Tips for Free-Spirited Posing

Nikon 24mm f2.8 at 1/400

I love using wide angle lenses for children because it slightly exaggerates their features. The 24mm is a great wide angle, because it gives a sort of exaggeration but still keeps a natural surrounding. When it comes to posing children, I keep a free spirited approach. In this instance, I saw a perfect pocket of light. I placed the siblings with their back facing the sun to create a nature rim light. As you see, the light separates them from their background. Once I had them in the gorgeous light, I exclaimed “Get him!”.  I didn’t show them exactly how to stand, because I wanted them to fall into a natural stance. Trust me, there is no better way to get a kid to smile, than to have sibling tickles and kisses!

50mm f2.8 1/400

The 50mm lens is an all around fantastic portrait lens for any occasion. For this image, I used the same directional light as the previous image. I never place children facing the sun because it will result in harsh shadows, angry faces, and mostly closed eyes. I asked the children if they were ready for some fun, and then proceeded to jump and fall to the ground. They followed my lead and jumped down as well. Sometimes the best images come from simple interactions! One great thing about this lens is its reflective nature. This image was snapped when the littlest sibling was grinning at his reflection in my lens.

50mm f2.8 1/400

When photographing people, especially more of those “not so posed” moments, it is important to keep a higher shutter speed. Typically if you are not using a tripod, you want your shutter speed to be a minimum of double the lens length. This little man wasn’t feeling as jolly by this point in the session. Littles can have short attention spans, so I had the Dad pick him up and spin! Using a faster shutter speed allowed for this sweet cuddly image to happen. I prefer a softer background so I shoot with a relatively shallow aperture. For detail shots I like to go as shallow as f1.4, but with multiple subjects it is important to have a wider range of focus.

70mm f2.8 1/500

Since it was this fellow’s big birthday, we had to get a few shots of just him. After being spun around, I had his Dad place him down to run. I squatted down to his level, and held my hand out for a high-five! Of course he sprinted right to me, laughing the whole way!

50mm f2.8 1/400

A mom and her sweets! I always aim to get images that include a parent and all of their children. A mother’s love is a force to be reckoned with! For this image, I had Mom crouch down and bring in her littles. I use the term “cuddle puddle” a lot with my clients. I love how that term can bring a variety of different natural lovey poses! Generally I repeat it while encouraging the children to move closer. My goal is to erase any sort of space between my subjects.

24mm f2.8 1/800

I promised a fun adventure at the beginning of their session. Once we hit the last half of the session, and the energy was dying down, I gave the kids a quest. “How fast can you gather a pile of leaves?!” We all raced around to make piles of the most colorful leaves. I then counted to three and had them toss the leaves up in the air. I love the carefree feeling of the resulting image! Since it’s hard to tell how high a child can actually toss leaves (or where they will end up), I had the parents on either side tossing leaves into the frame at the same time.

24mm f2.8 1/800

The last image of the evening! A fun spin on the walking pose, have the family toss or spin the children. Don’t worry, both siblings had turns playing with their parents on the way to the car. Another great tip, have them chat with each other. “What are you going to do now?” Most of the time the parents have offered some sort of good reward for behaving. In the summer I have littles exclaim “Ice cream!” to their parents. The goal is to capture natural smiles, and to do that you have to be sure your clients are having a good time! By creating dialog, and playing alongside your clients, you become more than just a camera.