How to Photograph Kids by a Former Poorly Photographed Kid
I am a former kid. I have lived through the trauma of bad photos taken of me by my father. I was not photogenic and admittedly he had a cheap camera. He had a knack for catching the incredibly awkward moments of childhood in a way that now makes me cringe. If I could go back in time and give my 1970’s dad a few tips on how to take better pictures of me I would.
As a former kid recovering from the trauma of bad photographs, I feel like it is my duty to future kids of the world to give parents and photographers some tips I have learned on how to take some great photos of kids. Or at the very least photos that won’t make your kid cringe when they get older.
Two things come to mind. First, great thanks to my dad for timing this perfectly and second why am I wearing such horribly dirty T-Shirts in every picture?
Thank you Dad for this picture of me in Prison Pajamas pointing at somewhere in Michigan.
At least now I know that those feelings of complete teen awkwardness were not just in my mind.
Dad liked to snap blurry pictures of us posing in front of Trash Cans. I am actually a little thankful for the fact this shot was out of focus.
Photographing Kids is not difficult
I’ve heard people say that taking photographs of kids is one of the hardest types of photography to master. I’d have to disagree, in fact I think that photographing kids is just about the easiest thing you could do with your camera.
You don’t have to use lights. You don’t have to make them pose. You don’t have to explain what looks good and you definitely don’t have to worry that they are self conscious. You just pick up the camera and shoot. It’s simple.
Chasing Cuteness
I actually have a term for photographing kids. I call it “Chasing Cuteness” and I think it’s exactly what kids photography is all about. My general rule of thumb with photographing kids is to put them in the right place where the light is good, give them a prop or a situation to deal with and then fire away.
I run around. I get on the ground. And I shoot. I shoot a lot of pictures. Getting a good photograph of kids is about chasing the cute things they do and hopefully capturing those cute things on camera. In short, you have to really match your own energy level with the energy level of kids which is extraordinarily high.
I come from a huge family – 12 brothers and sisters and it just gets bigger. I think at last count I have over 20 nieces and nephews so I get an endless amount of practice in taking pictures of kids. I wanted to give my list of the top 10 techniques that I have learned through trial and error on how to get the best shots of kids. These are techniques and approach that I use every time I pick up the camera.
1. Get out of the Studio
Here is the good news. You don’t need to have a fancy studio setup to take awesome pictures of kids, in fact you are better off if you get out of the studio and get into their natural element. You only need 1 studio shot a year of your kids and I consider that their school photos. Get outside. Go in their room. Go anywhere to take kid shots – just not in a studio.
2. Get on the Ground
If you read any tips on photographing kids this is the most common thing you will see. And that is because it is true. If you’re not cutting your eye level view down to under 2 or 3 feet than your not capturing the kids in the way that they see the world. When I shoot kids – I am sitting, and often times, laying on the ground even lower than them.
She’s under the bed hiding. I could only get this shot by laying down under the bed too.
3) Create a Situation, watch what unfolds
Kids are unpredictable in a predictable sort of way. Sure they can do anything at any moment but if you put a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of them without a spoon what do you think will happen? My prediction is that you will end up with some hilarious shots of your kid with Ice Cream all over their face.
This is my favorite of all techniques. I try to come up with creative situations that will later tell a story about what is important to that kid. If they love to watch Mom put on makeup then I give them a mirror and some makeup brushes and create a situation where I am almost always guaranteed a great shot.
We gave this little boy in Vietnam a kitten to play with and ended up with some great shots.
4) Use a Fisheye Lens
If you’re going to take a lot of pictures of kids – invest in a fisheye lens. Not only can you capture a wide scene of whats going on but you can capture the mood of what its like to be a kid where everything is slightly larger than life. I like to use a technique called the Jarvie Window which I wrote about here. It’s a great technique to use at Kids Parties and can be a lot of fun. The Jarvie Window Technique
Using a Fisheye lens lets you capture the energy of kids and is also wide enough to capture all of the chaos.
5) Machine gun shoot.
