Watching children at play can be a heart-warming experience.
With a little practice you can use your camera to capture your children exploring the outdoors and engaging in imagination-fuelled play.
One of the easiest ways to photograph children when they are on the go is to choose the action mode on your camera (this can also be called sports mode). This setting anticipates that the subject will be moving and adjusts the camera’s settings accordingly. When photographing busy children, try to take the photographs in well-lit areas with the sun behind you. If the setting is too exposed you can adjust the light settings to tell the camera you are in a very sunny position, and the same applies when taking photographs in the shade. This is known as adjusting the white balance settings and your camera manual should contain more information about how to do this.
Another good way to photograph busy children is to take consecutive shots. Most cameras will have settings where you select a continual shooting mode, allowing the camera to quickly take shots one after the other.
When taking photographs of children, it is important to see the photograph from the same perspective as the child, so try taking shots from their eye level, rather than your own.
Children’s features can change very quickly, so when taking photographs you could try taking some close-up photographs. If the child will not smile for the photograph, you can simply go with it. Their faces can convey so much character that often the non-smiling shots can be even more engaging. You can also experiment with different angles, taking photographs looking up at the children, from behind, and from the side.
Click here for tips on photographing children’s birthday parties.
