iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Kid Photography

Children are challenging for all photographers. They’re like flash floods: fast, low to the ground, and unpredictable. But with a little patience and perseverance, you can keep up with them and get the shot (Figure 3-9). Here are some tips:

• Be prepared. Rule one for capturing great kid pictures is to have your camera handy at all times, charged and with memory-card space to spare. Great kid shots come and go in the blink of an eye. Parents don’t have the luxury of keeping their equipment snugly stowed away in a camera bag in the closet.

  

  Figure 3-9. If you want great-looking kid shots, you’ve got to play on their turf. That means getting down on your hands and knees, or even your tummy.

• Get down there. The best kid shots are generally photographed at kid level, and that means getting low. (Flip screens are particularly useful for kid shots, because they let you position the camera down low without actually having to lie on the ground.)

• Get close. Your shots will have much more impact if the subject fills the frame, plus you won’t have to do as much cropping later in iPhoto.

• Prefocus. Shutter lag will make you miss the shot every time. In many cases, you can defeat it by prefocusing—that is, half-pressing the shutter button when the kid’s not doing anything special. Keep your finger on the button until the magical smile appears, then press fully to snap the shot.

• Burst away. ...