Get closer!

[gandini]

I was looking at some wonderful "family" photos shared with us by Andrei on the Photo Gallery section, and it made me realise the truth of Ann Geddes' (well known and well published portrait and child photographer) advice in her book on how to photograph children:

Rule #1: Get closer!
Rule #2: That's not close enough...

(Actually, I made up rule #2.)

Anyway, the point is that children easily get lost in their surroundings, visually that is. We have all taken these kind of photos, where our vision was so tightly focused on the subject, that we forgot to see all the surrounding visual distractions in the viewfinder--until it was too late.
It is hard to get close (but a B300 may make it easier), what with lighting, subject movement, difficulty with auto focus, and parallax error with a rangefinder camera like the G1, but the rewards are worth it I believe.
For example, there are 2 examples in Pekka's gallery of wonderful photos taken really close--the girl and the gummy bears, and the girl looking into the camera. And here's a link to a portrait on my site that was difficult to make, but is a testament to getting close:

http://gandini.unm.edu/personal/PhotoGallery/the_kiss.htm

There's also many examples on my site of closeup photos of my new, 4-week old daughter, Emily:

http://gandini.unm.edu/personal/MegannEmily/MEGHome.htm

Anyway, just some thoughts on what is one of the most exciting photo subjects.

Cheers to you all! and thanks Pekka for a wonderful forum.

[Pekka]

Very nice photos (wonderful subjects, congratulations!). Getting closer and trying to get the background 'off' is a good tip for any portrait situation. It's often hard to find suitable shooting position, and sometimes getting closer is very hard when the children move so much (older kids, newborns are a bit more steady :) ). But it's worth the effort.

Thanks Philip!

[Andrei]

Shooting the children is like driving on highway: one moment you see your target, the other - you see nothing. It's just gone.

At least my twins are running like a rockets :) And sometimes I think to dig out my 20 years old "Zenit-E" (Russian SLR camera) to shoot them. Unfortunately, G1 has quite a long delay.

I realize only one thing: if you want to make a good picture of the children - either tie them up :) or take another person, who is going to distract them from the camera and keep more or less steady.

Pekka wrote:
Very nice photos (wonderful subjects, congratulations!). Getting closer and trying to get the background 'off' is a good tip for any portrait situation. It's often hard to find suitable shooting position, and sometimes getting closer is very hard when the children move so much (older kids, newborns are a bit more steady :) ). But it's worth the effort.

Thanks Philip!

[Pekka]

Did you see my 'article' on
http://studio-on-the.net/photography/essays/ ?

[Andrei]

Good article !
(Pekka, you see I'm not American :) )

The only thing I'd like to notice : I think the recommendations could be applied to the kids of 3 years and elder. It's quite difficult to ask 2years children (in my case) to be a model, so that I have to wait and catch the moment when it comes. But again, G1 has a very long lag. And sometimes a moment already has passed :)


Pekka wrote:
Did you see my 'article' on
http://studio-on-the.net/photography/essays/ ?

[John - NJ]

Andrei wrote:
...you see I'm not American :(


We can't all be perfect ! :D

[Andrei]

:) :) :) :)

John - NJ wrote:
Andrei wrote:
...you see I'm not American :(


We can't all be perfect ! :D