First family photoshoot, lessons learned

[dsiglin]

I learned a few things. 1. Even though I'm against "pray and spray" shooting, in situations with a very active 2 year old this is a legitimate method. 2. You can have a list of shots you want to do but if kid isn't having a good day you can kiss that list goodbye. My coworker wanted some photos of his family and I was more than happy to oblige but while I am fairly happy with how these turned out I see lots of little things I need to watch out for next time. One is framing, a few cut off feet. Also some good shots otherwise ruined by weird faces which shooting high speed would probably help. Finally, auto focus in lower light is not really ideal. I had the LEA2 adapter for my NEX which gives it phase detection autofocus but even then it was slightly off often. I ended up switching out lenses to my Helios 44m-7 which is manual focus and something I actually feel more comfortable with. I still missed focus by a bit on most of these or the shutter speed wasn't fast enough for the action happening. Too bad.

Anyways, here are a few photos from the session, C&C welcome. Their kid is definitely too cute.

 

[frommrstomommy]

I quite like these. I have an 18 month old.. so I totally get the click and pray method. lol I think your coworker is likely to be very pleased with these. You pointed out your cropped limbs as a downfall and I'll agree there, but I don't think they were so severe to really weigh your shoot down THAT much. One thing I noticed is a lot of the shots are very tight. Shoot wider and you'll likely fix a lot of those cropped limbs and it will give you room for more variation.

 

[Derrel]

Wall 4 is totally a winner! That lens has kind of swirly bokeh, just a tiny bit distracting at that range on those trees. Generally pretty good color on the shots. I bet they enjoy these photos as a warm family memory in the future. The kid is at that reallllly tricky age. I think wall 7, where the boy and the dad are interacting as they peer into the gated-off whatever it is, is also a fine photo, especially when looked at with an eye to the future. It emphasizes the boy's very small size, and how he literally "looks up to his father". Their eye contact, and their mirrored hand grasping on the bars solidifies the shot.

 

[ste77]

I love your shooting. Thanks for share

 

[DanielLewis76]

Number 3 is by far my favourite (although slightly too cropped). I love the admiring gaze for the wife and the child smiling!

 

[dsiglin]

True they are all tightly shot, I had brought only a 50 1.7 and a 58 f2. Some variety with "establishing shots" would be nice, good call.

The face he's making in #4 definitely makes it my favorite.

I appreciate the feedback. Any tips on getting kids to do what you want? I don't have any myself yet and I'm not planning on making a living out of kid photography but I felt sometimes like I was barely treading water with this shoot. As you can see from the photos he was welded to his snack bottle, that's about the only way we could get him to hang around otherwise he was off exploring.

 

[EIngerson]

Great series!!! Nicely done

 

[mmaria]

I appreciate the feedback. Any tips on getting kids to do what you want?

I often shoot kids. What a sentence

You have to find a way to be their friend in a very short amount of time. Show them your camera, explain how expensive and heavy it is and tell them that you don't know yet how to operate with it.
If he sits still in mommy's lap you'll show him the photo, just to be sure that you've done it right. "Do you like it?" "Is mommy pretty on this photo or should we do that again?"
Ask kids for their opinion on numerous things, tell them that you don't know exactly what are you doing and need some help from them. Engage them and make them want to be photographed.
Never be an adult with toddlers.

Ask parents are you allowed to give them a candy when their attention starts to fall of and don't actually give them candy but make sure that they know that they'll get it when everything is over. Sometimes you just don't have any other option.

This is just from my experience and it works well for me.

 

[The_Traveler]

nicely framed and caught, a bit too vivid for my taste.

 

[dsiglin]

Really nice tips mmaria, thanks!

 

[Braineack]

That lens has kind of swirly bokeh, just a tiny bit distracting at that range on those trees.

I noticed this as well and was going to mention it.

One thing I noticed from these pics is that they seem a little soft, cool, and maybe like the clarity slider was pushed far. But that's mainly nit-picking the post.

Otherwise great job!

 

[frommrstomommy]

I appreciate the feedback. Any tips on getting kids to do what you want?

I often shoot kids. What a sentence

You have to find a way to be their friend in a very short amount of time. Show them your camera, explain how expensive and heavy it is and tell them that you don't know yet how to operate with it.
If he sits still in mommy's lap you'll show him the photo, just to be sure that you've done it right. "Do you like it?" "Is mommy pretty on this photo or should we do that again?"
Ask kids for their opinion on numerous things, tell them that you don't know exactly what are you doing and need some help from them. Engage them and make them want to be photographed.
Never be an adult with toddlers.

Ask parents are you allowed to give them a candy when their attention starts to fall of and don't actually give them candy but make sure that they know that they'll get it when everything is over. Sometimes you just don't have any other option.

This is just from my experience and it works well for me.

GREAT GREAT advice!! I have done quite a few childrens sessions too and showing them sneaks from the back of your camera gets them EVERY TIME. I also say hey, lets do a silly one! You can make whatever silly ridiculous face you want, I'll even show it to you when we're done. They love that!! It usually gives me enough to trade in for a great happy shot for mom.. lol Don't be afraid to be silly yourself with kids.

 

[dsiglin]

I did indeed push the clarity slider a lot on these because most of them were slightly out of focus. I also added more sharpening than I normally would. So good catch on that.

I tried out an alternative to Lightroom, Capture One, and besides "clarity" it had an extra slider "structure". Structure doesn't blow out the whites like clarity can, it seems it is more edge detection sharpening. Whatever it does, it is a nice tool to regain some perceived sharpness without the shortcomings of Lightroom's clarity. It's too bad I found Capture One not as enjoyable to use overall.

The swirly bokeh is from the Helios, all the 44 variants have that. My other portrait lens is the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 which is more "restrained" but I think it lacks personality compared to the Helios.

 

[SashaT]

Very nice a lot better than my first time last friday... Personally, I like 3&4.

I got talked into shooting my sister-in-law and her family by my wife. I have never done family photography before as I am more into nature stuff but I figured I'd give it a go. She has an 2 year old as well; so I totally get what you are saying about forgetting wanting to do specific shots if the child is having a bad day. She said they loved the photos but the whole time I was processing them I was thinking "I should have done this or that differently".

 

[Braineack]

If he sits still in mommy's lap you'll show him the photo, just to be sure that you've done it right. "Do you like it?" "Is mommy pretty on this photo or should we do that again?"

just make sure you do this with the child, not the dad...