Give directions to the parents.
Tell the parents to make sure the kid has slept and ate, and that they don’t do anything that drains their energy before the shoot. I had a friend of mine that once was about to photograph a kid and previous to the photo shoot the parents had been walking around the mall with him for two hours. Naturally, the little guy was fed up and grumpy when the photo shoot started. Heck, I would to! Thus, the photos turned out pretty crappy. Make the photo shoot an event and something fun for the kid. Something he or she can be excited about.
Set up and be prepared.
Think through the photo shoot in advance just enough so that you don’t hinder your creativity yet won’t take a lot of time setting up lights, looking for location and so on. Also, make sure everything is set up when they arrive since you don’t want to make them impatient waiting for you. Kids especially get impatient quickly.
Make them feel comfortable.
Tell the parents/guardians to bring with a few things that the kid knows and seek comfort in. Maybe a cuddly animal, a blanket they cuddle with when they are going to sleep or their favorite toy. The more comfortable the kids are the better photos you’ll get.
Inside the parents hallway with a Canon 580 EX II speedlight with an attatched Gary Fong lightsphere replica aimed straight up. This softens up the light and enables me to move quickly. There was no time for studio lights in this shot.
Be flexible and quick.
Kids will be, unlike an adult, all over the place but in return they will give you honest and true expressions quite naturally. At least most kids will. So you’ll need to be able to adjust to the kid, not the other way around. This is why I prefer speedlights instead of big lights. I want to be able to move around quickly to capture THE moment when it happens.
Get close and keep it simple.
A portrait is about the person it portrays, not the environment. So get close and exclude busy backgrounds. The focus of the portrait should never be lost inside the environment.
It’s personal.
What’s the personality of the kid? An angry little kid that loves cars? A happy one that just enjoys smearing cat food over her face? Capture that. Consider bringing toys in that are their favorite. Engage them in it.
Connect to the kid and have fun.
Get down on kid level. Kids are smart so talk to them as adults but keep the subjects to what they enjoy. And don’t forget to be ridiculous to. If you ask about some of their toys they’ll gladly tell you about it. And if you are relaxed and centered, the kids will be to sooner or later. Remember, kids and adults will sense your energy and adapt to it whether they know it or not.
Focus on their relationship.
If there is several kids – focus on their relationship. Some of the photos can be hilarious when they start hugging, arguing or whatever tension goes on. Don’t always aim for the goodie smile happy joy joy photos. Some dynamic feelings make them human and relatable.
Capture what the parents will recognize.
This is why it’s so important to make the kid feel comfortable to show their true self. The parents know their kids and there will be nothing more heart warming for them than to see that the personality of their kid shine through in a photograph. They don’t want a perfect yet fake picture of their face. That’s just visual. If you can capture the kid doing something that is so true to who they are you’ve captured something that will be worth a lot to their parents.
They will get cranky.
Sooner or later the kid will grow bored and cranky and by then it’s just to wrap it up. Hopefully you all would have had a great, fun and engaging time together.
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Damn you are GOOD! Thanks for all of the GOOD tips and wonderful photos!