If you have used a photographic service that specializes in portraiture for kids, you already know that it can be an expensive proposition. Furthermore you will only be offered prints from a very limited number of exposures. Even if you like the results (there's usually at least one photo you have to have) your photographs will look like stock images. There is little creativity displayed in the portraits that come out of studios. After all, if the photographer has known your child for only a few short minutes, how can he or she capture their essence?
With a little effort on your part, and some patience, it is possible to create portrait shots of your children, whether infants or toddlers, or older, that really stand out and which you will treasure for decades.
Photographing Infants
Until they can get onto their feet, or hands and knees, and make their way out of the frame, you are dealing with an infant. This is the one great advantage that infants offer over toddlers: they aren't going anywhere, so you can take as much time as you need to get the shot.
Contrary to the approach of the professional kids photographer, the one thing you will not need to put together to get started is a studio. But you will need to gain mastery over your lighting conditions. This need not be overly difficult. Look around your home for a large window, preferably a low-set one, through which an abundance of light pours in from outside. Not direct sunlight, of course. If that's the case, you'll need to find another window, or do the shoot at another time of the day.
You will be using the area in front of the window, about six feet back from it, as your staging area. So clear away any furniture and give yourself lots of room to move around. You will be shooting pictures side-on to the window, so that the light is streaming in either from your direct left or right. Your child will likewise be sitting sideways to the window, or slightly facing it so that one half, or three-quarters of their head is strongly illuminated. Remember, this is not direct light you are using, so there are not going to be any shadows. But there will be gradations of natural light that add depth to your images.
Set up a play area for your child. Use a large white sheet, or blanket if you have one, to cover the floor, and dress your child in light-colored clothing. I suggest waiting until your child is at least old enough to sit up and occupy themselves with a toy before doing photo shoots, but it's not absolutely required. If you will be photographing a child unable to crawl, your best bet for a good photograph is to get down on the floor and photograph from their level.
Otherwise the easiest approach is to set up a tripod, frame the scene to be photographed, and then you can work away from the camera, using a cable to fire remotely when you see the shot. You don't need to be obsessed with having your child look into the camera for every shot. That's unlikely to happen unless you are playing peek-a-boo with the camera (which is certainly not a fruitless approach). If you catch them looking up, thoughtfully, or looking out the window, or looking at you, get the shot.
Do not use a flash to get your shots. You want natural lighting only. To be able to shoot like this you'll need a fast lens, like a 50mm prime lens, such as an f/1.4, opened up to maximum aperture, or a stop less to gain extra depth of field. Be sure to focus on your child's eyes, the only part of the image that absolutely has to be rendered sharply.
Use common sense when choosing whether or not to begin photographing. If your son or daughter are not in the best mood, shut the session down and come at it another time. If you persist in trying to get pictures when there is no chance of a smile, then the only result can be lackluster images and an unfortunate sense that this waste of time is probably not worth repeating in the future, which would be a shame for not only you but everyone else in the family who is likely to enjoy your photos for years to come.
Photographing Toddlers
Once your child is on the move, getting a great shot can be challenging, as they rarely want to remain still for you. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of success.
If you are very lucky, and have been blessed with that rare child that can appreciate the value of a good photograph, or at the very least is receptive to instruction, you can dress them up and pose them in naturally lighted scenes. But good luck to that. They might do it once, but their fascination with the process is likely to fade by the second session.
So you might want to consider giving up on the idea of a structured session. Instead, think about what it is that your child likes to do, and make it your goal to capture candid shots. Your best chance of making this happen is to photograph them while they are highly absorbed in an activity they love.
Again, use a fast lens to take pictures in natural lighting. I recommend a 50mm prime lens, and then cropping the image in your imaging software if you have captured too much of the background. Prime lenses can be very sharp optically, and if you are shooting fast (low shutter duration times of 1/125th of a second or less) you should not be seeing many blurred shots. If you do, consider increasing the ISO setting on your camera to make your image sensor more sensitive to light. This adds graininess to your images, but a grainy shot can be quite acceptable. A blurred shot never is.
When you compose your images, look for the moment when an emotion plays across your child's face. It really does not matter too much what the emotion is. Bemusement, surprise, the wrinkled face of suspicion when they catch you watching them. Sudden joy, or even a moment of thoughtful reflection. You can take great photographs of your child eating a waffle, using a long stick to poke with reservation at a crab, or simply building with pride their tallest rock pile ever. Fortunately the possibilities are endless.
Consider also the possibility of converting some of your images into black and white. Desaturating the color spectrum often helps to improve the photojournalism aspects of a photograph, and in a very real sense, this is what toddler photography is all about - recording their journey through childhood.
