The child that is less than photogenic.

mikeplow1961

mikeplow1961

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Just a quick post to ask for other' TOGs' experiences. and/or advice. I've been doing shoots of friend's kids recently and feel I'm improving with both shooting and PP'ing bit by bit. All the kids I've done have been fairly photogenic, some very much so. My missus announced a that she had offered a shoot to a friend of hers that I don't know and they came round the other night for some shots of their 7 year old daughter.

You know how they say of some people it's impossible to take bad photo of them? It pains me to say it but this girl was impossible to take a nice one of. Lovely kid but she simply looks not good in photos. After 10 mins I was quickly realising that she wasn't looking good and thought maybe if we introduced some props it might help but to little avail.

I'm just curious as to if other TOGs have found themselves in a similar situation what tips they might have to present a child who isn't naturally photogenic.
 
I wouldn't knock yourself out about it, just do the job competently and provide the client with your best shots and remember the people who want the photos (Parents, Grand Parents etc) already think she is photogenic. I guarantee if you do the above the client will be more than happy. Beauty is subjective and its not our job to decide who is or isn't attractive under these circumstances.
 
i was one of those kids
MIRROR ahhhhhhhhh
i still am
 
Gazamonk said:
I wouldn't knock yourself out about it, just do the job competently and provide the client with your best shots and remember the people who want the photos (Parents, Grand Parents etc) already think she is photogenic. I guarantee if you do the above the client will be more than happy. Beauty is subjective and its not our job to decide who is or isn't attractive under these circumstances.
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Shell certainly get the same care and attention all my subjects have got Gaz. It was just a frustrating shoot, I just couldn't capture anything that shone and despite my efforts couldn't get her to relax and mess around to show any personality. Maybe as much my fault as anything.
 
I doubt that is the case Mike, I am sure you did all you could. Just have to face the facts that some subjects (especially Kids) are fickle and unpredictable. Some people just don't love the camera and no amount of coaxing is going to help.
I have found in the past that with youngsters its sometimes better to just take a time out and let them chill for a bit, as much as a half hour. Chat to the parents and the child about anything but the shoot. Often when you go back for the second sit it works out much better.
I always ask parents to bring the child's favourite plaything/toy along (if feasible). Sometimes having one of there friends/playmates there is a great thing too. Shoot them both initially messing around then pull each out in turn for individual shots, by that time they are much more amenable to your instructions.
 
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it doesn't really matter how photogenic you think the child is or not - in their parents eyes (as already said) they will be beautiful.

The best advice anyone could give you is to have a giggle with the child and get lots of shots that show their personality....

mum & dad will love them :)
 
How about getting some shots of the child playing with something - showing the kid engrossed in something they love would probably mean as much to the parent as them smiling at the camera would. Or how about them holding up a toy/flower/prop with a shallow depth of field focused on the object? (obviously child shouldn't be too OOF in the background)
 
TopBanana said:
Or how about them holding up a toy/flower/prop with a shallow depth of field focused on the object? (obviously child shouldn't be too OOF in the background)
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Yeah that would work,

" Here are the photos of your child which I have intentionally made blurry due to the fact your kids ugly" !! :shrug:

To even suggest such a technique is awful, at best you could maybe get away with one shot like that. Its the kind of technique I have used on the odd occasion in a wedding shoot (e.g. flowers in focus B&G in the background OOF) artistically its appreciated by photographers but clients generally just flick past these kind of shots and see little artistic value in them.
Clients will surprise you by favouring what you think is not your best work and end up loving what you may think is little more than a snapshot ( remember snapshots are what the clients are used to viewing)

Commercial clients are much more discerning and look for razor sharp perfectly lit and exposed shots with artistic merit. Mums, Dads and grandparents just want nice piccies of the family. Of course they have to be technically good thats expected its just that ordinary punters know they look good they just generally don't know (or care) why they look better than the shots they take as long as they look Pro.

To summarise take lots and follow the advise in these posts re. Relaxing the client and make sure you are seen to be enjoying it ( very important) The clients will pick there favourites and don't be disappointed if the ones they love are not what you feel is the best, thats just how it is.
 
Gazamonk said:
Yeah that would work,

" Here are the photos of your child which I have intentionally made blurry due to the fact your kids ugly" !! :shrug:

To even suggest such a technique is awful, at best you could maybe get away with one shot like that. Its the kind of technique I have used on the odd occasion in a wedding shoot (e.g. flowers in focus B&G in the background OOF)
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:lol::lol: I wasn't suggesting that you hand an album to a parent that was full of shots of random objects with their child OOF in the background! Although I do think that what I suggested could make a great shot and is something I wouldn't mid of my daughter (as you say it can work nicely in wedding albums).
I thought that the OP was looking for suggestions for working round non-photogenic people. My personal experience of family members who aren't photogenic is that they're fine until they think the photo is about to be taken, and then they start the grimace/smile. So taking attention away from the fact that you're taking a picture of them can help, i.e. getting them to concentrate on something else or finding a way of drawing some of the attention away from them.
All just my opinion as a hobbyist though. :)
 
