Child Portrait package

Dramatapix®

I'm photographing my first outdoor portrait package of a child this coming weekend. Looking for any feedback at all relative to tips and tricks, types of shots to take, etc. I'll be photographing a 12 year old girl on an Island off the coast of New England. Should be a lot of great beach and coastal areas to shoot at, as well as a park. I'm hoping this is the right forum to inquire about this.

If anyone has examples of galleries with these types of shots, I wouldn't mind looking at some of your work!

Thanks
Brett

nonilady

hi there,

last year i took photos of my niece near a beach in penang, malaysia. that time i havent bought dslr yet so i shot using canon powershot a 620 and kodak z740,,,check out the gallery, i hope some of the images give you some ideas of composition, if not much, at least ....:):

http://photowardrobe.smugmug.com/gallery/1203266

best of luck!
regards

nonilady

nonilady wrote:

hi there,

last year i took photos of my niece near a beach in penang, malaysia. that time i havent bought dslr yet so i shot using canon powershot a 620 and kodak z740,,,check out the gallery, i hope some of the images give you some ideas of composition, if not much, at least ....:):

http://photowardrobe.smugmug.com/gallery/1203266

best of luck!
regards

sorry i forgot to mention that my niece was only 2 yrs old,,

KA0TVO

Very nice gallery. Great pic's.

nonilady

KA0TVO wrote:

Very nice gallery. Great pic's.

cheers bob! thanks for looking and btw,,i checked your site as well,,,i luv your fisheye showcase..stunning...

ziggy53

Brett,

"Beach and coastal areas" could be a problem with hard light. Plan on fill flash and maybe some reflectors too.

A few props or interesting image elements like a large piece of driftwood offer a contrast in texture.

A girlish umbrella can add interest and shade. Watch the color or position it behind the girl to avoid unwanted color cast.

Plan a few simple wardrobe changes. Adding a sweater or jacket or changing the hair can add new interest or accent a positive element.

Find out, in advance, what "her" interests are, and research before-hand. If she has an interst in "Backstreet Boys", be prepared to know a bit about their albums.

Hopefully (or not), her mother will be attending and helping. You might start the shoot with both of them, to make the girl at ease. It shouldn't be long before she's ready for "her" shots (if like my daughters.)

Try to shoot at "her" level, maybe slightly below. If you see much nostril, that's usually way too low. It may be more comfortable for you to shoot down, but avoid it as it yields uninteresting shots, unless done to the extreme for an interesting angle.

Remember that this is a "young lady" rather than a small child, so her poses may be more mimicking adult poses than child. Go with what seems natural and normal for her.

Here are some beach and water shots (in addition to the great images by nonilady):

http://www.imagesource.com/search/searchresults.aspx?action=8&productId=273860

ziggy53

Dramatapix®

ziggy53 wrote:

Brett,

"Beach and coastal areas" could be a problem with hard light. Plan on fill flash and maybe some reflectors too.

A few props or interesting image elements like a large piece of driftwood offer a contrast in texture.

A girlish umbrella can add interest and shade. Watch the color or position it behind the girl to avoid unwanted color cast.

Plan a few simple wardrobe changes. Adding a sweater or jacket or changing the hair can add new interest or accent a positive element.

Find out, in advance, what "her" interests are, and research before-hand. If she has an interst in "Backstreet Boys", be prepared to know a bit about their albums.

Hopefully (or not), her mother will be attending and helping. You might start the shoot with both of them, to make the girl at ease. It shouldn't be long before she's ready for "her" shots (if like my daughters.)

Try to shoot at "her" level, maybe slightly below. If you see much nostril, that's usually way too low. It may be more comfortable for you to shoot down, but avoid it as it yields uninteresting shots, unless done to the extreme for an interesting angle.

Remember that this is a "young lady" rather than a small child, so her poses may be more mimicking adult poses than child. Go with what seems natural and normal for her.

Here are some beach and water shots (in addition to the great images by nonilady):

http://www.imagesource.com/search/searchresults.aspx?action=8&productId=273860

ziggy53

Thanks Ziggy... just the kind of info I was looking for.

Dramatapix®

Once again... thanks for the information. I am pleased with the results of the shoot. I used quite a few of the suggestions that I received. Here is one example:



The rest can be found at:

http://www.dramatapix.com/gallery/1981867

if anyone is interested.

saurora

You got some cute poses, I like the ones on rocks where she's leaning on her forearms. I can see the lighting was tough creating lots of shadows and often putting her eyes in the shadow. What time of day were you shooting? I have a similar shoot coming up if my niece ever gets over the flu. Did you use any flash or reflector at all?

Scott_Quier

Went to your web-site. You've got a lot of nice shots there. My favorite is probably this one



mostly because I'm an old softy for anything that promotes family.

Shooting at high-noon is really rough (yeah, I looked at the exif data on some of the shots) and I think you did pretty good controlling the strong shadows. Fill flash or help with a reflecter would have made all the difference in the world.

I've found that is usually works better to shoot during the first couple of hours in the morning or the last couple of hours in the evening and prefer the evening as that light seems to have an intangible power that I don't find in the morning light. But, morning light can be, for lack of a better term, crisper (does that make any sense at all ).

saurora

Guess my morning coffee hasn't "kicked in" yet....forgot I could look at the exif, Scott!!!

Dramatapix®

Scott_Quier wrote:

Went to your web-site. You've got a lot of nice shots there. My favorite is probably this one



mostly because I'm an old softy for anything that promotes family.

Shooting at high-noon is really rough (yeah, I looked at the exif data on some of the shots) and I think you did pretty good controlling the strong shadows. Fill flash or help with a reflecter would have made all the difference in the world.

I've found that is usually works better to shoot during the first couple of hours in the morning or the last couple of hours in the evening and prefer the evening as that light seems to have an intangible power that I don't find in the morning light. But, morning light can be, for lack of a better term, crisper (does that make any sense at all ).

Makes total sense to me. I actually got there very early in the morning (well relatively for me on a Sunday ), however I spent a bit of time with the family getting to know them and talking about our common interest in Theatre, etc. By the time we got around to going outside it was 11am or later!

I took some pictures of my daughter who was with me, and the late afternoon pictures came out much better.

I did use some fill flash for some of the portrait headshots, but not for the rest (should have). I had to do quite a bit of post-processing in Aperture to get the shadows out as much as I did. Lastly, I think the shadows help some in this particular instance. The young girl model has a lazy eye, and the shadow tended to hide this some.

Thanks for the feedback and for your comments.

Brett

nonilady

my favourites
all the shots are lovely but my favourite ones are these ones

http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133940-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133946-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133956-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101087879-M.jpg

Dramatapix®

nonilady wrote:

all the shots are lovely but my favourite ones are these ones

http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133940-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133946-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101133956-M.jpg
http://www.dramatapix.com/photos/101087879-M.jpg

Thank you...

Here is an example of one that I took of my daughter later in the afternoon. The lighting was much better as you can see.

nonilady

that is a nice shot, i like the composition

thanks for sharing:D