Friday, February 10, 2012

Recognizing picture moments


I take a lot of photos of Fiona. She is just 29 months, a little young for a camera. I've given her my Canon S90 but she finds it difficult to frame an image while depressing the shutter button. She has the interest and I'm going to let her keep practising.

As important as it is to be able to handle the camera, it is just as important to know what stuff to shoot. What makes a picture? This is the question that every photographer must answer.

Fiona is getting there. She is developing "a photographer's eye." When she saw her first angel decorating a lawn at Christmas, she cried, "Gaga! Take a picture!" I did. And she checked my work. She knows how to activate the rear display screen and advance through the images stored in the camera. She's quite at ease making comments on my work.

The other day she was learning how to grate cheese. It was a first for her. First time stuff like this make a memorable moment --- a picture moment. "Take a picture!" she ordered, and then turned back to her work. She knows grating cheese makes a picture and not saying cheese and grinning at the lens.
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Things to consider when shooting kids:-

  • Try and get down to the child's level
  • In most case, do not shoot the tops of heads.
  • Faces are important. Try and capture an emotion.
  • It may be a still picture but often a little captured-action helps.
  • Try and compose while shooting. Think final composition.
  • Try for a moment captured and not a grin-for-the-camera shot.

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