How to take children mugshots

Since Kristine is about to go to "school", I was ordered to take some ID photos for her (or else) so that we can save some money compared to being taken at the studios. Not only that, we cannot predict on how she would react in a proper studio, so, its best to try the DIY method first.

Anyway, here are some basic tips which I find it useful when I started portraits long ago. Ha ha ha ha

Step 1: Make sure the subject warms up to you. Do not make the subject too comfortable or give them any form of sugar. Or else they will move too much and you will end up with a lot of blurred images. And waste hard disk space.

Step 2: And when you need to take photos, try not to use flash or else everyone else can see things like dimples, acnes, etc. Try to take in a natural light and never do close-ups. You can use software to create close-ups.

Step 3: Do not threaten the subject or else they will refuse to smile or worse, cry. This will spoil the whole day and you will be force to use the expensive services of a professional studio.


Step 4: Never direct or force the subject to smile, turn their heads and so on. This would create a very "forced" look.

Step 5: When you're coaxing the subject, never let a third party interfere as this would confuse the subject. And never let them stand behind you either as you can "accidentally" kick them and this would also spoil the whole day. You will still have to fork out for professional services.

Step 6: You must always be ready and wait for the subject and not the other way round. Always plan ahead on what everyone needs to do before the shoot so that last minute changes would not create images like these.


Step 7: Be sensitive to the subject's needs. Take as much break as possible so that the subject would never look tired.

Step 8: Make a few jokes and tell funny stories to calm the subject

Step 9: Slowly, they will warm up to you and this is where you can start taking photos. Do not let the camera make clicking or whirring noises that will distract the subject. Just be as quiet as you can.


Do's and don't's of basic potraiture
1. Do not direct the subject. Instead, tell them what you want them to do or, what needs to be done
2. Never ever tell them to smile. You can obviously see the results
3. Do take as much candid shots a possible for possible blackmail in case the subject refuse to cooperate

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

very cute la.. ur kids :)