A great resource for photographing kids and family

[Vania16]

Well, I think our most requested topic for tips has been taking photos of kids! It's something that I struggle with too and my advice would mainly be limited to various forms of bribery. The most effective form for me has been to tell the kids (my nieces and nephew) that I will take all the crazy, funny-faced, butt-first photos they want if they pose for a couple of good ones first. They like that LOL! But, I recently ran across a slideshow by Joel Satore, a fabulous National Geographic photographer with some tips on taking photos of your family based on his book "Photographing Your Family" (http://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Your-Family-Friends-Photography/dp/1426202180/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213140828&sr=8-1) You can check out the little slide show here:

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographing-family-slideshow.html

I'm definitely going to be ordering the book! And, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more help on photographing those fast-moving little ones!

[nanay2angels]

Oooh...thanks for sharing Lisa!!

[AmyPunky]

WOW! The book looks awesome!!!

I can't wait to see your photos, Lisa!! ;)

My SIL has great tips to get the attention of her kids when she's taking photos. For example, she said silly things to make them laugh or she makes silly faces... she pretends that there is a cartoon character inside the camera who are looking at them, so they look directly at the camera... while photographing them, she keeps on talking to not disturb them. :001_smile:

[chandrika]

Thanks a lot dear Vania, the links you shared were amazing at least for someone like me who is looking to enhance his photography skills. Had never thought to find a place where I would be able to get tips from someone who is so vastly experienced. One should also appreciate his efforts that he took time out from his busy schedule for novices like us. I basically needed tips for portrait photography and could not have been a better person to learn things from.

[Gabi Butcher]

Hi girls... I found a FLICKR group that has some cool ideas to solve some problems with kids photos...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/420335@N23/

Ok... from experience I do what Emie's SIL does... you have to INTERACT with the kids... PLAY, make the photo shoot interesting. Bring new toys, tell stories, ask them to tell stories... there is no secret... interaction is the key word.
If they run... well you have to make that a game and antecipate some moves...

Have fun taking pics!!! :character59: