Practical Photography - UK (2020-04)

36 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY

Family

portrait

skills

Louise Downham puts her

subjects at ease to create

beautifully natural images.

NEVER MISS THE

PERFECT MOMENT

#1 Shutter speed

Children move unpredictably, and fast.

Shutter speeds that might be fine for

adults, who tend to be largely static, are often

too slow for young children. The standard rule of

th umb for the slowest handheld shutter speed

(matching the shutter speed to the focal length)

doesn’t work well when photographing children

• they’re too speedy! I tend to keep my camera
  se t to 1/250sec. It’s overkill for many situations,
  but it provides me with the certainty that
  I won’t miss the shot. Even if a toddler
  suddenly changes direction or a baby rolls
  ov er, I’ll have a fast-enough shutter speed
  to freeze the moment without motion blur.

LO OKFORTHE MOST

FL AT TERING LOCATION

#2 Natural light

I’m a natural light photographer

so am always looking for pretty

window light, and areas that aren’t too

harshly lit or too dark. Where possible,

I turn off the overhead lights as the light

from a window is so much more beautiful

than that created artificially. As a family

photographer, I always ask for a full tour of

the house when I arrive – so often parents

have said, “Oh, there’s nothing much

upstairs”, only for me to discover a loft

space with gorgeous light streaming in.

Outdoors, I look for gentle shade and

avoid the harsh midday sun.

TIP

SHOOTIN

CONTINUOUS

Usea fastshutterspeed

togetherwithyourcamera’s

continuousshooting

mode,usedin short

bursts.