My first grandchild's first birthday is this Friday, and there will be a family party Friday night at home and a larger party Saturday at a park. I'm leaving to drive there tomorrow morning and also going to the mountains of NC and of course stopping by some NWRs on the way there and back.
There was going to be a friend of my daughter and son-in-law taking pictures of the first birthday party at the park, but he is having a family critical illness/probable death and can't be there. My daughter has asked me to be the more or less official birthday photographer.
For the inside pictures I'll just put my T2i on auto. Should I do that for the outdoor pictures, too? It'll be a bunch of one-year-olds and parents and friends, so I won't have time or opportunity for do-overs, and I really don't want to end up with unusable images.
Please help! How should I do this to make sure that I end up with reasonable pictures? Should I just use a point-and-shoot instead of the Rebel?
Well, I'd run away from something like this if at all possible. But since you are stuck with it I'd suggest a few things:
1. nobody involved will be nearly as critical of the results as you will be. We've all seen the horrible results that most people produce and show to others with great pride. They rarely see the technical flaws because they dolt on the subject. Use this to your advantage by not pointing out all the things that didn't work in your shots.
2. keep your gear simple. Only two lenses at most; a single general purpose "kit" lens should do the job.
3. Use ISO 400 inside to give higher shutter speeds.
4. Use fill flash outdoors to tame the worst shadows when you can't get your subjects into more uniform softer light.
5. Don't try to get everyone in a single shot. Instead, get shots of individuals or 2-3 people at a time.
6. Candids are better than staged shots with forced smiles so try to get some of those. Shoot First and Ask Questions Later.
7. Take lots of shots and edit them before anyone else sees them.
The Rebel is a terrific little snapshooter. In a situation like this, I like to use my wife's Rebel T1i. Set it on P (for Professional :) pop up the flash, and point and shoot. I'm not a big fan of the on-camera flash look, especially indoors, but the Rebel's little brain generally does a pretty good job. Indoors, try to take pictures in a room with lots of window light. Indoor pictures at night or in dark rooms are the worst. Incandescent or fluorescent can give you an unpleasant color cast which, when mixed with flash, can be tricky to correct by changing your white balance in camera or in post-processing. If you will be making lots of pictures, it's much better to get them right in camera.
Outdoors you can use ambient light, but using the flash for fill can be helpful. In shade it can put a sparkle in the eyes and in full sun, it can soften harsh shadows.
If you're using a wide angle lens, watch out for lens shadow, the pop-up flash is so low, the upper part of the lens can actually cast a shadow on the lower part of the picture.
Watch your backgrounds. Try to remember this maxim: Put the head in a clear space.
Most of all, have fun! If you're serious about this kind of photography, learn about off-camera flash. Check out the Strobist, www.strobist.com
Oh, Richard and Buck, thank you so very, very much. Your information is so helpful.
Posted by Ramamohan Pai on June 21, 2011 at 11:07 PM
Barbara, If you have an external flash (I highly recommend it over the pop-up flash) then that is the best thing that could happen to you. Bounce it off the ceiling to avoid shadows on the walls behind.
Hey Barbara, We have three grandsons 3 and under. I feel your pain.... Try to shoot from eye level with the kids and from a short distance with a zoom. This helps with an oof background (which will be crowded in a park) and also keeps the kids from always looking at the camera. I have my best luck with catching the kids just being kids and not trying to pose or arrange the little terriosts. Relax and have fun.
Good stuff all around. I'll just add a few fine tuning points that will make photo life easier, so you can have more fun while getting good photos.
Outdoors shoot with the strobe set on -1 or so, camera on Program, and fire away.
Indoors leave the camera on Program and select an ISO that will give you sufficient shutter speed to shoot without strobe. Now turn on the strobe, set it at -1 and angle it to bounce. Fire away. The only special consideration is when your subjects are less than half the frame and silhouetted against a bright window or in front of a white wall. Without changing anything else briefly use the exposure comp on the camera to +2 for the window or +1 for the wall. Sounds crazy, but in those situations your camera is going to under-expose to try dealing with the brightness around your subject, leaving the subject dark. Don't forget to turn the camera's exposure comp back to 0 the moment your subject moves away from the window or wall.
Basically once you have the camera and strobe set, you can shoot as though you were using a point-and-shoot until your subject moves in front of that window or wall. That allows for very fast reflexes with active subjects and diverse settings, both of which you'll need!
Some good advice here Barbara! Trying to capture candids of young children can be a daunting task. They don't understand the concept of not always being in motion. At least my two year-old son doesn't!!
I haven't seen this suggested, so I thought I'd throw it out there. Install an empty, formatted card, and set your camera to high-speed capture mode and just hold that shutter release button down when you see something you like!! You'll throw away a bunch of pictures, but your probability of capturing that one fleeting moment are much better than trying to anticipate when to snap the shutter.
