P#14 Q2C: When Taking Kids Pictures Is It Best to Photograph Indoors or Out?

Controlling the Light

Vik Orenstein: Both indoors and outdoors can work absolutely beautifully when taking kids pictures. It's just a matter of controlling the light, wherever you are.

For indoors, I like to use window lights and position the child so that the window light is coming at them from the side. This gets a nice facial contour that's a little bit darker on one side, a little bit lighter on the other side.

If the window light is too strong, you can diffuse it just by hanging a white sheet over it.

For outdoor kids pictures you want to shoot either early in the morning, late in the afternoon or early in the evening for the best light. You want to avoid that high-noon lighting with the sun directly overhead.

If you can't avoid shooting at noon, you can take the child into open shade. An overcast day would be ideal.

Or, counter intuitively, if you use your flash on this type of a day, then you can eliminate those hard shadows from the overhead sun.

Audri Lanford: That's fascinating. So it's sort of a fill flash?

Vik Orenstein: Exactly.

Audri Lanford: Do you use flash indoors or do you try to stay with natural light when taking kids pictures?

Vik Orenstein: I try to avoid flash indoors, but if you have to use it and if you have a Speedlight (a detachable light that goes on your camera) you can try to bounce that off of the wall or the ceiling to diffuse it and you get a nice soft, more natural look.

If, on the other hand, you have a pop-up flash and you're stuck using that, tape a few layers of toilet paper over the flash head.

I know it doesn't sound glamorous, but that diffuses the light and it makes a much, much softer, prettier look on the skin tones. It doesn't wash out the faces and creates a better light ratio between the subject and the background.

To Sum Up

So is outdoor or indoor photography best? According to Vik Orenstein, both are equally ideal. It's just a matter of controlling the light of your location to bring out the best in your kids pictures. And be sure to try the toilet paper tip if you do need to use popup flash.