention span. IF your patient and if the parents are not screaming and making a PITA of themselves. Dont push the kids limits. If the need to move on to something else, follow thier lead. Do all your POSED shots first, then set them free. Take thier shoes off and just roll around on the floor or in the grass with them. Dont stress. Smile. Laugh. Dont worry about the shots. Never make promises, come back again the next day if you need too.
You have exactly 5 minutes if the kids are overtired or sick. Always work in the morning and after a meal. And you cant force a kid to have fun, if they arent into it - get what you can and count your loses. NEVER force a kid to do anything they dont want to do, even if the parents insist on it. Let them be themselves, even if they are feeling rotten.
Tell them NOT to smile if they are older than 3. This means you dont get cheese face but they smile anyway. You get quiet MonaLisa smiles a lot of the time, even on the bounciest kids.
Eye contact with infants. If they are younger than a year, they love eyes. Make sure you peek over the viewfinder so they look directly at you. Or decorate your lens with googly eyeballs and a funny tounge.
DONT STRESS. Otherwise the kids will stress. Dont let the parents stress, or the kids will stress. Dont scare the dog. Bring lots of snacks. Tell a LOT of knock knock jokes. Make butt jokes. Have coffee with the parents in the middle to give the kids a breather if need be. The little ones will laugh if the big ones do, and then wait till they are DONE cracking up and there will be lingering smiles! And shoot fast, cause it doesnt last long.
Fast lenses for low light. Let kids be, they will do the rest for you. Just watch. be patient. Watch more. Shoot quick when the moment comes.
And most of all PLAY. Have fun. And laugh a lot. Kids rock.
** edit... sorry for the talkalot! Finally somebody asked a question I could answer with some knowledge! LOL
I shoot A LOT of kids parties on weekends at an upscale kids party place. (Not what I really like to shoot, but the money is nice.) I find kids are all different, some want nothing to do with you so you have to just observe them and get candids when you can, trying to go unnoticed by them using a longer lens if need be. Some LOVE the camera and make it very easy for you to get good shots. And some are just like "Who the hell are you and why are you pointing that thing at me?" and will give you a blank stare for an hour.
Sometimes first appearances can go a long way with children. If they meet you and are frightened or just shy away, it will take them a long time to realize you're not a bad person. For toddlers, they get scared sometimes of a big camera setup, so on my Stroboframe I put a cute little stuffed monkey that talks when I sqeeze it that I introduce to them when I first meet them. For the most part, it seems to reassure them a bit and keeps their attention towards the camera.
Parents/family members try to help if the kid is not too receptive to you, but they're usually off to the side and sometimes there's like 4 of them from different sides all yelling at the kid to look at the camera causing the kid to look everywhere but at the camera. So I usually ask the Mom or whoever the kid is most responsive to to go behind my shoulder and politely ask the others to shut up (ok, not really "shut up" but you get the point).
Real little ones like under 6 months or so don't respond to their name yet, so to get their attention I sometimes have to get close to them and lightly grab their foot and back away slowly talking in my babytalk-falcetto voice.
The old "say cheese" is kind of outlived, and usually ends up with a cheesy-forcefed-permagrin-looking smile, so I've found if I need to say something like that it's usually "say MONEY!!!" (in a ramped up falcetto voice) and they like that and that usually gets a nice smile from them. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but there's lots of great advice in this thread. Good luck.
The old "say cheese" is kind of outlived, and usually ends up with a cheesy-forcefed-permagrin-looking smile, so I've found if I need to say something like that it's usually "say MONEY!!!" (in a ramped up falcetto voice) and they like that and that usually gets a nice smile from them. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but there's lots of great advice in this thread. Good luck.
"BOOGERS" works good too (gets genuine smiles and laughs), but use with care... some grown-ups may be offended (luckily I'm not a grown-up)!
Don't forget to compose. I don't really believe in the rapid fire shooting theories, though it can be fun to just blast away if they are little hams when the camera comes out.
You have to wait to grab the right expression. Sometimes that means waiting for the great big fake "cheeeeeese" smile to go away and the more authentic expressions to come out.
Totally awesome ... I'm sure the peeps who have never had children don't see the beauty in this, but it totally rocks. Great capture.
(Just had a funny thought: "oh crap doctor, I missed the shot ... can you put it back in?")
Originally posted by Kaizer:
And timing can be critical at times.... Hehe.. Sometimes you only get one chance :) I think my wife would kill me if I asked her to go through it all again.
I agree with it all. Get close, get down to their level, make lots of silly faces and silly sounds (no matter how stupid you look!), if they are done, don't push (you won't get a good shot for sure) But, don't be afraid to get shots of them pouting or crying...sometimes parents love those shots!!! Most important... let them be kids! :)
I love shooting with kids. They are so genuine and so pure... and they have such amazing little personalities! :)
i use this hat to get smiles out of even the grumpiest subject (kids and adults alike). i get them to close their eyes, put it on, tell them to open them, and without fail get a laugh. if that doesn't work, i also have bunny ears, devil horns, and a red ant hat. these all help take the scariness out of a shoot.