Thank you, everyone! And now guess what? The guy will be there Saturday! But I'm going to try every one of your suggestions and see how they come out anyway, since they'll just be extra photos. Plus I have the ones indoors Friday night to do. Thank you again, very much.
Thanks for asking, Hank -- both parties went as well as could be expected with a 1-year-old. :) The photographer guy looked to be doing a great job at the park on Saturday. My own situation on Friday night was nothing but snapshots. I don't know if or when I'll ever get to a point of being able to do any better and/or be just more able to act rather than react when it comes to photography. But thank you all again, so much, for your thoughts and information.
I don't know if or when I'll ever get to a point of being able to do any better and/or be just more able to act rather than react when it comes to photography.
I bet you will Barbara! Just keep on doing it and work toward the KISS solution. The simpler you can make the camera manipulation, the less attention you'll have to pay to the camera and the more you'll be responsive to what is happening around you.
My wife used to dread the "walk around" photography at receptions because her technique was so cumbersome. By simplifying and simplifying and simplifying, she's now as fast as paparazzi when the action is swirling around her. Those camera settings I described earlier are key. I am frequently in industrial or other one-time-only shooting situations and they're key for me, too. I take great pride in the fact that we have to carry E&O insurance for our work, but we've never had to make a claim in over 20 years of work.
Discussion
14 repliesThere was going to be a friend of my daughter and son-in-law taking pictures of the first birthday party at the park, but he is having a family critical illness/probable death and can't be there. My daughter has asked me to be the more or less official birthday photographer.
For the inside pictures I'll just put my T2i on auto. Should I do that for the outdoor pictures, too? It'll be a bunch of one-year-olds and parents and friends, so I won't have time or opportunity for do-overs, and I really don't want to end up with unusable images.
Please help! How should I do this to make sure that I end up with reasonable pictures? Should I just use a point-and-shoot instead of the Rebel?
1. nobody involved will be nearly as critical of the results as you will be. We've all seen the horrible results that most people produce and show to others with great pride. They rarely see the technical flaws because they dolt on the subject. Use this to your advantage by not pointing out all the things that didn't work in your shots.
2. keep your gear simple. Only two lenses at most; a single general purpose "kit" lens should do the job.
3. Use ISO 400 inside to give higher shutter speeds.
4. Use fill flash outdoors to tame the worst shadows when you can't get your subjects into more uniform softer light.
5. Don't try to get everyone in a single shot. Instead, get shots of individuals or 2-3 people at a time.
6. Candids are better than staged shots with forced smiles so try to get some of those. Shoot First and Ask Questions Later.
7. Take lots of shots and edit them before anyone else sees them.
Outdoors you can use ambient light, but using the flash for fill can be helpful. In shade it can put a sparkle in the eyes and in full sun, it can soften harsh shadows.
If you're using a wide angle lens, watch out for lens shadow, the pop-up flash is so low, the upper part of the lens can actually cast a shadow on the lower part of the picture.
Watch your backgrounds. Try to remember this maxim: Put the head in a clear space.
Most of all, have fun! If you're serious about this kind of photography, learn about off-camera flash. Check out the Strobist, www.strobist.com
Sandy
cook
Outdoors shoot with the strobe set on -1 or so, camera on Program, and fire away.
Indoors leave the camera on Program and select an ISO that will give you sufficient shutter speed to shoot without strobe. Now turn on the strobe, set it at -1 and angle it to bounce. Fire away. The only special consideration is when your subjects are less than half the frame and silhouetted against a bright window or in front of a white wall. Without changing anything else briefly use the exposure comp on the camera to +2 for the window or +1 for the wall. Sounds crazy, but in those situations your camera is going to under-expose to try dealing with the brightness around your subject, leaving the subject dark. Don't forget to turn the camera's exposure comp back to 0 the moment your subject moves away from the window or wall.
Basically once you have the camera and strobe set, you can shoot as though you were using a point-and-shoot until your subject moves in front of that window or wall. That allows for very fast reflexes with active subjects and diverse settings, both of which you'll need!
I haven't seen this suggested, so I thought I'd throw it out there. Install an empty, formatted card, and set your camera to high-speed capture mode and just hold that shutter release button down when you see something you like!! You'll throw away a bunch of pictures, but your probability of capturing that one fleeting moment are much better than trying to anticipate when to snap the shutter.
I bet you will Barbara! Just keep on doing it and work toward the KISS solution. The simpler you can make the camera manipulation, the less attention you'll have to pay to the camera and the more you'll be responsive to what is happening around you.
My wife used to dread the "walk around" photography at receptions because her technique was so cumbersome. By simplifying and simplifying and simplifying, she's now as fast as paparazzi when the action is swirling around her. Those camera settings I described earlier are key. I am frequently in industrial or other one-time-only shooting situations and they're key for me, too. I take great pride in the fact that we have to carry E&O insurance for our work, but we've never had to make a claim in over 20 years of work.