The letter

One letter a week, starting soon.

The week's signal, what the makers shipped and what the reviewers found, and the editor's note. No tracking, no ads, nothing else.

We keep your address, your language and the date you joined, nothing else. Every letter has a one-click unsubscribe link that deletes the record.
Genres in practice3 min read

LESSON 49

Children and pets

Get low, be quick, follow them.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. Candid by nature
  2. An old problem
  3. Permission and care
  4. In practice: children
  5. In practice: pets

Candid by nature

Children and animals rarely hold a pose, so most good pictures of them are candid. Candid photography, also called spontaneous photography or snap shooting, captures people without a posed look, catching natural expressions that a studio session might not reproduce. The source names children playing and family gatherings among its typical subjects. It stresses that candid is about the absence of posing, not about secrecy: a child can know you are there and still be photographed candidly. Small, unobtrusive cameras and available light help, because a flash can startle subjects into reacting or performing for the camera.

An old problem

Keeping a child still has troubled photographers since the start. Early exposures were long, and portrait studios developed what is called hidden mother photography, in which the mother was concealed in the frame to calm the child and keep it still. Faster lenses and film later freed photographers to work with movement instead of against it. The early candid photographer Erich Salomon worked in the late 1920s with the Ermanox, a camera with a fast f/1.8 lens; today's cameras handle high ISO well enough that indoor pictures without flash are routine.

Permission and care

This lesson is not legal advice. Pictures of children call for extra care, and rules differ between countries. Where a picture may be used commercially, the source on model releases describes a minor release signed by a parent or legal guardian, and notes that a release a parent has not signed may give the publisher no protection. Ask parents before photographing other people's children, respect a no, and think twice before posting a child's picture publicly or with a location. For pets, ask owners first, and never put an animal in a stressful or unsafe position for a picture.

In practice: children

This section is working practice. Get down to their eye level; pictures taken from adult height look down on children, literally. Let them play and photograph what they do rather than asking for smiles. Give them a task, such as blowing bubbles, reading to a toy or racing to you, and the expressions come naturally. Use continuous autofocus with eye detection and a fast shutter, 1/500 second or faster for running. Keep sessions short and stop before anyone gets bored; you will get better pictures next time if this time was fun.

In practice: pets

Also practice. Work where the animal is relaxed, usually at home or in a familiar park. Get to its eye level, focus on the nearer eye, and have a helper with a treat or toy just above the lens to draw the gaze. A squeak or a strange noise buys you a second of alert ears; use it sparingly. Dark-coated animals fool the meter into overexposure and light ones into underexposure, so check the histogram and correct. Patience works better than commands, and a tired dog after a walk is much easier to photograph than an excited one.

Try it today

  1. 01Photograph a child or a pet for fifteen minutes from their eye level only.
  2. 02Set continuous autofocus with eye detection and at least 1/500 second.
  3. 03Give a child a simple task, or a pet a toy, and shoot while they do it.
  4. 04Ask a helper to hold a treat just above your lens and watch the eyes.
  5. 05Compare these frames with three posed ones, and keep the best of each.