Children's Portrait Photography Handbook

and you are suddenly dealing with an uncooperative sub-
ject or, in the worst case scenario, a screaming out-of-
control subject.
It doesn’t seem to matter what personality type you
are as a photographer, kids are either generally respon-
sive to you, or they aren’t—and predicting which way it
will go can be difficult. I know photographers who are
gruff and generally grumpy most of the time. One rea-
sons, “If he’s this bad with adults, how can children tol-
erate him?” But, at least in the case of one photographer,
children seem to love this otherwise grumpy Gus and are
completely at ease in front of his camera.

The Challenges.

Even if you do everything perfectly—producing beauti-
ful posing and lighting, animated expressions, a wide se-
lection of different images to choose from—the parents
might say something like, “Wow, that just doesn’t look
like our little little boy.” That’s because parents form ide-
alized mental images of their kids. When they see them in

INTRODUCTION 7

INTRODUCTION..

W

orking with babies, small children and teenagers can be a

frustrating experience for any professional photographer.

Kids of all ages are unpredictable. Things can be going along well

during a session when, for no apparent reason, the mood changes

Marcus Bell incorporates a lot of the techniques he uses in his
award-winning wedding photography to photograph children. For
example, he works close up with a wide-angle lens for unusual per-
spective, then uses selective focus to blur all but the facial elements
of the portrait. His ability to get unique expressions is amazing.