Shooting outdoor kids party

truephotoga · Aug 17, 2011

Hello all ! I am shooting my friend's son first birthday party this weekend. This will be outdoors at a park. I have a Canon T3i with the kit lens (18-55mm). Any advice on camera settings ? Should I just keep the camera on auto mode ? Should I look into getting any additional equipment for the shoot? Thanks!

Patrice · Aug 17, 2011

If you are going on auto you might as well use shutter priority since kids, even little ones, can move pretty fast. I suggest you use this as an excuse to go yourself a flash. A flash is just as useful outdoors on a sunny day as it is indoors.

Kerbouchard · Aug 17, 2011

I would also recommend a flash.

powasky · Aug 17, 2011

Thirding a flash. You'll get much more balanced images (in regards to exposure) than you would using ambient lighting.

IgsEMT · Aug 17, 2011

flash in ttl, P(roffesional) mode and lots of batteries.

truephotoga · Aug 18, 2011

Thanks for the tips !!

shootermcgavin · Oct 31, 2011

A flash outside with auto mode does not sound like a way to get a lot of great pictures back. If it's an overcast day I would forget about the flash, not a lot of 1 year olds wear hats and that would be almost the only reason to use it on an overcast day. Since you asked about auto I would say shoot in P mode, I don't think the kids will be moving all that fast at 1, if they are the Tv mode Patrice mentioned would work great turn it until the number say 125-250. If it's a bright sunny day you could use a fill flash but I think you will ruin more photos than get good if you don't know how to adjust the flash for different distances, at a park some of the shots might have some distance to them so you're talking about an expensive flash to fill those distances. Personally I would just try to take as many pictures in the shade and the rest will just have harsh lighting, I'm assuming this is more for fun and not a paid shoot also.