Photographing the children we used the natural light outdoors and indoors we used flash or just used a large aperture. For the staff portraits we used a black backdrop and 2 lights, one with a soft box. We got head to shoulder shots for these.
All images taken were edited and handed back to the staff in JPEG form:
Child/ young person photography is commonly found in the retail industry and at places like schools and sports centers. You will often see it promoting products like push chairs, car seats, toys, bikes, food products and also a lot of clothing. This is for companies like Toys'r'us, Smith's Toys, Mothercare, Birdseye, Robinson's, Graco, ASDA, Argos, Tesco, Boots and Amazon. Including children in images to advertise your products can help to reach a further target audience of people who will buy your products. For example, a food product by Birdseye, lets say Fish Fingers, if these were advertised with children, parents will think that this product is good for their child/ren so they will be more likely to buy it than if it was advertised with just adults as they may not realise that the product is suitable for children so it would pass their mind to buy it as part of a child's meal. Advertising this Birdseye product with children in it would benefit Birdseye and other companies selling their products like Tesco, Sainsbury's and ASDA:
Many new parents want the services of a Photographer to photograph their young child and to have family portraits so that they have a keepsake and memories of the happy time in their lives. Different photographers photograph children in their own chosen styles like low key and high key:
Low Key Photography requires a black background and one main light usually to the side of the subject to create dramatic shadows and to not fully light the subject:
When photographing young people their are certain skills and equipment you require. First of all you will need to come across as a friendly character otherwise the young people may not feel at ease which will show in the photographs as they may not cooperate. You will need good communication skills as young people are prone to distraction so to get the photos you need to will need to keep them occupied and happy so that you can get the correct posing and expressions you would like.
The basic equipment you would require would be a lighting kit with 4 lights (so you can do most lighting set ups), 2 softboxes, a tripod, camera, external flash, white and black backdrop (maybe other colours like grey), a reflector. umbrellas with and without reflectors (for the lights) and a lens with a large focal length, between 100-170mm is goof as this removes lens distortion so doesn't leave facial features like the nose looking bigger or other facial features due to the lens curve that you would see at 20mm-50mm.
To get a standard portrait you would usually get the head and shoulders in the image like so as there is less background distraction and less distraction from the face which is usually the key focus. You would also make sure to get a good composition so that no body parts are cut off by the framing:
I looked at two successful photographers in the child photography genre:
Kay Oliver - Child/Family Photographer based in Derby
http://www.kayoliverphotography.co.uk/DEFAULT.aspx
Kay Olivers style of photography is using her naturally lit home studio to create soft, well lit images of newborn, child and family portraits. This lighting creates quite high key imagery giving soft, high contrast results with minimal shadow which create pleasant, bright, upbeat, joyful imagery that you can take away with you to have around your home. Her unique selling point I would say is her naturally lit home studio as she does a lot of newborn photography with no flash to disturb the baby which I think would attract parents as well as her offering of many props like headbands and blankets to use within her images as new parents may not want a continuous flash as they would fear damage to babyies eyes. The naturally lit images create soft, positive imagery also which makes for pleasant imagery that you would want hanging up around the house or to use as a gift. She also offers to travel to you which is what I would like if I was using her services so this is a good selling point.
Kay Olivers Photography:
Emma Wilsher Photography:
http://emmawilsher.co.uk/
Emma Wilsher specialises in newborn and family portrait photography. Her style of photography is high key images taken at her studio and on location. Although she does family portraits, I would say that her unique selling point is the way in which she uses props in her newborn photography as she uses items like boxes and baskets in which she places the newborn to photograph them and this is an unusual, eye catching way of photographing a newborn compared to the usual scrunched blanket/fluffy blanket with baby placed on top. This unusual take would attract more of an audience as people would find it interesting due to its artistic outlook and this would draw them in making them more willing to pay for the service as it's different to the standard and people would want to show off their interesting baby photos.
Emma Wilsher's Photography:
Child photography is not as straight forward as it seems, there are laws and implications that need to be followed and considered.
It is illegal to take any indecent photograph of a child but it is not however against the law to take a photo of children/adults in a public place unless that place happens to be a building like a museum or gallery in which case you could be seen as doing a terrorist act as you may include the structural plan of the building which could help a terrorist attack.
"Offences[edit]
Currently, the Act[7] defines as offences, roughly:
- To take or make any indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child;
- To show or distribute such (pseudo-)photographs;
- To possess such (pseudo-)photographs with intent to show or distribute them;
- To advertise for showing or distributing such (pseudo-)photographs.
Amendments[edit]
1994[edit]
Originally, in 1978, the Act referred to "photographs". In 1994, to cover also actions involving images created or altered with machines like computers, the Act was amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to refer to taking, or making, "photographs or pseudo-photographs", etcetera.
2008[edit]
The Act was further amended by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008,[8] which provided that "photograph" includes:
"a tracing or other image, whether made by electronic or other means (of whatever nature)— (i) which is not itself a photograph or pseudo-photograph, but (ii) which is derived from the whole or part of a photograph or pseudo-photograph (or a combination of either or both)," and including data stored on a computer disc or by any other form of electronic means that can be converted into such an image. "
If you are photographing at a school like taking the school portraits of the children and classes, consent forms must go out to all the parents stating what the photos are being used for and where they will be shown. Unless consent is given the child should not be photographed.
As with any photography you need to think about the health and safety of the clients. You should get yourself public liability insurance which protects you if clients or members of the public are injured or have any property damage caused by your business, it will cover expenses of the damage and any compensation claims.
There are also things you could do using your general knowledge like removing any small objects, sharp items and trip hazards from the space you will be using to photograph the children.
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