Photographing Children

 Children are naturally a little wild and a little unpredicatable, so getting great photos can sometimes be tricky.

There's an old saying in Hollywood, never work with kids or animals. For photographers there's rarely a choice.

The problem, as any parent can tell you, is that it's difficult to get children to follow even simple instructions. Start telling them to turn their head three-quarters to the left and bring their hand up a little bit on their waist and you're likely to get a lot of pictures of a very bored or very frustrated child. Approaching a shoot with children like you would with a model is a ticket to failure, here are a few tips that you can use whether you're a parent or a pro.

1. Get on Their level:

Higher angles tend to diminish subjects in a photograph, pure and simple.

There's a second advantage to getting down on your knees or your belly, it opens up a whole new perspective. This is the world a child sees, a world that most adults have forgotten. Just as things shot from higher angles are diminished, things shot from below are embiggened (which is a perfectly cromulent word) which can add a sense of wonder and excitement to a photo.

2. If you don't know the kid, bring an expert

Knowing the person you're photographing is invaluable, but when you don't have the time you can fake it. Parents know how to get a child on task and how to get a child to laugh or smile. It's great when you're starting a shoot and everyone's nervous and you have yet to start a rapport.

A parent can also make a child more relaxed and comfortable, which produces more natural photographs.

3. Let them play

Kids are at their best when they're relaxed and having fun. In a studio setting props and toys can be a great ice breaker, but when you're on location there are so many things you can do to encourage a child to get up and move. Not only do the smiles come easier but it creates a much more dynamic portrait.

4. Relax

Your first few shots with a new subject aren't always going to be great. You're getting a feel for your subject and trying to find the right story to tell, so don't worry too much about the photography at the start of a shoot. Take the time to set the mood you want and observe because it will make for a better product in the long run.

5. Equipment

For the casual photographer you don't really need much. The biggest problem with children is that they're always on the move and most point and shoot cameras can't keep up with them. A great gift to a new set of parents is an entry-level DSLR (or a high end point and shoot, one that doesn't have a shutter delay) and a fast 50mm lens (which can be had for less than $80). With just those two things you'll be well equipped to capture the moments of a child's life.

The key to great children's portraiture is about unlocking what's great about childhood. There's a sense of magic and exploration, if you can let that carry through the frame then you're off to a great start.

Flowers Bloom

Just in time for summer, spring has arrived.

For a few weeks it looked as if we'd see nothing but clouds and rain this spring, but all of that water brought great returns as flowers began to bloom. It's a great time to get out your camera and start taking pictures, whether you're a gardener looking to brag, someone who simply appreciate's nature's beauty or you're finally getting around to learning to use that camera you got for Christmas.

Flowers are a great opportunity for photographers because they lend themselves to all sorts of uses. They can be a background or a subject, you can take them as groups or as individuals, and they are especially exciting for macro photography. They have teh added advantage of being naturally beautiful and generally quite still. Today I'm going to talk about how to take some photos of flowers that you'll be sure to enjoy.

1. Select your subject:

What are you capturing when you're photographing a flower? If what drew your eye is the beautiful field, that's your subject. If what you love is the pattern on the petals, that's your subject.

While it seems simple, choosing your subject informs the rest of your behavior as a photographer because you want to make that subject look compelling.

2. Fill the frame:

Sometimes photographers try to get as much as they can into a photo. They look out and see this broad sweep of the world that seems so beautiful and attempt to drink it in through the lens. It doesn't always work out, however.

One easy trick for making compelling pictures is to get close to the subject and have it fill up as much of the frame as you can. While you don't always want to complete dominate the photography, a large object draws in the eye.

3. Move Around:

Don't take every photo of flowers straight down or from the side. Get low and look up as if the flowers were towering trees, get close and see the little veins on the petals and ants crawling around. Then step back and see how it looks in the world around it. Don't feel like you have to sit in one place until you grow roots.

4. Find the other pictures:

By moving around you can change your background and even your subject. Just because you already have a picture of that sunflower from your car doesn't mean you've shot everything you can. Think about a new subject? What about the petals? What about that big face of seeds?

5. Experiment:

Those flowers aren't going anywhere anytime soon, so take your time and try new things while you're out there with your camera. At the very least you can't embarrass yourself in front of them like you can with a model. The key is to get out there and get excited, and maybe you can find some time this Memorial Day weekend.

The Bald and the Beautiful: Talking to Your Photographer About Photoshop

It doesn't always go perfectly on your perfect day.

