Children

donlee

New Member
What is your approach to catch candid photos of children? Tell me what you think of my recent effort. This is a low-res image, but I am interested in your feedback on composition etc.

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I like that shot a lot. My method is to just keep shooting and hope for the best with my X10 (totally scientific right). I also got the Fuji EF20 flash and with that pointed up (with diffuser) it helps to get action shots since they're always moving in one direction or another. We just babysat my 2yo nephew last night and I got some keepers.

I'm curious about moving up to XE1 sometime in the future and wonder what people's results might be with the 35mm 1.4 and children.
 
I pre-focus. Having said that, my two girls are really not very kinetic so that I can still nail focus even if I don't pre-focus. I expect the experience will be an altogether different beast as far as the baby boy is concerned, once he gets older. :)
 
For children ... especially toddlers and younger ones, every now and then schedule a 'shoot' when someone else can watch them and all you have to be responsible for is your photography. That way you can move around and 100% of your attention to the image. It doesn't have to be a formal affair, just have the other person know they have the kids and you have the camera.

Gary
 
^ I really like the one of your niece in the driveway with the knit hat and the egg

As far as technique goes, for a camera without blazing fast AF I would say prefocus when you can with enough DOF to account for slight movement within the plane of focus and then wait for the moment you want. In contrast, realise that you may not get the definitive moment since they do move around so much.
 
When my daughter is moving around, I find that AF-C actually works quite well. Indoors in low lighting it also seems to work better than AF-S. Also, you have to remember to move out of auto-iso as the default shutter speed is too slow.

For AF-S, I changed the focus box size to the 2nd largest. I get much more consistent AF and less hunting than with a smaller AF box.

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It also helps if you're content with some shots not being in focus.
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XP1+35mm
 
Sorry I'm just coming back from .. hibernation. What happened in Boston really shook me up, for some reason. I needed time to recover.

Anyway, feedback on the image below is greatly appreciated. I thought this picture was trash, until (while driving) I realized I can make a nice B&W image out of it. I can't seem to get the "image" I have on my mind - is the missing eye too distracting?

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I really REALLY like that shot. I don't find the missing eye distracting at all.

Capturing kids is definitely a TOUGH job. I lucked out and was able to snag this one at a festival I was working at. Kneel'd down to get down to her level and snapped it right when she turned her head.

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2013 Lantern Festival by dacalac, on Flickr
 
I'm a little lost. So is the X10 not that good for kids? Seems like it a shoot as much and hope for a few shots kinda camera. Or can it do the pre focus thing too? Newbie to X10.
 
I'm a little lost. So is the X10 not that good for kids? Seems like it a shoot as much and hope for a few shots kinda camera. Or can it do the pre focus thing too? Newbie to X10.

I don't think there's anything "good" for kids below DSLR, if you are referring to Auto-Focus speed. You should know what you have with the X10, learn how it works including how slow/fast it is, and try to adjust. Set your expectation accordingly for what the camera really is. I myself am still getting the hang of that pre-focus thing. But - it's not the only solution.

For example, if you know your kid will be beside that table in a few steps, focus on that table and re-compose the shot a little bit while still holding that shutter button halfway. Then snap when your kid is exactly right where you wanted him to be. This is also a way of pre-focusing without doing it manually. It takes some practice, but you can't expect the X10's (or any other mirrorless at this point) continuous auto-focus to catch up with kids.

I have the Fuji 35mm - and Lord knows how terrible the lens is to keep up with moving objects. And before that, I have been using the Olympus 20mm on a micro-four thirds body -- which is really not a paragon of speed. But I've had a lot of keepers (and even more discards :D) from both.
 
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