Toddler shooting?

divamum

So... appears I may have a family-with-a-toddler lifestyle-ish shoot coming up next week. I suggested that instead of doing formal stuff with this 20mo old little girl and her parents that we hope for a nice autumn day and head to a pretty park - they like that idea, so it seems that, should this happen, that's what we'll do.

Suggestions from those among you experienced with kids this age? I was fine with my own, but now that she's all growed up (the dizzying antiquity of 13 - gasp!) I find myself struggling to remember what it's like dealing with little people. Ideas? Management strategies? Lighting? Due to schedule conflicts we're planning on something like 3-4.30 so the light will be ok rather than gorgeous, but it's the only time available. Is it even worth trying to use any extra lighting, eg off-camera flash?

All input warmly welcomed. Thanks!

PS I've just realised that the header sounds really strange, but you all know what I mean! :rofl

MG

sweet caroline

Finger puppets. Hold one near the top of your lens. Here is one of my favorite toddler shoots. I have her 3 year old session tomorrow morning. http://www.carolinepoephotography.com/Client-Proofs/Family-and-Child-Portraits/Lulu-is-2/13465772_sbMBBJ#980366144_7oCXw

This was natural light. I had my teen daughter holding up a reflector.

If you can find something like a wall or rock for the child to sit on, you can usually get a couple minutes of posing out of them.

reyvee61

I have six grand kids that I get to practice on all the time so I have a good idea going in when I shoot other folks kids. I try to establish a line of communication based on how advanced the child is cognitively (kids in this age range can vary widely) Sometimes that might mean acting like a total fool and tote along some funny propr just to keep them on track if you know what I mean.

Inadvertently I end up shoot more frames with this type of shoot as well....

Good luck

divamum

Thanks both. I explained that I would much rather shoot them "doing their family thing" rather than try for any specific poses and I know they like that "lifestyle" style, so just hoping I can pull it off.... We're going to need some seriously gorgeous light for the kinds of things I have in mind and given that it's autumn... who knows?!?!?

Caroline, interesting that you had an Elf holding a reflector - I have already informed my Elf that if I need her, she has a job for the afternoon, so I think I'm good to go there. She can also act as a VAL if necessary, I just wasn't sure how realistic it was to expect an under-2 to stay put for pictures (I know that mine never did - all of our shots of her when she was that age are in MOTION!!)

Rey, I ALWAYS shoot a lot of frames - I don't trust myself, and would rather have to hit "delete" than come home with nothing. I reckon since "film" is cheap when you're shooting digital...

adbsgicom

I hear you. My realtor wants a family photo on Sunday with her kids and 3 3-4 year-old grandchildren. She's thinking something posed, and I'm thinking this is going to be interesting...

divamum

Sounds to me like that's a "have the kids on laps" situation - at 3 & 4 they should be able to hold still for at least a few minutes (especially if bribes are involved??!!). I'll try to nail a few of those kinds of shots as well, but I'm just crossing my fingers that I can take the Pat Furey route and just go for pretty, pretty light and creative processing of this delightful couple and their sweet little girl playing and interacting. Well, that's the hope, anyway.... ~looks worried~

sweet caroline

Something else that works well is to give the child choices. "Would you like to sit in the grass or on this cool rock?" I try to get the semi-posed shots somewhat early and then let them get silly. It can also work to take some rests. "Oh here, why don't you take a rest on this bench for a minute." Most toddlers respond really well to be treated like big stuff. It's also good if you can get the parents to NOT give very many instructions during the shoot. Toddlers don't like being bossed around, but parents often feel the pressure to make their child perform. That's all I've got for now. I know you'll do great. Get ready to be active!

Llywellyn

I only did this once--and with twins, to boot--but I gave up on using any external lighting pretty darn quickly. The kids moved too darned fast! I couldn't keep up with them and change my camera settings and change my light settings as they went from shade to sun to wherever. Since it was a lifestyle shoot, we just let 'em run. Continuous shooting mode is also your good, good friend. So dang fast at that age!

I just asked the family to play together and ignore me. Once they had played for a bit, we attempted the formal sit-down portion. The kids sat still for a bit, but then they were done. Toys helped a bit--I've heard tell that putting a Pez dispenser in your camera's hot shoe makes a great "look here" bribe.

Sweet caroline nailed it when she said "Get ready to be active!"

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Sam

Rubber hammer, clear tape, supper glue.

Whack the kid, use tape and super glue to create the facial expressions desired.

No problem.

Sam

Bryce Wilson

The vast majority of what I shoot is children between the ages of 6 months and four years old. I have found that with the 6 month to 3 year age group, them being comfortable and having a good time is paramount to getting good results. Additionally, understanding that their attention span is rather short and introducing new things that interest them at frequent intervals helps too.

A simple game of rolling a ball back and forth for a bit is one of the things I do to hold their attention.

HTH

B

BradfordBenn

I would recommend beer or wine. No, not for the kid - for you.

One of the things that my nephew liked doing when I was shooting pics of him at about that age was chimping with me. That seemed to keep him interested and he would also enjoy being silly to see the shots then he would do some serious ones then silly... etc.

heatherfeather

Little people looove props. Bring a balloon... a big flower... a kid size rocking chair... a giant lollypop. Give them something to hang on to and show off and they really get into it.
Keep your shutter speed up and your aperture stopped down to at least 4.0 or 5.6. Don't even bother trying anything more shallow than that with wiggly people.

And I have to echo sweet Caroline.... try to let the parents know not to boss the kid around pretty early. It is a pain when you have 3 people all saying "say cheese" when you are going for real expressions.

divamum

Thanks all! Some great ideas here - really appreciate the input, and you're all sparking my memory for the things I did with A when she was that age! Seriously - it's amazing how much I've forgotten in the intervening years....

I'll definitely talk to parents beforehand to try and let the "natural" shots happen at first; the mom is super-sensible and pretty easygoing, so I think it will be fine. I explained when they asked me to do this that I prefer the "capture them as real kids" approach rather than anything more formal, and they like the whole PJ-style thing, so we're starting with that as a baseline anyway. I'm actually kind of hoping it will drizzle - I have this image in my head of all three of them in small, medium and large rainboots, little one doing a Christopher Robin in my big umbrella (supervised of course!) and a few other things. But we'll see, I guess! Hoping they'll confirm this week if this is definitely happening, and then we can discuss more.

Keep your shutter speed up and your aperture stopped down to at least 4.0 or 5.6. Don't even bother trying anything more shallow than that with wiggly people.

Oh, how well you know me Heather Yeah, I was thinking about that last night and it occurred ot me it would be fairly daft to risk anything that requires "precision" with small stuff, although I might try my Lensbaby for a few just for fun....

Anyway, if this goes ahead, y'all will be the first to see the results, I'm sure!