Children's Portrait Help Question

[chrisb1357]

Hi all,

This weekend my sister has asked for me to take some photos of my niece and nephew (2 years and 5 years old) which they do every year for the family Christmas card they make. Now that i have some camrea kit my sister thought it would be good for me to do this years photos. Any advice or tips for light or background to use. I was thinking of using my 50mm Canon prime lens. I also have no external flash apart from the built in one in 350d.

Also should i use a tripod.

Any advice ot tips will be great

Thanks
Chris

 

[Glen]

Firstly I would go for a plain white background and floor if possible. Then use natural light and a reflector to help, if you don't have a reflector a piece of white card etc will do. It dosen't matter that you don't have a flash, its just you have got to use the light thats available to you.

As for the white back ground/floor, I did a shoot a few months back with 2 x square pieces of MDF 1200x1200mm, then painted them with white emulsion, total cost £10. Place one on the floor and the other behind, then takes your shots, afterwards go into photoshop and make the backgrounds white, but be careful not to lose any of the subject.

Heres a link to what I did...

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=32896

 

[chrisb1357]

Thanks for the tips on the reflector. Do you think the 50mm lens would be ok for this.

Did u use a tripod on them images u did

Chris

 

[Glen]

50mm will be fine, if you shoot in 'AV' you will be able to control the apperture, i.e. f8 to get everything in focus or drop it down to f1.8/2 ish to focus on a certain area (eyes etc.) and blur away anything else.

No i didn't use a tripod, depending on what you can dial in on your settings with your available light, if you do drop too low on your shutter speeds, then it might be worth sticking it on your tripod, either way you'll have to get your subjects to keep nice and still.

You can always crank the ISO up though I would stick to around 400 and below if you can.

If you do use the on board flash be careful it as this can be quite harsh, if you can put a piece of white paper if front or something this might help diffuse the flash.

Just have a play around and see what you get, might be worth doing some test shots first.

 

[pxl8]

Here's a thought, to save on all the trouble of getting the background sorted you could always go for tight crops on their faces, cheeks touching. Have them facing a window with you inbetween.