Photography Miami by Photographer Children shots tips by JT Ermer

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Welcome to Photographing your kids, Part of the Shoot Yourself Photographic Instruction Series. The purpose of our series is to help you become a better digital photographer and a better subject should you decide to utilize the services of a professional Photographer.   One of the hardest subjects for a parent to photograph is their children. Today we are gong to give you a few techniques that should help you capture better pictures of the kids.

The combination of good technique, technical ability and capturing the moment will produce a great family picture. Here are some tips:

1) Keep it Natural: Your child may be comfortable indoors, but there can be distractions, poor lighting and busy backgrounds. Get outside. Use your garden, backyard, a favorite park and let the kids be kids. Use the terrain and natural features as props.

2) Get Down & Dirty:  Get off of your feet and knees especially when you're shooting a young toddler. Yes, I'm saying GET ON YOUR BELLY. It is a trade-off worth taking. Shooting from a high angle does allow you to use the ground as a background. However, it's worthwhile being at a low angle if you want to capture more of the child's face.

3) Get Back: Use a telephoto lens and give the kids room to play. If you have an SLR camera use a 70-300mm zoom for good versatility. If you use a point and shoot, use your optical zoom range only. In either case, get back far enough to avoid distracting the child. At 70mm you should get far enough back to get full length photos and zoom in for close-ups.

4) Why Zoom In?: Zooming in will allow you to pick out all those wonderful expressions, but will blur the background enough to help them stand out in the frame.

5) Camera Settings DSLR: These settings should give you a great chance to catch the best picture. They should allow you to forget about the technical stuff and enjoy your photography.

   * ISO: Keep it high: Around 400 to freeze the movement in the picture.

   *File Format: RAW is best, but you can use your highest quality JPEG. FYI, I only shoot in RAW. It captures the most information per file and allows the highest degree of post production tweaking in Photoshop.

   *Exposure Mode: Shutter priority is my priority when using a telephoto lens.

   *Metering Mode: Use center weighted metering for accurate facial expressions.

   *Focusing Mode: Single AF for static shots and continuous drive to catch the action.

   *Drive Mode: Use continuous drive to capture the best shot.

Miami pro photographer "JT" John Ermer loves photography! Over 10,000 photos taken and your pictures should be next!
Six years ago, I started feeling the need to capture the world through the eyes of a camera lens, and since that passion arose in me, I have taken tens of thousands of pictures. No genre of photography; landscapes, fine art portraiture or macro, could escape the enthusiasm and zeal I feel for this beautiful art form. With the advent of digital photography, I am afforded the opportunity of taking unlimited shots of a subject, without concern for cost of film—this is the truly liberating aspect of my art. This liberation allows me to experiment, and exercise creativity in everything I shoot. This is the essence of my art. I am not about the typical, mundane portraits you see at the mall, the same static posses everyone has been familiar with since they received their first yearbook. Very few of my pictures contain these static subjects, rather I concern myself with capturing the real essence of my subject. My style of shooting is more journalistic, in that I wish to take pictures of the true person, and capture his or her personality at a particular moment. My style is influenced by the works of Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe. Many of Leibovitz’s best work comes as she merely shot her subject as they waited for crews to set up the typical paraphernalia required of traditional photo shoots. In addition to studying the works of the masters of our time, I also study technique. I pour over volumes of technical journals, and industry magazines, in hopes of perfecting my own vision of photography. And my membership in the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) affords me access to reams of instructional materials, for art, like life, is constantly in flux.

Photo Pro Photography Miami by JT ERMER

Miami pro photographer "JT" John Ermer loves photography! Over 10,000 photos taken and your pictures should be next!
Six years ago, I started feeling the need to capture the world through the eyes of a camera lens, and since that passion arose in me, I have taken tens of thousands of pictures. No genre of photography; landscapes, fine art portraiture or macro, could escape the enthusiasm and zeal I feel for this beautiful art form.