Children and families

Learning goal

You will be able to photograph children who won't stay in place even for a minute, and the family around them, from inside the play, without trying to stop them. Instead of giving a child instructions, you will bring them to the light and the place you want by setting up a game, and, knowing their attention lasts a very short time, split the shoot into short windows. You will keep the camera ready for fast movement, focus in advance on a place the child will pass and wait there. You will get down to the child's level and give a crying or shy child time. Before sharing children's photos you will get the family's consent, listen to the child's own voice too, and look over details that reveal their identity or their location. In a room where children of different skin tones are running around together, you will choose a light spot that keeps the detail of all their faces.

The question

On the morning of the holiday, the home above the bakery is full. The master wants to gather the whole family into one frame, but the grandchildren want something else. Two pairs of feet stick out from under the tablecloth, the sound of running comes from the hallway, the baby in someone's arms puckers its lip and starts sobbing the moment it sees the lens. Your friend says "stay still for a second"; no one does. A minute later there is a memory card with only blurred arms, half a face spilling past a door frame and a back. How do you photograph children who never stop moving?

Context

In the lesson where you worked with camera height, you tried how lowering the camera to a child's eye level puts them on equal terms with the viewer instead of making them small (Lesson 14.6). In the focus lesson, too, you met the focus mode that follows a moving subject and keeps renewing focus (Lesson 10.2). In the release lesson you read that a child's photo involves both a parent's signature and the question put to the child themselves (Lesson 29.2).

Child photography is the fastest branch of portraiture and the one that needs the most patience. Adults stay still for a few seconds when asked; children don't, and they don't have to. Their best frames come not in the moments the photographer tries to stop them, but in the moments the photographer follows them as they are. For this the photographer needs three things: a language that calls the child not to a photo but to a game, a fast camera setup, and a patience that knows how to wait.

Simple explanation

How do you direct a child?

Directing through play is taking the child to the wanted place, light or expression with a game instead of an instruction. "Sit by the window" means nothing to most children; "let's see who gets to the window first?", on the other hand, starts a race. The command "smile" gives a stiff face; the question "where is grandpa's nose?" brings a laugh. Hide-and-seek, a whispered secret, saying something into grandpa's ear, picking up candies spilled on the floor; each gives the child something to do and makes them forget the photographer.

Getting down to the child's level both equalizes the gaze and makes the photographer less frightening. Showing the camera to the child in the first minutes and letting them see their own face on the screen turns the camera into a toy. A crying or shy child needs to be given time; a frame shot in the arms of an adult hugging them, while they bury their face in that adult's shoulder, is also a family photo.

How long does a shoot last?

An attention window is the short span of time in which a child's interest and energy are enough for the shoot. In small children this window is often limited to a few minutes, and hunger, sleepiness or a crowd narrow it even more. That is why a child shoot is split into short windows instead of one long session: a few minutes of play and shooting, then a break, then again. The signs that show the window is closing, a bored face, a gaze slipping away, a tearful voice, are a call to let go of the shoot rather than force it. A frame like the family photo, in which everyone needs to be together, is usually placed at the time the children are freshest, for example after a meal but before a nap. If a child didn't give the wanted frame in one window, this isn't a failure; in the next window, perhaps with another game, the same frame can be tried again.

How is the camera prepared?

A prefocus spot is the place the child will pass or arrive at during the game, where the photographer focuses in advance and sets up the light and framing. Following a running child in the viewfinder is hard; but if you know the child will come back to the cushions in front of the window, focusing there and waiting lets you be ready when the child arrives. A doorway, the end of a sofa, grandpa's lap are good prefocus spots. The prefocus spot is chosen where the light is best: a bright corner near the window makes the child's face readable every time they pass.

The camera itself is also prepared for fast movement. Continuous focus and the tracking area are turned on, and eye or face tracking is used if available. To freeze a running child's movement, a shutter speed of roughly a five-hundredth of a second or shorter is chosen; indoors this usually means raising the ISO, and a little grain is better than a blurred frame. Continuous shooting makes sure you don't miss the peak of a laugh or a jump. Stopping the aperture down a little makes it harder for a child who keeps changing place to leave the slice of sharpness.

When choosing the light spot, the children's skin tones are also considered. Cousins' skin tones can differ even within the same family; in a corner under a lamp's yellow light, a dark-skinned child's face can lose its detail while their light-skinned cousin turns orange. A bright prefocus spot in front of the window shows the faces of children of different skin tones all in their own color.