With planning you can solve a few minor problems, a hairdresser to fix fly aways and a make up artist to cover up a number of sins but there are always little things that creep in. A small band aid, flesh colored and hidden on the groom's neck — his hands nervous while shaving on his wedding day — to those watching from the pews it was indistinct but in the photos it shows all too well.

These temporary flaws are easy enough to correct with enough scrubbing. A good photographer is also a good editor, skilled with digital painting to cover up those band aids and blemishes missed by makeup (or acquired after during all the brushing and crying and confusion during wedding preparations). No one misses them because in their minds they've already gotten rid of those superficial blemishes.

But what about permanent parts of a bride and groom? The scars and physical traces of life, love and suffering (as well as genetics for male pattern baldness) that put character into someone's face and body, keeping them from looking like a Barbie doll, perfectly plastic. It can be difficult to talk about what you want airbrushed out of sight and out of mind.

Photographers are not plastic surgeons, few will ask you to tell them what you don't like about yourself. It's an especially awkward conversation during a first meeting when a photographer and a couple are first getting to know one another, no one wants to feel judged or be found wanting. Your photographer, especially if you haven't signed a contract yet, also doesn't want to accidentally slight you about a sensitive subject.

So how should you start talking about retouching with your photographer?

Many bridal resources suggest a list of questions for your photographer about their gear, their experience and their techniques. Inevitably the conversation turns to post-processing and here is where you can start to talk about how you'd like to see yourself in your wedding memories.

Ask your photographer about how much retouching they like to do. Are they like real photojournalists, barely leaving a trace of digital editing on their work? Do they draw their inspiration from magazines where everyone is picture perfect, some unreal and idealized version of themselves? Then you can talk about your preferences.

From there you can get more particular. Broadly speaking there are three major concerns for post-processing people: the skin; fine lines and wrinkles; beauty marks and scars.

Skin, even on the best of days can sometimes have uneven tones and textures. Often these go unnoticed day to day, makeup can help even things out but sometimes as the day wears on skin problems can show through. There are a lot of great programs that photographers can use to help even out skin tones, it's simply a matter of deciding what makes you unique and what you want to see. Your skin can go mostly untouched, gently evened out or smoothed over to magazine-style perfection.

Most find the latter unappealing. As with a lot of airbrushing being too heavy handed can render you almost unrecognizable and suddenly your wedding photos are not about you but some CGI version of yourself.

Wrinkles can be a mark of distinction, of wisdom and experience but just as often they're an unpleasant reminder of the aging process. The process of planning a wedding can also be wearing so as much as you rest beforehand you might find yourself with slight bags under your eyes and a few stress lines that will disappear after some time away on your honeymoon.

These can either be softened or eliminated entirely.

The same applies to scars and birthmarks. While they can add character to a face or body, some people are self-conscious about these marks and would rather not see them in their ideal portrait.

There are a host of other issues, and once you start talking about a few of the larger ones it's a lot easier to say that you'd like to see your arms slimmed down a touch and to swap out their husband for Colin Farrell (or to at the very least fix that bald spot that he keeps denying).

Things Your Photographer Needs to Know

Cold weather means it's time to start wedding planning.When the cold air has finally penetrated the earth I find myself in a lot of little coffee shops huddled over a tiny table with a couple talking about their wedding. Often they have this beautiful dream of what's going to happen on their wedding day, sometimes that dream has fallen to the relentless press of reality and the Plaza has become the VFW Hall but the passion is still suffusing their voices.

It's rare that a bride and groom can answer the questions that a photographer would really like to know: what color are the ceilings, how is the light at the time you're planning your event, how much control do you have over the lighting? There are a thousand little details that you learn about when you're a photographer, that you just take in automatically the way that some people breathe in air (or that adept school teachers sense mischief).

Still there is at least one point where couples can really help a photographer during a meeting, so the photographer can better help the couple.

Timing is Everything

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2009 Holiday Camera Buying Guide

The one major problem with giving a great new digital camera as a gift during the holidays is that by the time it's opened, all the best moments have passed. Still, a digital camera can be a great gift for the holidays allowing your loved ones to capture the wonderful little moments that make enduring the month of music and garish decorations worth it.

The problem is that there are about a million digital cameras in the marketplace with names that were written by a cat running across a keyboard (S90? LX3? DSC-W190?). Clicking over to B&H Photo will net you 200 different makes, models and colors to bemuse and bewilder you, and that's before you start looking at what these cameras are supposed to do. Relax last-minute shoppers, help is on the way to start narrowing down those 200 to a dozen or so.

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