shooting children

tat2me2 · Sep 24, 2005

alright....i take LOTS of photos of kids (candid) since im always around them...i would like people opinion on what makes the difference between just a candid snapshot and a nice photograph when shooting kids. the photos i take of the kids, the parents love (of course, they arent professionals, just parents...haha)...but id like to know what more i can do to make them more "artistic" or more for "artistic value" (though i do like the ones i take for the most part)...
(so can i get any pointers? how are these, what could i have done better?)
BTW...ive only been shooting for about 2 months, and i have no control over focus (or ANYTHING like that, its basiclly a point and shoot digital)...FYI before anyone starts telling me what functions i could change..
thank you, appreciate any and all comments...

tat2me2 · Sep 24, 2005

sorry for the large pics....im not used to posting photos like this....how do i resize?

aprilraven · Sep 24, 2005

i am so not good at critigue...but i am great at complimenting what i like....these are so clever...the blonde boy with the sun in his hair is just beautiful.... and capturing the laughing girl makes me want to laugh with her....the second and third shots are really good too... i love the chick in the back ground with the glasses and kinda blurred...i know by what you said, you didnt focus or control anything..which makes this seem even more amazing... with one you could control, no telling how much more you would get out of it... you most definitly have the "eye" of a photographer... ofcourse, its just my opinion.....i would be proud for you to take my kid pictures...
(of course, he is grown now...and would be a bit ticked if i put a sucker in his mouth and asked him to laugh.....)

craig · Sep 24, 2005

I am not sure anyone can answer those questions for you. You have a good eye. You are heading in the right direction by asking those questions. The more you shoot the more you will be able to figure out. Define your style in your head and then capture it. Artistic value is when you know you have made the best photo that you could produce.

Personally I am not fond of shots of children or puppy dogs.

dmccarty10 · Sep 24, 2005

I'd say you're getting very good shots for a point-n-shoot. They all seem to need a little more contrast, though. Do you have software to edit?

Not everyone would want to admit this, but if you want to start taking better shots, buy better equipment. Tiger woods could still play amazing with my old golf equipment, but there's a reason he uses his. A nice camera won't instantly make you a photographer, but it will allow you so many more variables, that you'll begin experimenting and learn "how to do that." If I handed you a high-end digital SLR with a professional lens, you would instantly be getting better pictures.

tat2me2 · Sep 24, 2005

thank you for the comments so far, and trust me....oooohhhh yeah, im gonna get a better camera. i just dont have the money for it right now. i want to take my first first next semester, but have to have a manual focus first. it was suggested by a photog. professor that i start out with a pentax k1000 or a canon ae-1. i hope to get this for christmas. and yes, i do have a kind of editing program. all i can do is convert to B&W, adjust contrast and brightness. see, the problem with me is that i can convert, but i dont know WHERE the contrast should be (that is, what the final outcome should look like)...one of MANY reason for me waiting in anticipation for the photo class

Eric. · Sep 24, 2005

tat2me2 said:
it was suggested by a photog. professor that i start out with a pentax k1000 or a canon ae-1. i hope to get this for christmas.

Both of these are excellent cameras. I own the Canon, I loved to play around with that until it broke (after 2 rolls of film!). I havn't used that exact Pentax, but I've used the MX which is similar. I have to say I prefer the metering system on the pentax and would definetly recommend checking that out.

And I really like the first and last pictures! Nice shooting!

Do you work at a daycare or something?

fightheheathens · Sep 24, 2005

#2 = awsome

Knopka · Sep 24, 2005

I love the last one, absolutely adorable!

M @ k o · Sep 24, 2005

You captured the perfect moments in these images. Excellent shots!

tat2me2 · Sep 24, 2005

Eric. said:
Both of these are excellent cameras. I own the Canon, I loved to play around with that until it broke (after 2 rolls of film!). I havn't used that exact Pentax, but I've used the MX which is similar. I have to say I prefer the metering system on the pentax and would definetly recommend checking that out.

And I really like the first and last pictures! Nice shooting!

Do you work at a daycare or something?

nope, im just around kids ALL the time. the second and third shot is one of my daughter (the first is her cousin, the last a kid from our playgroup)...shes our only one so far, but i watch two other boys during the week (im a stay at home mom), and i have my daughter in a playgroup we meet once a week at least). so ive got lots of oportunities to shoot children (in fact, just got back from a b-day party, and even yesterday we went and painted, so got lots of photo the past two days).

i want to know how and when i can cross over...from just being that mom that takes all the photos to someone they might ask over to shoot candids of these kids that i love....ya know?