Portrait idea for 1 year old niece?

wgp1987 · Oct 25, 2011

Hey everybody!
I have been spending lots of time shooting at events and haven't really spent any time composing images such as portraits. I have a few people asking me to do portraits for them based off my event work. Most importantly my niece is turning 1 and I want to take a beautiful portrait of her. My main dilemma is when/where to take the pic. Its hard to get a toddler to pose for you and since shes walking around I doubt I will be able to keep her still! Any suggestions or tips for shooting toddlers? Since I dont own a back drop any ideas for an inexpensive makeshift one or an ideal local to shoot. Id like to bring her to a park or the beach but I'm unsure of what to do!

MTVision · Oct 25, 2011

Do a cake smash for her 1st birthday. I saw a cool one the other day where the photographer found a wooden high chair on Craigslist and spray painted it. Then they ended up shooting in a park or field. You give the little girl the cake and snap pictures as she is "eating" it. It's hard to get portraits of 1yr olds. They don't like to stay in one place.

wgp1987 · Oct 26, 2011

Love that idea. Problem living in Nj is it would be easier to find an industrial area then a beautiful landscape haha. I love the fact that shes tiny so I can use my 50mm f1.4 and fit her nicely in the frame. But I know normal practice is to use a telephoto lens for portraits which I do have a 70-200L that is beautiful but id want to shoot at f5.6-8 with it since its a f4 but I can score a sweet dof with f2.8 on my 50mm. Which lens should I use? I know its kinda up to me but what do you think?

MTVision · Oct 26, 2011

I personally use my 50mm f1.4 whenever I shoot my daughter - LOL - that sounds HORRIBLE! Anyways, it really is up to you. Another thing to consider is how your niece will react with you right there with the camera (she probably won't care since she's 1).....at least with your other lens you can't get back a ways if you need too. A nice DOF could always help out with the not best background!

I was just in New Jersey 2 weekends ago - my sister-in-law and her husband just moved there!