Monday, September 28, 2009

Taking a break


Mama had a chance to slow him down for a minute or two.  She did not intend to be in any of the images, but I hope to photograph her more the next time as she is a natural beauty.

3 comments:

  1. Nice shots Cindi!

    You're experience with J sounds just like my experience with Max on Saturday evening! Man did I learn how much I have to learn! :-) We started at 6:30 and by 7:15 the light was completely gone. I spent way too much of my effort just trying to keep up with Max and made the mistake of having my camera set in AV (Aperture Priority) mode so after 5 minutes my shutter speed had decreased to 1/30 then 1/15 without my even noticing it! I ended up with an embarrassingly low number of keepers. I also now know that if I want to photograph kids I'm going to have to get a whole lot better at the whole baby talk thing...I didn't get any photos of Max actually smiling and I blame myself for that. I hope to post what I'm calling keepers on my blog today or tomorrow.

    Here's what I learned: 1) in fast changing evening light shoot in manual mode only and check exposure every 2 or 3 minutes 2) bring some kind of silly props and do the whole baby talk thing or whatever it takes to get a smile from the average toddler 3) wear knee pads.

    Did I miss any lessons I should have learned? Sounds like our shoots when very much the same (except hopefully you ended up with more keepers that me).

    Cheers!
    Barry

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  2. Yeah, I think we really need to be prepared to look ridiculous if we want to photograph kids! I am so NOT a manual shooter, I have so much to learn about that. Silly props are great...however the parents might laugh more than the kid. One thing I found really important with active little ones is to find a way to contain them --- on playground equipment, in a bucket, parents swinging them up between them, whatever you can think of. I have bought several children's chairs that I can't wait to use but also they can look really cute in adult chairs even out in a field. And having something for them to play with, like trucks or dolls or teddy bears may keep them still for short periods. Another thing that so far I haven't tried but intend to is BRIBES --- small bite of candy (NOT chocolate though) but OK it with the parents beforehand, or toward the end a very large sucker, that can make some cute shots. Good luck!

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  3. B&W is great for this shot. It simplifies it and makes the emotional aspect greater than color.

    Mom's look is what this one is about. I have seen some very effective shots like this where the crop would show only the mother's eyes and mouth and also less background on the left side of the child. I think this crop may make the emotional impact even greater.

    Very good work--and after reading your and Barry's comments, I do not expect many more photos from you two for a while--you will be spending all your time at the gym.

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