5. Get a Little Closer!
You’ll know right away if your toddler is comfortable with you moving in for a tighter shot. Make it all about him and how small he is by keeping the framing tight and around his height.
We started with number 1 being wide, open and non-demanding of the toddler’s attention. By now we’ve hopefully built a sense of safety and familiarity with this little guy so that we can get closer shots.
See the Photo-Recipe for a Family Photo with Toddlers Below!!
This Family Photo with Toddlers Photo-Recipe is all one Game Plan. The focus was to help our toddler feel safe, connected to mom and dad, and then free to engage with the camera. The best part is that we got a few different “family portraits”. And the Setting was also a character in the photos. When your subjects take you to a specific setting for their family shoot, you want to make sure you include the Setting as an actual character. Not all of the photos have to be like that, but by doing a handful you can move on to the NEXT Game Plan!
How do I set my camera up for these family photos with toddlers? Great question! Do you have a Point-and-Shoot or DSLR?
Setting Up Your Point-and-Shoot:
If you like the buttery, blurred backgrounds like the photos in this blog post, set your shooting mode to P for Portrait or A for Aperture-Priority. These two modes will automatically give you a lower f-stop which creates the buttery, blurred background.
Setting Up Your DSLR:
You could set your DSLR to Aperture Priority, dial down to the lowest f-stop your lens can give, and let the camera decide your Shutter Speed for you. Or you could go to Manual (which isn’t as scary as they make it sound) and try my DSLR settings below;
ISO 200–I keep my ISO as low as possible for the best color saturation in the overall image. With New York’s Central Park being in it’s full Fall glory, I wanted the color to be as rich as can be.
Aperture was f/2.8. I’m using a low f-stop because I love the buttery, blurred background. Even though the parents and toddler weren’t perfectly lined up, I was standing far enough away so that they’d all be in focus. This is the basic principle of Depth of Field. If you know you love buttery, blurred backgrounds but need help understanding them, check out our Beyond the Green Box DVD!
Shutter Speed was 1/400th of a second or some camera just say 400. When you want to capture motion without the blur, you need your shutter to move at a decent pace. The slower the shutter moves, the more blurred motion you get in your image. It was also a sunny Fall day which meant I needed the shutter speed to be somewhat fast because the slower it opened and closed, the more light would come in. Beyond the Green Box is a great tool if you struggle with understanding Shutter Speed and hate fractions (like I do! ;)).
Feel free to post any questions about today’s Photo-Recipe for Family Photo with Toddlers!
xoxo,
m
Another great tip MeRa! I also find it extremely helpful to ask the client to let go of preconceived notions of the “family photograph” where all eyes are on my (the photographer) and instead enjoy the photographers ability to capture what a family really is at this age (which usually = wild, free and very candid!). You captured this notion beautifully in your photo shoot! I often have to remind my clients with toddlers that the more relaxed they are during the shoot, the more relaxed the toddler/kids will be and the better the portraits will be!
Thanks Mera..your timing on this post was PERFECT! I have a shoot like this next week! If only I could fast-forward to your next post about interacting with the toddler 🙂 It’s good to get the freedom to “photo coach”, that’s usually what I’m afraid of doing, so now I feel a lot more confident.
My favorite photographs are definitely the ones that tell a story or capture a moment and not just photographs of everyone looking my way.
thanks so much, Me Ra! i really appreciate you sharing all of these gems! i have a shoot coming up very similar to the one you described coming up on the Nate Berkus show…3 toddlers, 2 of which are twins =) wish me luck!
Love this. I wish I’d have had this advice last week. I did do lots of pausing though 🙂
I’ve been waiting for the announcement of when the next NB episode would be. I’ll be watching!!!
this is awesome! Thanks Can’t wait to see the show.
Thanks for the great tips!! I love trying out your photo tips/recipes.
Thanks for your tips!!! They are always awesome!! Quick question how do you deal with the parents interjecting to have the child look at you. I am good at getting the little one to listen to me until they start telling the little one to look and get more active with the directions…
Diane, great question! I’ve had that situation a number of times. And I totally get it because as a mom, I know what it’s like to “want” to make sure all the kids are cooperating for this moment. But then I’m the one who can end up looking stressed in every shot if I’m not careful. 🙂 We’ve got to help moms and dads from this fatal error.
If the parents are being a little overbearing, I’ll tell the parents that from my experience the little one will get overwhelmed fast if multiple people are giving him directions. So I’ll ask them to stay focused on me, while I work to engage their little one. That way, when the little one looks up and smiles, the parents are all in place. I also blanket this request by telling them that this may take a few minutes, that’s normal, and I know we’ll get the shot they are hoping for.
By speaking confidence into the situation, the parents can be more at ease and let me guide the interaction. But it takes me speaking out in a firm but kind confidence to get their attention. Hope that helps!
And Michele, I LOVE your ideas! Thank yo for chiming in girl!
So glad you are all liking the Photo-Recipe! You’ll get a kick out of Friday’s segments on the Nate Berkus Show, and Kristy, I’ll try to get the next part up earlier in the week than later for you. 🙂
xoxo,
m
Great advice Me Ra! You too Michelle! I also think it’s important to remember that it’s not just their little faces and smiles that are memorable at this age. Especially since they’re usually running away from you!! So I also focus on reminding the parents to go for being playful and relaxed with each other. I get loads of pictures of their kids playing. I show them a quick shot of the ‘classic’ frame so they can just relax and have fun instead of worrying about it. Thanks for the tip about dealing with the parents interjecting. That can be a tough one since it’s almost impossible to look relaxed when someone’s telling you to! LOL
Those pictures are amazing! Which lens were you using?
Love the photos, and I always love knowing EXACTLY what the recipe was. It helps as I get more comfortable with manual and active toddlers. I have had my share of 2 year olds lately. Oh my gosh, just looking at those three little ones that you had to do on the NB show makes my head swim, and to add to the distraction the audience sitting there watching. Can’t wait to see how you handled this one. The family in the pictures above look a little familiar to me:)
Merah, beautiful job! Can you share what lens you used too?
Hi ladies!
I shot all the photos above with one of my FAVORITE lenses for portraits. It’s the Sony/Carl Zeiss glass, 24-70mm, f/2.8 Zoom. Here is a direct link so you can see it!
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665346852
xoxo,
m
Thanks Me ra!
Also what kind of post processing did you do on these pics? I love the look- the contrast is beautiful!!!
Hi again Cyndi!
For post process, I use Adobe’s Lightroom. I may take out a little of the saturation and up the contrast a smidge, but that’s about it. The color processing chip is so exact in the Sony cameras that I don’t have to do much at all!
Love the photo recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Very useful tips! Thanks for that!