The Posing Playbook for Photographing Kids

Shoot 12

This adorable child was a bit zoned out as we started the shoot, a common phenomenon with very young children. When I first started shooting professionally 16 years ago, I found that this was the case because young children had little context for looking toward a big black box naturally. Over time, kids at a younger and younger age have become very used to mobile phone cameras and are more apt to respond to them. But shooting with a DSLR, or even a mirrorless camera, is still relatively different for a child. That is why my approach is often to just get them interested in responding to me first, and then I slowly add the camera in, almost like an appendage. That is usually when I will get the most engagement from an otherwise disinterested ...