The initial comment of that post was with tongue firmly in cheek Tim :naughty: i didn't think your intention was a whole album of such shots, lol, it was just a natural way to link in to the rest of the post. :thumbs:

The rest of the post is genuine though, with the intention to be helpful and in line with the tone of the original question.
 
beauty is in the eye of the beholder (the parent) im sure they will be thrilled with them
 
Hm. I also believe that there is no such thing as non-photogenic. They may not be beautiful in your eyes but they will surely be in the eyes of the ones who love them. :) Our job as the photographer is to try and coax the beauty out of people by allowing them to be themselves whilst setting up shots (technically and creatively) that will yield best results. :)

If you did your best (images are clear, well-lit, sharp where you want it to be, colours look good), I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.
 
richardk said:
To every parent, their child is beautiful. Unless she is not cooperating or not feeling comfortable just do the best you can.
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This, every dotting parent (me included) thinks they have the best looking, photogenic kids about (which I have)!
 
purplbutrfly said:
Hm. I also believe that there is no such thing as non-photogenic. .
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Have you seen photographs of me?

I'm drop dead gorgeous in real life - you'd never believe it from my picture:D.
 
I would keep in touch with the child to use when its a model when its grown up - looking at old school photos of my class all the pretty kids lost it as they matured and the weird looking ones blossomed into really attractive people. Odd but true.
 
I understand what you mean and how hard it can be but!

I would see this as a challenge to try really hard to capture something really nice. To this day I don't allow anyone to take photos of me as when I was a child I was told I was not pretty enough to be in a photograph so you do your best ! Lol!

One of my friends children who was really hard to capture in a pose that was flattering nothing worked for me so I had her play with her dressing up box where she got lost in what she was doing hats on and off silly bags with grown up shoes etc and I got a few really nice poses of her at the time for her mum.
It was not the usual posed portrait but mummy loved them. These were done years ago and I wish I had kept some for myself.
 
Surely beauty is in the eye of the beholder? The child might look like Quasimodo chewing on a wasp to you but they'll be nothing but an angel to their parents. As long as you can capture them looking happy that's all the parents will want.
 
Gr8Shot said:
i was one of those kids
MIRROR ahhhhhhhhh
i still am
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Not me. I was so cute as a toddler and small child I probably could have modeled. All the girls loved me, it didn't matter if they were 4 or 24. A photographer would have had a field with me in his studio. I was the definition of photogenic. I'm of course an adult now, and a photographer is a lot more likely to call the cops if he saw me than start taking pictures for his portfolio. Nowadays children cry when they see me and women run away screaming. :lol:
 
I used to work for a company and we would go to stores and do children's portraits, mostly newborn to pre-school ages, sometime we had a 7yo too.

Bearing in mind most of these children did not know me at all, or me them, so it was not always easy.
I would engage and older child in conversation, and I was not up to date on what a 7 yo likes or watches, so I would joke, asking if they watched teletubbies, or something that a 7 yo is 'too old' to watch, the hope was that the child would relax and giggle that they too old to watch that show, and smile, or at least look relaxed.
Or I would ask them if they were cooking dinner for mum and dad tonight, anything that he or she was likely to respond to in a 'you're silly' voice.

It does not work for all children though, in my job I had a family bring about 3 children in, the eldest about 6 or 7, and the niece to the man, who was not English, or understood English, had the saddest face and was scared as she was told by uncle to stand there and look at photographer.
She did not smile, would not even look, sadly the uncle was very rude and told me to take the photo, I had explained that it would not be the best photo as child not looking, and he was rude to me again, I was almost in tears as he was that rude to me.
I cannot remember if a photo was taken that day but it was a relief to go home.

But as many have said, no matter what a child is like the parent who has asked you to take that photo will appreciate it.
I personally would just say to mum, I cannot get child to smile/look, would they like me to continue, or would they prefer to come back another day and a little earlier so you can spend a little more time with the child.

I have been lucky when doing friends wedding the children have responded well to me.

Good luck in future
 
200sxsimon said:
beauty is in the eye of the beholder (the parent) im sure they will be thrilled with them
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This.

One of my siblings child looks like sloth from the goonies and every time I see it I think "Heeeey you guys!"

Doesn't stop them plastering photos all over Facebook though and even your worst is just as good as photos taken on their phones.
 
Gazamonk said:
Yeah that would work,

" Here are the photos of your child which I have intentionally made blurry due to the fact your kids ugly" !! :shrug:
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I haven't laughed as hard in a long time as I did after reading this .... Quasimodo chewing a wasp gave me a good secondary belly laugh too. Thanks!
 
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I understand what you mean about some kids just not looking good, however I did a shoot last year of a little girl who was severly brain damaged at birth and not expected to live very long, she's now four and full of life but her handicap makes her very different looking facially as well as physically. we brought her to the play park and I took candid shots of her playing on the swings and peeping out from behind trees and stuff. Despite her problems she had a ball and the pictures show this and we ended up with some cracking shots. I guess no matter how the child looks if they're having fun it's your best chance to get a pleasing shot of them.
 
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