21 Sep 5 Tough Love Tips for Photographing Toddlers

5 Tough Love Tips for Photographing Toddlers

1.      Bring a chaperone. They’ll hatred you for it when they’re teenagers, but a spouse in crime is much appreciated during a toddler photo conference. They get sick of the whole idea pretty fast, but if you’ve got on-hand amusement via a super bubbly (and kid friendly) ‘baby wrangler’, then you’re in dealing.

2.      Put them in the corner. I’ve establish that a great corner (I love bricks) can be very useful when photographing small ones on the run. They in truth have nowhere to go! Of course, that won’t stop them from running right between your legs, but it forever buys me enough time for a few great shots and when they run away, we just go back to the corner again!

3.      Ground them. Getting their little feet off the ground will give you occasion to get the shot. And by time, I mean 20 seconds tops. And that’s a lot of occasion for a toddler to not be moving so get ready previous to you set up the shot. For this shot, we sat him on an old tire which got his feet off the ground and satisfied the grubby boy in him for a moment. He didn’t sit still on the chair, but boy that tire was fun!

4.      Include their parents without ruining their street cred. I infrequently photograph families. My sessions are entirely listening carefully on the little person. Have you ever noticed in cartoons like Muppet Babies (from the 80s) the parents were present, but never shown above the knee? The argument was to stay down low in baby world. I adore bringing this idea into my sessions with something as easy as a mother’s guiding hand like in the shot on the right –>

5.      Shout at them. I love this smudge on the farm where I shoot. The fence on the left, the trees on the right. Not too much of space to escape. So I have them run away but at the same time, I shout their name and stay for them to look back. Let them do what they want and when you feel the moment, shout their name. But don’t waste your shouts because if you just keep shouting, they’ll go down you out pretty fast. I find that I get one chance – two if I’m lucky – to get a true reflex-reaction out of commotion their name.