Taking a Shot of Children Playing

Children play naturally, so play gives good opportunities for natural pictures. Even in a favourite game children may lose interest in a few minutes, so quick work is needed to capture a good expression or gesture.

When working indoors, in the interests of speed it is probably best to use flash. This may upset a few children, but if they are busy they will probably take it in their stride. They may even be fascinated by it.

An alternative is to use a fast film and available light. If this is from an ordinary tungsten light bulb it will be necessary to balance daylight film with an 80A filter; otherwise the photograph will come out with an excessively warm, orange cast. There are now a few fast tungsten-balanced colour negative films, and a better selection of colour reversal ones. However, with these, if any other shots on the film are taken out of doors it will be necessary to use an 85B colour balancing filter to avoid a blue cast.

Try to think of different angles when photographing children at play. Consider a high viewpoint, looking down on them. This will make them look diminutive, but that may be an attractive effect. If the background is unsuitable, go in close to eliminate it, or use a large aperture so that it is out of focus. If the child is absorbed in painting or reading, try to get a shot that shows that concentration.

If the child gets bored, give up at once. Persistence will only produce tears of frustration and may put the child off further photographic sessions. A few Polaroid pictures taken to begin with will usually interest children and make them more patient when shots are taken with normal film.

Willis J. Watson is a freelance writer since 2006, living in United States and he writes about his great passion...digital photography for about 4 years. If you want to read more informations about Digital Sports Photography and also read more reviews about Digital Photography Classes, you can check out his websites.