The "Taking photos of my child" thread

[pinholecam]

Wow... see that most of your pictures are taken with manual lens. :thumbsup:
Damn.. you are good at it.. It's damn hard to focus on kids when they are running around. Really must make them sit still or predict what they are going to do.
Just to check, so you focus on the toy car first, then you will start snapping when they are in focus? So no need to wait for the AF confirmations point or the icon in the LV (for Kx). By the way, I meant for manual lens.

Thanks. No not good at all. I just use tips #2,3 & 5 (esp. #5)

Its more to pre-focus and get ready.
Say the lens was at 4m focus distance and now the child is going to the toy which is 1.5m from you. Trying to focus down from 4m to 1.5m will waste a bit of time, by which the fella might have taken the toy and walked away. By pre-focusing, at least once they are in view, you just need to tweak focus a bit.

I seldom wait for the AF indicator if I want to snap fast. The AF indicator has quite a wide tolerance anyway. Just try focusing clockwise until AF lights up and take a picture. Then repeat but this time focusing from anti-clockwise. You will most likely see that one of the direction gives a clearer picture.

For me, once the focus area looks sharp on the viewfinder, I will snap and most likely continue snapping to increase my odds and get different poses/expressions.
It does not even need to be center of viewfinder. If AF confirmation lights up, so much the better, but I don't let that dictate when I press the shutter.
A smaller DOF helps as well.

 

[gohaj]

makes me wanna laugh all the time

Nice capture!

 

[kneonx]

Nice capture!

thanks ) i'd post my dads response photo, but i'm a room away from being slaughtered. then again he will never come on clubsnap ... hmmm

 

[WilsonG]

Thks for sharing the tips... It is very informative...

 

[speedfactory]

i have taken some Photo of baby too, but it in my blog.

This is my blog.
http://ahguang85.blogspot.com/2010/04/babys-photos.html:lovegrin:

 

[pinholecam]

#6 - A faster lens helps in natural light, but its a dbl edged sword and often a one trick horse
=====================================================================

M85/2 (ISO250 f2 1/100)

The question about getting better gear to take the photos because its blur, not sharp, too slow, etc always comes up.
That often has little to do with the gear. The photos so far have not been wide open shots and most lenses will have a f3.5 to f5.6 to take those shots (yes, the flash helps a lot in my case)

Pros
===
A fast lens like the 85/2 in this example allows a good shutter speed of 1/100 and low ISO250. It certainly helps take shots by giving faster shutter speed while keeping the ISO noise down.

You'd also get a nice shallow DOF effect with the close focus, big aperture and long focal length.

Cons
====
Its not for free. Here are the downsides.

1. Getting the point of focus to be sharp is a pain. DOF is so shallow, just a sway of the head and the point of focus will be out of foucs. Hit rate will often be low.

2. Those pictures of more than 1 subject will only have one person in focus (Eg. Wife/Child; Grandfather/child shots). DOF is just too shallow.

3. Yeah, shallow DOF shots can be nice to look at, but imagine all you shots look like that


Ok. Show off another REALLY Shallow DOF shot

FA85/1.4 (ISO100 f1.4 1/80)
Don't go looking for this lens

 

[pinholecam]

Thks for sharing the tips... It is very informative...

Thanks. Glad you found it useful.

i have taken some Photo of baby too, but it in my blog.

This is my blog.
http://ahguang85.blogspot.com/2010/04/babys-photos.html:lovegrin:

You got quite a few good shot there!

 

[greengoblin]

Wow really nice pictures....hope you don't mind a Nikon guy crashing in a little. Really melts my heart when I see pictures of little ones.

Here is mine to share

 

[Baracus]

FA85/1.4 (ISO100 f1.4 1/80)
Don't go looking for this lens

I'll just look for you then. ;p

Nice write-up JK. Very helpful. :thumbsup:

 

[tabako]

Here are some shots of my Niece when I went to Japan last week. I have not seen her in 2 years. I don't think she recognize me but she still likes me and warmed up to me immediately.

