I love photographing little kids. I’m able to quickly get them to relax and be my friends in just moments, getting real and genuine expressions of them.
I just returned home from teaching at West Coast School, a big weeklong hands-on workshop for photographers that happens once a year in San Diego California. While there, I was photographing and demoing how to light a model on the move, when I stopped to photograph two cute little kids. They were the children of one of the photographers in attendance and had come to say hi to her.
I wanted to demonstrate how to get people (particularly kids) to trust you, relax, and respond wonderfully in only a few moments using a number of social dynamics techniques which I teach in my Getting Expression course. Using only a leaf, I had these little girls captivated and giving me genuine expressions.
The entire photo shoot was only 2 minutes long, and one of the photographers shot the last half on her iPhone. I’m grateful for her to have shot this because I can now share it with you. And in those 2 minutes I had plenty of great images for some wall art, as shown below.
In under 2 minutes using only a leaf, I had these girls laughing hysterically. I created great images with great expressions and great lighting – ready for wall designs, even without retouching.
Then during the workflow part of class, I designed these pieces in front of everyone, taking no time for retouching. No filters, no skin effects needed because the lighting and color was right on the money. I simply picked some favorites that would work for each piece (trio or 9-up), and quickly dropped the images into the designs.
If you’re a photographer and would like more training on lighting, expression, or workflow, check out my full courses on my training website as well as schedule for in-person workshops.