Children's Portrait Photography Handbook

quires that you work much closer to the subject than you
would for an adult’s portrait. This “normal” lens will pro-
vide an undistorted perspective when working at these
distances.
The only problem you may encounter is that the sub-
ject may not separate visually from the background with
the normal lens. It is desirable to have the background
slightly out of focus so that the viewer’s attention goes to
the child, rather than to the background. With a normal
and shorter focal-length lenses, depth of field is slightly
increased, so that even when working at wide lens aper-
tures, it may be difficult to separate subject from back-
ground. This is particularly true when working outdoors,
where patches of sunlight or other distracting back-
ground elements can easily draw your eye away from the
subject.
Fortunately, in the digital age, it is a fairly simple task
to diffuse background elements later in post-processing.
The Short Telephoto.In adult portraiture, a longer-
than-normal lens maintains accurate perspective. Since
children are much smaller than adults, a normal lens or
slightly longer-than-normal zoom-lens setting has the
same effect as a telephoto lens in adult portraiture. A
short telephoto can, however, provide a greater working
distance, which can be useful when photographing chil-
dren. It will also further soften the background due to its
inherent reduced depth of field.
Longer Telephotos.You can use a much longer lens
if you have the working room. A 200mm lens or the very
popular 80–200mm f/2.8 (made by both Nikon and
Canon) zoom, for instance, is a beautiful portrait lens be-
cause it provides very shallow depth of field and allows
the background to fall completely out of focus, providing
a backdrop that won’t distract from the subject. Such
lenses also provide a very narrow angle of view. When
used at large apertures, this focal length provides a very
shallow band of focus that can be used to accentuate just
the eyes, for instance, or just the frontal planes of the
child’s face. The flexibility of the 80–200mm zoom al-
lows you to vary the focal length to intermediate settings,
such as 105mm or 120mm, so that you can achieve cor-
rect perspective as well as good background control and
composition.
You should avoid using extreme telephotos longer
than 300mm for several reasons. First, the perspective be-
comes distorted and features start to appear compressed.

Depending on the working distance, the nose often looks

pasted onto the child’s face and the ears of the subject

appear parallel to the eyes. Secondly, you must work far

away from the child with such a lens, making communi-

cation next to impossible. You want to be close enough

that you can converse normally with the child.

There will be times when your close presence is an-

noying the child. In these cases, an assistant may play the

role of “good cop,” while the long telephoto removes

you from the immediate situation.

Focusing.

Focal Point.In a head-and-shoulders portrait it is im-

portant that the eyes and frontal planes of the face be tack

CAMERA TECHNIQUE 13

SELF-ESTEEM LATER IN LIFE

Stacy Bratton believes the early portrait sessions of a child have a

strong psychological impact on a person later in life. “I am always

concerned about what a child remembers about their early photo-

graphic sessions,” she says. “I think it shapes the way they ‘see’

themselves in photographs later on, and also can have an impact on

self-esteem. How many times have you heard a nineteen-year-old

say that she looks funny in photographs or that she photographs

badly? Rewind back to this person’s five-year-old photo session and

listen to her mother screeching at her—‘Stop that fake, cheesy

smile and smile pretty!’”

Always focus critically on the eyes. It won’t matter if the back-

ground is sharp, or in this case the hands—only the eyes matter. Al-

most everything else is irrelevant. Photograph by Suzette Nesire.