All shot with continuous focus with all AF points enabled even when she is standing still, cos lazy to change. All aperture Priority and set to f4 for most shots

#1, She is running toward me. Used f4, auto ISO and continous focus.

#2, still running, same settings.

#3, trying to heed the challenge and tried pull up. Still continous focus.

#4 acting in a Blooywood movie.

 

[tabako]

#5 she and her mom looking at me fumbling with the Pentax k2 wondering why am i so noob.

#6, this is shot with f5.0, she and her dad playing on the zip line.

 

[pinholecam]

Wow really nice pictures....hope you don't mind a Nikon guy crashing in a little. Really melts my heart when I see pictures of little ones.

Here is mine to share

Nice one. I like the bright eyes with the catchlights from the window.
Any tips to share most welcome

 

[pinholecam]

#7 - Let the action lull down a bit
=========================

A50/1.7 (ISO200 f3.2 1/125) Flash bounced from top left corner of wall.

A moving target in dim lighting is always hard. Hard on the AF and hard on the shutter speed. Quite often, I find that the initial milling around does not tell much anyway.

Its probably easier to grab a shot when they reach their destination. Its also IMO more meaningful (Eg. Start attacking the food; playing with the toy; hug the grandparent, etc)

I could have tried shooting the fella when he was moving around popping bubbles at everyone, or just moving around with the gun, but focusing would be a pain and would just show him moving w/ a bubble gun. He settled down a bit and stood a while to pop bubbles at me (a static position); so I took the shot.


(BTW, I quickly found a defense against it to protect my WR camera :sweat:
Huff and puff and blow the bubbles back )

 

[pinholecam]

#8 - Go near enough for shallow DOF shots
================================

A50/2 (ISO 500 f2 1/160)
Focused about 1m

K24/2.8 (ISO250 f2.8 1/60)
Focused about 50cm


Another common question or statement is "I need a good fast lens for 'bokeh' shots"
Well, its good that its good and fast, but it does not need to be expensive.
For shallow DOF shots, it helps if the focus distance is near as well.
1st shot taken with a humble 50/2.
Ok... 2nd shot by a not so humble SMC K24/2.8 (but its not really expensive either)

 

[pinholecam]

#5 she and her mom looking at me fumbling with the Pentax k2 wondering why am i so noob.

I really like this. A very warm shot.

I've never considered usinf AF-C much as well. Thanks for sharing. I think I will give it a try. Now, I need to find where I put that AF lens :think:

 

[andydjojo]

Hope someone like my contribution.
Taken with lumix GF1+ pancake 20mm in front of night light.
B&W dynamic film mode, iso 800,F1.7, 1/40sec, auto focus.

 

[tabako]

I really like this. A very warm shot.

I've never considered usinf AF-C much as well. Thanks for sharing. I think I will give it a try. Now, I need to find where I put that AF lens :think:

Really? U too pro, kids run around so much u also can use MF. ha ha ha. I not fast enough, have to AF-C them.

 

[fengwei]

Nice thread, and some really nice tips and photos too.

I used to post a lot of my kids photos, kinda lazy to shoot at them, and they are not very cooperative nowadays anyway.

My own experiences w/ kids photos are:
1. use natural like as much as possible, outdoor, indoor window light. When light condition isn't good, don't take photos.
2. try to capture the most memorable moment instead of a perfect composed photo
3. take as often as you can.

I haven't posted many recent photos of my kids online yet, here are some old ones I took in the past few years:

 

[gummy73]

Taken with a DA55-300mm

 

[Supersimon27]

Nice thread, and some really nice tips and photos too.

I used to post a lot of my kids photos, kinda lazy to shoot at them, and they are not very cooperative nowadays anyway.

My own experiences w/ kids photos are:
1. use natural like as much as possible, outdoor, indoor window light. When light condition isn't good, don't take photos.
2. try to capture the most memorable moment instead of a perfect composed photo
3. take as often as you can.

I haven't posted many recent photos of my kids online yet, here are some old ones I took in the past few years:

FW , U never fail to impress me ..... Wonder how u always manage to do that ....