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Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 1st 07, 12:20 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
rda
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Posts: 8
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welcome.


--
rda

30D,300D,D30
30mm 1.4 EX
50mm 1.8
17-40 f4 L
24-70 2.8 ex
75-300 4-5.6





  #2  
Old December 1st 07, 12:30 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
barry davidson
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Posts: 1
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

On Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:20:36 -0000, "rda" wrote:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welcome.


Birth control.

  #3  
Old December 1st 07, 12:51 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
rda
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.


"barry davidson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:20:36 -0000, "rda" wrote:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.



Any help/ideas most welcome.


Birth control.


lol, maybe I should have said "5 kids from her "extended" family".


--
rda

30D,300D,D30
30mm 1.4 EX
50mm 1.8
17-40 f4 L
24-70 2.8 ex
75-300 4-5.6


  #4  
Old December 1st 07, 01:17 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Nervous Nick
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Posts: 158
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

On Dec 1, 5:20 am, "rda" wrote:
Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welcome.


Remove the lens cap from your brain before you begin shooting.

--
YOP...
  #5  
Old December 1st 07, 01:26 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
rda
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.


"Nervous Nick" wrote in message
...
On Dec 1, 5:20 am, "rda" wrote:
Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls,
also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welcome.


Remove the lens cap from your brain before you begin shooting.



Yawn, why bother.

--
rda


  #6  
Old December 1st 07, 03:48 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Art[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

On Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:20:36 -0000, "rda" wrote:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welco


1) have some fun stuff/toys that is cute, not shop-worn (ormake sure
it is antique) to catch the younger folks attention
2) consider both high-key and low-key overall look
3) do you want "formal?" then consider objects that help people sit
slow
4) do you want "fun"? think about some light fun kids background music
to set the mood, and go from "playtime" into "shooting" gradually. (or
start formal and let it degenerate - with kids it always will )
5) Have fun for 15 minutes of shooting, then take a break. Show the
crew what the photos look like on your PC and get their feedback.
6) Stay away from food until the end of the shoot, or you will be
forever retouching crumbs out of hair, off props, and off cheeks.
7) kids look good in almost any light - use that advantage; but take
care of moms complexion and facial features (nose, etc).
8) talk to them about being consistant in clothes, all darker, all
lighter, nothing like a t-shirt wiht a b/w logo on it - or the ones
that don't fit in will be the focal point of your photo - no matter
what you do.

  #7  
Old December 1st 07, 04:20 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Stewy
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Posts: 541
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

In article , "rda"
wrote:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Get all the help you can from the older kids - have a roll of duct tape
for the babes and toddlers :-)

Photograph at one end of a longish room - this should throw the
background well out of focus. If outdoors, an overcast day is better
unless you want to glue aluminium foil to sheets of cardboard for fill-in
  #8  
Old December 1st 07, 05:16 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Floyd L. Davidson
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Posts: 5,138
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

"rda" wrote:
Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.

Any help/ideas most welcome.


Wow, aren't you attracting interesting comments...
pills to caps.

There are loads of ways to do kids, and most of it
depends as much on your mannerisms as theirs. Go to a
library or a gallery, or search Internet, or whatever
you can think of... and look for examples from
professional portrait photographers. Look at the poses,
and the kinds of props they use to amuse or distract the
kids. Pick out ideas that match _you_ and your setup.

I'm into "people pictures", but not posed pictures.
Posed pictures are too formal, too stiff, and won't
capture the spirit of the kids. What some parents
_want_ is a stiff formal picture! Not me.

For me, ideally the kids wouldn't know I'm there or be
reacting to the camera. But that is very hard to
accomplish! My method is to let the monsters loose in a
place with enough "stuff" to keep them totally busy.
Quite frankly, I've found that _their_ normal play areas
are the best for that. Their school room, their living
room, a known playground, that sort of thing. The trick
for me is setting up lighting for whatever might happen,
and using a camera/lense combination that allows working
fairly fast. It doesn't take a 10 frames per second
burst rate; but AF, for example, is essential.

It is often difficult to prevent kids from becoming more
interested in the photography than you are. Nothing
will be "natural", and every move they make will be
intended to attract your attention. If you keep going
for a long time some of that effect will fade. But...
they have lots of energy and might wear you out and use
all of your resources (memory cards, for example) first!
Hence, let them get into the "distractions" well before
you start using a camera, and pace things to start with
to see what happens. Spend some time, and let them burn
off some energy and excitement. And try to be a boring,
uninteresting part of the woodwork.

Of course, the opposite technique can be interesting
too, if you are brave. Be exciting, show them the
pictures! Then let *them* have the camera... That
works particularly well with a group of children that
don't know you well enough to relax. It also works if
you want pictures of parents that _you_ can't point the
camera at... :-) Hand the kids a camera, and they don't
have to ask if it's okay, they just poke it in Mom's
face and snap.

You listed a 70-300mm zoom in your sig, and that might
be handy too, though I'd expect the 24-70 will be used
more than anything. I very much like the effects of
about 120-160mm focal length (35mm equivalent). (Part
of that is because I'm old and don't like to move around
all that much, do like to use tripods, and like closely
cropped head shots.)

Whatever, you might well be distinctly different, and
those techniques won't help you a bit. Go look for
pictures that you'd like to take... and then try to find
out what techniques were used to get them.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)
  #9  
Old December 1st 07, 09:46 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Mr. Strat
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Posts: 1,089
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

In article , rda
wrote:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.

I have a few ideas what to *try* and do myself, but was wondering if you
guys had any suggestions.

I have a reasonable sized room with wood floor and plain white walls, also
an Elinchrom twin softbox lighting setup.

Camera will be a 30D with probably 17-40 f4 L or Sigma 24-70 f2.8 ex.


*ALERT*
*PROFESSIONAL SECRETS FOLLOW*

I always photographed groups full length. I don't like to see groups
chopped off at the waist or anywhere.

Think in triangles...so that the heads are arranged like the points in
triangles. Pose each person so that if you took them out of the group,
they would make a good portrait on their own.

For lighting, since you have two lights, might as well use them.
Softboxes are good because the falloff isn't so bad.
Position one right next to the camera and the other off axis slightly
on the same side (no crosslighting)...with the one closest to the
camera 1 stop less than the one farther away.

Shoot RAW.
  #10  
Old December 2nd 07, 01:44 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
C J Campbell
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Posts: 1,272
Default Suggestions for posing group of 5 kids.

On 2007-12-01 03:20:36 -0800, "rda" said:

Hi there, I have a friend bring 5 kids from her family round for a few
photos.
The kids range from 6 months - 9yrs old.


For once I agree with Strat: full length photography unless you are
doing a facial portrait. With five you can do either landscape or
portrait orientation.

Having them stand on the two sides of a ladder will naturally create a
triangle.

I like getting the kids involved in a game of some sort, usually with
something colorful with a beach ball, or maybe blowing bubbles. At
first the kids are usually a little self-conscious around a
photographer, but you just keep taking pictures and sooner or later
they forget you are there.

There is a natural order of children's play. They start slowly at
first, with little involvement. Then they get more and more interested.
Then interest falls off rapidly. You will probably get your best shots
as the children reach their peak of interest.

You can also use the ladder to get shots of them from high overhead --
always fun if you can get them tossing a ball.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

 




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