How are the photos shared?

Safe sharing is getting the family's consent, listening to the child's own voice and looking over details that reveal their identity or their location before publishing children's photos. A school uniform or crest, a sign showing the home's address, the child's full name and location information can reach unwanted people together with a photo. Bath time, nudity or moments the child may be embarrassed by later can stay in the family album but aren't shared. If the child is old enough, they are also asked whether they want their photo shared. Even if someone in the family consents to a frame being shared, the child's own discomfort is taken seriously; a photo shared today can come back to that child years later as part of their own past. A frame you are unsure about can be kept in the family album without being shared.

Visual evidence

In the first minutes, when your friend says "stay still for a second," the frames hold blurred arms, half a face spilling past the door frame and a back. In the frame shot in the corner under the lamp, the face of the small dark-skinned grandchild is dark, and the cheeks of their light-skinned cousin are orange.

Then your friend sets the camera to a fast shutter speed, continuous focus and continuous shooting, focuses on the cushions in front of the window and sets up a prefocus spot there. They ask the children, "who will find grandpa's candies first?"; the master hides the candies among the cushions. The children come running, dive into the cushions, laugh.

In the window's light the faces of both cousins are in their own color; the dark-skinned grandchild's eyes shine, the cousin's cheeks look natural. The youngest grandchild is still crying; your friend photographs them on their mother's shoulder, face buried. In the end the master has two grandchildren on his knees and the whole family behind him; no one is quite still, but everyone is laughing. Before sharing, your friend shows the frames to the family; one of the grandchildren asks that their own frame not be put on the internet.

Common mistakes

Summary

Children who never stop moving aren't stopped, they are followed: directing through play takes them to the light and the place, short attention windows don't exhaust their attention, and a prefocus spot set in advance with a fast camera setup catches a running child. The faces of children of different skin tones stay in their own color at a bright prefocus spot; before sharing, the family and the child are asked, and details that reveal identity and location are looked over.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will photograph a child you know, with their family's consent, inside a ten-minute game.

1. Set the camera to continuous focus, continuous shooting and a shutter speed short enough to freeze movement; focus in advance on a prefocus spot in a bright place.
2. Set up a game that will bring the child to that spot and shoot during the game by getting down to the child's level; if the child gets bored, take a break.
3. Look over the frames together with the family, set aside the frames they don't want shared, and check the ones to be shared for any detail that reveals identity or location.

Check yourself

• Were you able to give the child a game instead of an instruction?
• In the frames at the prefocus spot, is the face sharp and in its own color?
• Did you ask the family and the child before sharing?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Instead of "sit by the window," which one is directing through play?

• A) "Go to the window right now!"
• B) "Don't move, I'm shooting now."
• C) "Let's see who gets to the window first?"
• D) "Stand there and smile."

2. Why is a child shoot split into short windows?

• A) Because a child's interest and energy are often limited to a few minutes
• B) Because the camera's battery runs out quickly
• C) Because the light changes every minute
• D) Because the family doesn't want to wait

3. How is a prefocus spot used?

• A) By tying the child to that spot
• B) By focusing in advance on the place the child will pass and waiting there
• C) Only with a tripod
• D) By starting to adjust focus when the child arrives

4. What is done before sharing a child's photo?

• A) Writing the child's full name and school
• B) Adding location information
• C) The photographer deciding alone
• D) Asking the family and the child, looking over details such as a uniform and an address

Answers

1. C — A race gives the child something to do and makes them forget the photographer; the others are instructions.
2. A — Forcing it when attention runs out brings crying and stiff faces.
3. B — Focus, light and framing set up in advance make it easier to catch a running child.
4. D — Consent and checking details protect the child's identity and location.

Summary card

• Don't stop them, follow them; a game, not an instruction.
• Get down to the child's level; give a crying child time.
• Short windows; take a break at signs of boredom.
• Prefocus spot: focus in advance on a bright place, wait there.
• Continuous focus, continuous shooting, short shutter speed; a little grain is better than blur.
• Ask the family and the child before sharing; no uniform, address or location.

Bridge to the next lesson

The family photo is taken; the children are now chasing the house's tabby. "Shoot it too!" they shout. The cat, on the other hand, hides under the sofa, turns its back to the lens when it comes out, and gets up and leaves every time the camera comes close. Neither games nor candy work. Why are cats the hardest models? The next lesson takes up getting down to eye level, catching attention with sound, and rewarding.