Photographing Children Again!

Photographing Children Again!

by William Lulow

I have written before about photographing children and animals and how photographers have to be prepared to do this type of shooting. Well, I had another opportunity just the other day to capture another child in action. It is always fun to watch children react to the idea of being photographed. First, the really young ones (this one was just six months old) don’t really know what’s happening. They see a bright light and they react to what adults tell them, even if they don’t know precisely what is being said, they are learning. Their minds are absorbing all adult actions and speech. It is fascinating to watch. 

This was a location shoot at the child’s house. I usually go it, set up a small, white background and, when the child is very small, I use my super large, white umbrella as my main light and that’s usually it. I am trying to get the child on a white background with very little shadow. In this case, we needed to use a prop for the child to sit on as she really couldn’t sit up for any length of time on her own yet. 

Here is the setup:

You will notice that I sometimes position myself inside the umbrella itself. But I’m usually sitting to one side a bit. This was a half-roll of white no-seam paper that is more than enough for any small child. For this type of shoot, I don’t use any background lights because I’m close enough to the subject to keep the lighting soft and also close enough to the background to minimize any appreciable light fall off. 

Here’s the result:

Since the light was off to camera right just slightly, there is a little shadow on the baby’s face (camera left). And, the background is a bit darker because the chair was closer to the baby. But the overall effect is what I’m after here. 

Here is another example:

In this shot, we got Matilda to sit up for a couple of seconds while I photographed her on the white background. It gave us the shot we wanted. 

One of the other things you probably should know about children is that although they might be in a bad mood, or need a nap or just don’t feel like cooperating when their parent says someone is coming to take your picture, is that once they see the white paper and the lights and see the flashes, they will most likely, perk up a bit and get interested. This was the case just last week when I went to photograph my granddaughter, Dylan for her overdue third-birthday photoshoot. She wasn’t even dressed when I got there, so she had to be dressed by her Nana. Her mom wasn’t home due to another conflicting appointment. Nana did the best she could with Dylan’s hair, but otherwise, when she saw I was there to photograph her, got into the mood.

Now when I shoot kids, whether it’s in my family or strangers, I am always looking for the kind of images that show involvement between me and them. The ideal image for me, is an expression that shows the child is paying attention to me and is interacting with me on a personal level. I don’t want them wistfully looking up in the air, away from the camera. I want them attending to me and the experience at hand:

Here, Dylan, who often acts like an imp, is really paying attention and looking directly at me through the camera lens. It’s a close-up that is revealing of her personality. Here’s another one kind of indicative of this stage of her life:

This one also shows her “little girl” quality and her smile which was there from birth.

So, bottom line: I’m ready to shoot right after I complete my setup (which takes roughly 20 minutes) and I keep shooting while the child is reacting to all the stimulation around her. I’m trying to get a great expression primarily. But I’m also trying to get the ambiance of the studio setting to work as well.