Doing a product shoot with little kids - any advice?

[Dizzle]

Hey people,

I am doing a "photo shoot" (my wife thinks I have the skills - I'm not so sure) tomorrow for my wife of her baby clothing line which involves some toddlers and children playing in a park whilst wearing the gear. I was wondering if anyone has any sneaky tips or advice for shooting of this type, as my experience of taking photos of my son tells me they don't stay still at all which makes it a great challenge.

Any tips at all would be great!

[ricstew]

Think about what is behind the kids.......the backdrop. Keep your shutter speed up. Find the shade and do some practice shots while everyone is getting organised to check your camera settings. Having planned activities is easier with a group of kids..........skipping ropes, pass the parcel....teddy bear picnic....that sort of stuff.
and have fun!
cheers
Jan

[Dizzle]

Hey Jan,

Thanks for the tips, it is going to be a real test for me so hopefully it will be fine. Teddy bears picnic is the sort of style my wife is aiming for I think so hopefully there won't be too much fast action happening. There should be a big mix of shade and sun but mostly it will be in the shade. I think I have complicated it for myself by buying a CPL filter and thinking I will need to use it.

[Finlaw]

have activities for the kids to focus on. they have short attention spans and get bored quickly. i'd ask your wife to come up with a few different ideas so that the kids get to play between setting them up and they come back to something new so in theory, you keep their interest for longer.

Edited to add - lots of 'clean' snacks and drinks and baby wipes

[Dizzle]

Thanks Fiona, I will pass that tip onto her. I hear that girls are easier to photograph than boys and considering it is 80% girls I hope it will make a bit easier.

[yummymummy]

Noooo no no, girls are NOT easier lol, girls can be right little cows when it comes to having their photo taken, boys just don't sit still. Snacks are good, make sure you have LOTS of baby wipes, a tip for getting kids to look at your camera, is to use an elastic band, and put it around your lens, and hang funny/interesting things from it, that way you'll get their attention, and keep them looking at the camera ... also, funny faces from behind the camera get loads of smiles... keep them busy, and dont let them get bored.... (how do i know this?? I have 6 kids )

[Dizzle]

Awesome, the idea about the elastic band is great! Thanks heaps!

[yummymummy]

You're welcome! it works well with my daughter, I put anything from flowers from the garden, to the car keys on there lol, anything to keep her interest

[kiwi]

red bull and lollies and youll be right

[Dizzle]

red bull and lollies and youll be right

and a fast shutter speed too I suppose

[Yules]

I learned a trick once which was to tell them NOT to smile! They can't help but break out into giggles. Worked on my son anyway!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so sorry for mistakes!!

[Dizzle]

So the photoshoot is done and dusted! Big thanks to the tips and advice. 600+ photos later and one little girl who was a lot like an animal in the wild (easy to get great photos of until she saw you) and it turns out my pick of the day was a photo of her. There are heaps more I am happy with and my wife is over the moon with them. I will post a few in other sections of the forum, just trying to organise them. Please note there is no PP in this photo.

[flame70]

afraid no photo

[Dizzle]

afraid no photo

sorry, I thought that maybe I would get the whole flickr photo attaching thing right this time but I didn't. You were just too quick to pick up on it before I could sort it out!