An afternoon portrait photography session with a couple of young children
I want you to meet my new buddy Big C (I do not use names for kids that I photograph). He likes wresting. A lot. Like more then the average 5 year old kid does. How does he feel about portrait photography? Well, lets say that Big C would rather stick with wrestling.
The Crippler
My portrait session with this young boy was an absolute riot – he could not wait to show me all of his cool moves. I am pretty sure the move that you see in the photo above is called “The Crippler”. I love photographing people, and children are no exception. You just need to understand that a child’s needs are slightly different than the average adults. That whole “I need to sit for a portrait photography session because mom says so” thing pretty much never works.
You need to find a way to make them WANT to sit for a portrait. Engage them and find out what their interests are and use that to your advantage. Let him do one wrestling pose, let him run over and see his picture on the back of the camera, and then get him to do one pose for you. Its bribery, no doubt, but when it comes to portrait photography with children you sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done.
Portrait Photograph of a Toddler
This is Little D, the younger brother of Big C. Not into wrestling or portrait photography, but a happy go lucky toddler who was a lot of laughs. Not nearly as easy to wrangle into place as his older brother, but I was happy with the photographs just the same.
No bribing this fellow, you plop him down into the middle of the set and start making noises and calling his name. Wave a toy or two. Hold a laptop playing video clips from his favorite TV show. Rip off a couple of photographs before he toddles his way back to mommas arms. Repeat as necessary. The shot above is probably my favorite photograph of the day. A really cute photograph, and it looks as if he might be ready to record his first rap CD
This photography session was done right in the families living room. I pack all my portrait gear, load it all in the car and head on out and set up my stuff, and maybe rearrange some furniture in the process. Got in and out, in about 2 hours. I setup my background stands with a white backdrop. Lighting was two flashes that take the backdrop and light it up to keep it nice and white. Up front is a flash into a shoot through umbrella just off to camera left and at a medium height. When photographing kids I tend to let the light bounce and fly everywhere. I try to create a large area of nice even light so that the kids can move around and still be well lit.
Face it, little kids are not really going to sit still and follow a strange photographers directions real well. Basically, a three year old is not into creating dramatic lighting for intimate portraits. They simply run around and play. I give them enough light and space to be able to move around in and then I basically act like an idiot, making funny faces and silly noises, hoping to catch their eye and a bit of their personality.
You can see more of my photographs from that day in a slideshow over on my Flickr site!