A lot of people don’t like it but with kids you have to do it or you will miss the best moments. Put your camera on high speed mode and shoot. The average adult will blink 25 times a minute. The average kid will change their facial expressions dramatically almost as often so you have to machine gun shoot to get the cutest shots. Sure you end up throwing out a lot of the shots but there are those golden gems that are priceless that you could not get without employing this technique.
All these pictures were taken within 30 seconds. She goes through all the human emotions in that short period of time.
6) Let them see your pictures. Let them take a couple of pictures.
Kids love to see their pictures. If you stalling out in taking cool pictures of kids. Show them your viewfinder and what you have come up with and I guarantee they are going to come up with a bunch of new ideas for you. Of course you can give them the camera and take some cute pictures of them trying to take pictures. That works too.
7) Put them in big stuff.
Kids pretending to be adults is a sure fire way for cuteness. I like to put big shoes on kids (like their parents shoes) and take pictures. You can also give them your parents guitar, or put them on their parents drum set. Whatever you can do to put the kids in a situation where they are acting like their parents in a cute way works pretty well.
8) Don’t say no
Half of why photographing kids is so cool is because their imaginations and their creativity is way beyond our adult minds. I usually come into a situation where I am photographing kids with my own notion of what I want to capture and it is never what I actually do. My rule of thumb is to pretty much never say No to a kid about their ideas. Most of them are good. No, in fact most of them are great. Just let them run with their ideas and you will probably be much happier with the result.
Let a kid be awesome without saying no to whatever silly thing they come up with in their mind.
9) Get a helper behind you
Kids have short attention spans and sometimes you need someone to help you keep them in one place long enough for you to shoot something spectacular. One technique that I like to use is to have a helper behind me who can coax the kids into doing cute things. The benefit of having a helper behind you while shooting is that you can get the kids to appear to be looking straight into the camera for some great shots.
We were able to get her to make some incredibly cute poses by showing her what to do. I could not have done this alone.
10) Don’t stop the camera when they cry
When I am taking pictures of kids and they start crying, my first instinct is to stop shooting. I guess in my mind I have been programmed to believe that all pictures should be happy. A while ago, I started ignoring those instincts and just kept the camera going. I find that these shots are often just as good as any others. It’s part of growing up and its part of who kids are so I just try to capture it as it happens.
He was crying because he was afraid of a fish. Now he has a good picture and story to tell when he is older.
Anyone can take great Kid Photos with patience and energy
The great thing about photographing kids is that just about anyone with enough energy and patience can capture some pretty good kid photos. You don’t need an extraordinary camera. You don’t need to have expensive lighting. You don’t even need to understand all those complicated buttons on your camera. Just make sure you have good lighting, an interesting situation and chase the cuteness down.
If you want to check out some of my other kid photography you can see them in my gallery here – Frank McKenna – Kids.
Gym Photos using a Black Background and Keno Flo Lights
I’ve been taking photographs of professional trainers at La Jolla Sports Club for awhile. Last week I decided to try taking photos against a black background using dim lighting.
My basic setup included 2 Keno Flo Diva Lights, a black background and a 35mm lens. The setup provided clean looking shots of John Parker which gave us the option of using the shots taken as they were out of the camera or even to extract him and build composite photos against different backgrounds.
Continuous light is better than strobes.
Through lots of trial and error, I am finding that continuous lights and panels such as the Keno Flo Diva lights are giving me much more control over my lighting and are less subject to error.
Too many times I find myself struggling to keep multiple strobes synced up and controlling the light output. With continuous lights I am able to get a much better result than when I use strobes.
The Result
The result turned out pretty good and I was happy with the nice soft lighting which didn’t blow out the subject too much.
Chloe’s Prom
Ever year it seems like one of my nieces or nephews is going to Sr Prom. This year it was Chloe! Chloe is headed off the St Mary’s, a McKenna tradition it seems.
Instead of going with a traditional date, Chloe and 3 other friends decided to go as a group. I remember when I was in High School you had to ask someone to go with you and it was nerve-wrecking and seldom fun. It seems like the kids finally figured it all out.
You can check the whole gallery at this link – Chloe’s Prom.
