P#14 Q5A: Can You Offer Some Advice for Taking Exciting, Unique and Creative Photos of Children?

A World Ruled by Children

Vik Orenstein: I think the most important thing when taking photos of children is to forge your emotional connection with the child and then be willing to go off the playbook. You have to let the child dictate how the shoot is going to go.

You may be in the mood to get happy smiles or maybe the child is wearing bright colors, and that's making you think, "Oh, I want to get some laughter or some big grins," but if the kid isn't feeling like doing that, then I would just go with the mood because the image will have more emotional integrity.

That's really what makes an image arresting, aside from obviously having a great technique, composition, and light. The emotional integrity of the shot is of the utmost importance.

If it's a fake smile, that's not going to resonate for people looking at the picture. If, however, it's a genuine moment, even if it's serious and there's no laughter or smiling, the image is going to be something that really arrests the viewer and makes the eye linger on the image longer.

Also, I think the other thing is you have to be aware of is the environment the child is in. Most people, I assume, are going to be outside of the studio.

You either want to treat the environment as part of the story and use it in the picture or you want to just get rid of it. So you either use a wider angle lens and get closer to the child and let the background tell part of the story or use a long lens to completely get rid of the background and just fill up the frame with all kid.

In Conclusion

If you want to get really extraordinary shots, your images need to be honest and have a strong emotional connection. Sometimes this means letting the child dictate the way the shoot will go and the mood of the pictures when taking photos of children. Then, make sure you pay attention to the background to get the best shots.