Photographing active children

[pab]

Folks

I would appreciate any techniques you have for photographing an active 2 year old who loves running around! I find that my CV 50, 75 and 90 lenses work just fine when my son is sitting or standing still but I really haven't figured out the best way to get a good frame-filling picture of him running around. I've tried to focus my 90 from some distance but he always just ends up running straight for me, so changing focus quickly enough is just impossible!

Any tips much appreciated.

Thanks

Per

 

[RObert Budding]

There are times when an AF SLR is better than a rangefinder.

 

[rover]

Just shoot away and say the motion blurr was intentional. 😉

Actually, that is the story of his existence now, so his energy is a big part of the story of your/his life.

I actually did just this, I used a 35mm lens too a lot as it allowed me to be close to my son, you never want to be too far away, and the wider angle will give you better DOF. Keep practicing and keep blasting away, you will enjoy your shots as much as you enjoy your fun son no matter how they come out.

 

[Socke]

This side of lots of DoF and hyperfocal distance there is only one option, AF 🙂

With models on the cat walk I usualy prefocus on a point where they pose or turn, but models are predictable, children aren't

 

[clarence]

You could use a flash to get enough light so that you can scale focus and shoot at tiny apertures. If you insist on not using a flash, high speed film is an option.

Your depth of field will be immense on a 50, less so on longer focal lengths. This is desirable for shooting objects that are displacing themselves perpendicular to the plane of focus, but you might not be able to get the sort of effect where only the child is in focus and everything behind and before him is a creamy blur.

Clarence

 

[VinceC]

Wide-angle lenses have deep depth-of-field so that you don't have to worry about focus so much. With 50mm and longer, it's best to prefocus.

The shot in the woods below was prefocused 50 with them running toward me. The other two are with a 28mm wide open at f/3.5.

 

[pab]

Thanks guys- you've given me something to experiment with. I'm determined to leave the AF SLR in the back of cupboard if I can- I hate lugging it around and would like to be confident enough to use my RF for everything bar very long shots of wildlife.

 

[lubitel]

I would focus at say 3 meters and wait until he is within that range - you did say he always ends up running towards you.

 

[Jonathan_100]

I like a 35 or 50mm with 400 film. I usually set my aperture around 4 or 5.6 and start shooting.

Don't worry, they stop attacking the camera around the age of 3.

Jonathan

 

[nico]

Thanks guys- you've given me something to experiment with. I'm determined to leave the AF SLR in the back of cupboard if I can- I hate lugging it around and would like to be confident enough to use my RF for everything bar very long shots of wildlife.

I'm sure you'll be able soon to be confident with your rf camera. I'm a beginner (before rf I shot with nikon f55 in af and ae mode) but with a little pratice I feel to be every day much more confident with my bessar.
I like to shot playing kids - I have some shots here - and I use hyperfocal setting in daylight (if they run or do something fast) and manual focus at night; I might loose some shots in low light situation but I "compensate" with the ones I'm able to keep. Clarence is right, a flash could help in low light but I don't like the effect you get in the end.
Enjoy your Rf
Bye
Nico

 

[varjag]

Vince, absolutely dig the first shot. If there's such a thing as perfect family snap, that is it.

Per, not quite camera technique advice, but do get some slide film. I'm a fan of BW myself, but family shots on Astia in flat light just rock. Some great photographer said that flat light on slide film makes people's eyes vivid, he was spot on.

 

[VinceC]

Varjag, thanks for the comment.

Pab, the RF is the camera I always prefer to keep with me, so it takes the great majority of my family photos. It's easy to carry, and it's always there. Once you get the hang of pre-focusing, it becomes second nature and you can grab a lot of action shots (my kids play soccer and I get some decent sports pictures with RF telephotos). My other trick is taking portraits while they're watching TV. Then, they're sitting still like zombies.

 

[Toby]

I use a cv25/4 set to f8 or 11 to get a DoF fom 1m to infinity. Really I don't think I have time focus or change exposure so I preset everything and just point and shoot. I don't think this quite so easy with longer lenses so £100 on a second hand 25/4 would be a excellent investment

 

[clarence]

Flash doesn't have to be unpleasant or intrusive. When used outdoors as fill flash, you can hardly detect it because there's enough ambient light to mask the harsh light of the flash, and yet the flash will be able to freeze movement.

When indoors, we are already surrounded with numerous point sources of artificial light. You can avoid the deer-in-headlights look by bouncing or diffusing the flash so that the quality of light it produces is similar to that of other light sources in the room.

For the shot below, the shutter speed was set at 1/30 (the sync speed on a Fed-2), and the flash was a cheap and tiny unit as small as a packet of fags. It was connected to the camera via sync cord, and when shooting, I pointed the flash behind me so that light would be diffused all over the room.

Clarence

 

[Silva Lining]

Tie a rope to one of your toddlers legs and connect it to a pole in the ground, that way your toddler can only run in a circle and you can then set you focus to cover this area.😛

 

[zuikologist]

I would focus at say 3 meters and wait until he is within that range - you did say he always ends up running towards you.

This is the way I photograph any fast moving object. Prefocus on a spot and fire the shutter when they are at or near that spot. Panning with a slow shutter speed is also effective for lots of arm/leg movement. Sometimes you will get a good shot, sometimes not. The good shots are often keepers.

 

[max35mm]

400 iso film and hyperfocal.

with a 50mm lens closing to f5.6 you can have focus from 3m to 7m or 5m to 30m, at f8 you can have focus from 3m to 10m....I think it's enough 🙂




this with agfa scala



ciao

 

[clarence]

Wicked idea. I should do that to my models as well.

Tie a rope to one of your toddlers legs and connect it to a pole in the ground, that way your toddler can only run in a circle and you can then set you focus to cover this area.😛

Clarence

 

[zuikologist]

Lovely photo.

400 iso film and hyperfocal.

with a 50mm lens closing to f5.6 you can have focus from 3m to 7m or 5m to 30m, at f8 you can have focus from 3m to 10m....I think it's enough 🙂



View attachment 30158
this with agfa scala



ciao

 

[nico]

Flash doesn't have to be unpleasant or intrusive. When used outdoors as fill flash, you can hardly detect it because there's enough ambient light to mask the harsh light of the flash, and yet the flash will be able to freeze movement.

When indoors, we are already surrounded with numerous point sources of artificial light. You can avoid the deer-in-headlights look by bouncing or diffusing the flash so that the quality of light it produces is similar to that of other light sources in the room.

For the shot below, the shutter speed was set at 1/30 (the sync speed on a Fed-2), and the flash was a cheap and tiny unit as small as a packet of fags. It was connected to the camera via sync cord, and when shooting, I pointed the flash behind me so that light would be diffused all over the room.

Clarence

Another shot like this and I'll start to use flash 😉 !
N.