The Man with Horribly Chaffed Hands
Patrick McKenna, the man with the horribly chaffed hands, pictured in the now famous Adult Crash T-Shirt is reportedly doing much better after a few rounds of intensive moisture therapy.
Yesterday, Patrick jokingly advised this publication that it was “all hands on deck” in terms of his recovery and that he wanted to give everyone a “big hand” for being so supportive.
It was only a short while ago on that fateful night 2 years ago that a younger, more punkier Patrick was playing a gig with his band Adult Crash. At the time Patrick thought nothing of pounding his drums so hard to literally tear the skin from his hands.
After the show Patrick, said “Look at my hands” and laughed, apparently unaware of how painful that they would later become that night.
A younger and punkier Patrick appears in immense pain while relentlessly pounding on his drum set.
Patricks hands were more chaffed that night than the thighs of a man that wore wet corduroys to a Marathon.
Recovery has been slow
Recovery was slow at first. Many people had often remarked at how smooth and “elderly feeling” Patricks hands were, often surprised that a young man could have such smooth and educated hands.
Some speculated he might have shirked his duties as a young man relying on his brothers to do all the yard-work, sweeping and digging that might have scuffed or otherwise damaged his lady-like hands.
For whatever reason life dealt Patrick a terrible blow that night replacing his once Cinderella like hands with two shredded stumps that appeared to have been pumped directly from a meet grinder.
Having chaffed hands now became so debilitating that he often balked at shaking hands opting rather to go in for an overly aggressive “bro-hug”, even with complete strangers.
A turn for the better came when Patrick decided to turn to male moisture gloves. Male moisture gloves allow men to moisturize their hands throughout the entire night by applying the moisturizing creme directly in the gloves and then wearing those gloves the entire night.
It is Japanese technology brought to the US by the same scientist that invented “Spanx for Men” pictured below. After several months of near constant moisturizing, Patricks hands returned back to their strangely geriatric softness, perhaps even softer and more gentile than even before.
Thanks to the same makers of Spanx for Men, Patrick’s hands have almost completely recovered.
You gotta hand it to him
Its good to see Patrick doing so well. You gotta hand it to the guy. He knows how to moisturize. This is one story with a happy ending.
FrankMcKenna.Com
My brother Patrick had the foresight to purchase the domain www.frankmckenna.com many years ago. I wasn’t quite sure how to use it at the time but now I have put it to use as place to share my 500PX photography.
Check out www.frankmckenna.com and tell me what you think of the new design and style. I think it looks pretty nice and shows the photography well.
How to build a Jarvie Window on PetaPixel
Another article published in PetaPixel this week. I am so happy about that. I love the guys at PetaPixel and think they have the best photography blog on the web – hands down.
This was a primer I wrote on how to do the Jarvie Window, a technique that was popularized by Scott Jarvie. You can check out the whole article here – How to Build a Jarvie Window.
The Most Epic Run in History
There is the Boston Marathon. There is the Mud Run. There are the Olympics and then there is Oliver’s jogathon. And I must say, Oliver’s jogathon was the most epic run in the history of the world.
We have not tallied up the total in funds that were raised by Oliver but I believe that it ranges in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars – perhaps even as high as $500 dollars. Now that’s impressive and keep in mind that this is a 5 year old boy.
Oliver had his own Indiegogo campaign which helped him raise funds for the cause. It was called $3 for Ollie. You can check it out here. $3 Dollars for Ollie.
Preparation and Anxiety
Oliver was prepared and anxious. He carb loaded the night before and his mom and dad kept plenty of Gatorade stocked in the Fridge so that he could load up on electrolytes before the race. The tension was palpable as Oliver lined up getting ready for the big moment.
When the gun fired, Oliver sprinted like the wind. He sprinted as fast and furiously as his legs could take him. He sprinted like Eamon Coughlin – the famous Irish Runner from the 1970’s.
Oliver ran 8 laps and won a medal. This was no ordinary medal. It was a gold medal and all the kids loved it.
A video
If you want you can check out this video of the Most Epic Run in the History of the World. It was made even more epic by combining the run with fire and Dokken music.