Tips For Photographing Toddlers Indoors | RI Family Photographer
Photographing toddlers can be difficult. Photographing toddlers indoors without flash or window light, using only overhead lighting? That makes everything even more complicated. Overhead light isn’t the most flattering. Sometimes it isn’t very bright. Sometimes it’s funny colors. Sometimes there’s just not enough of it. But the thing is, often times you want to capture your toddler as him or herself, at home, in these very conditions. So what are the best ways to capture good photos of little people who move a lot, in light that isn’t the best? As a RI family photographer, this is something I’ve done quite a bit, and I’ll share some tips with you below.
FOCUS ON TELLING A STORY.
Images taken in your home while your child is at play don’t have to all be posed portraits…in fact, none of them have to be posed portraits. Focus on capturing what your child is doing, even if they aren’t looking at you. Capture them involved in their play. The storytelliing will be the focus of the images. Use lenses that are good for storytelling. In these images, I used a combination of 24, 35, and 50mm on a full frame camera.
USE A WIDE APERTURE.
Just because your lens has a wide maximum aperture doesn’t mean you always have to use it at its widest all the time. That said, it can come in really handy when you’re photographing little ones indoors using only ambient overhead or lamp light. Even with a wide aperture, you’ll still need to have your ISO fairly high in order to have a decent shutter speed. Don’t be afraid to raise your ISO, but also don’t be afraid to use a wide aperture.
USE BLACK AND WHITE TO HELP EMBRACE THE GRAIN.
As I mentioned in the previous tip, your ISO will likely be pretty high if you’re photographing using just ambient overhead light in your home. For example, my photos for this post were shot at ISO 3200-4000. Depending on your camera, your photos may be a bit noisy or grainy. This is not something to get overly concerned about; remember, film photos had grain! That said, converting images to black and white can help with the overall look of noisy photos, and they can also help with the inconsistent color issues that are often seen with photos taken in indoor overhead lighting.
GET DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL
This is something that you should do with kids regardless of the setting or lighting. When you’re taking their photo, be at their level. It will help viewers of the photo see the world from their point of view and will allow more intimate interaction.
TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS
Feel like taking 12 photos of your daughter twirling or 16 of your son playing with his truck? Go for it! Move in and out, get different angles and facial expressions. There’s nothing wrong with having lots of photos to tell your toddler’s story. You’ll never regret having these photos.