Children photography at home Sessions

I thought I'd share with you a handful of photos from around the holidays just gone. This is becuase I realised how closely they resemble a typical children/family photography at home session I do with families in my work.

How does it work?:
I do the shoot over two hours which gives the children time to get used to me. As they go about their usual routine I simply photograph them. I become your child's very own paparazzi! We use different areas of the house and each brings something different to the photos - children often want to show off their own bedrooms and toys which make lovely colourful photos.

Then we all head out to a nearby park or green, natural area and again I photograph what happens there. Finally when we get back I sometimes keep the camera rolling as they have a something to eat becuase at this point the kids are really relaxed and sometimes come some real gems of photos, and finally I head off.

What Happens After:
After your shoot I edit the photos and depending on the package parents have chosen they can get up to 30 beautiful images included and on top of this up to two professional art prints of their favourite photos. It's a pretty good deal.

So if a family shoot at home sounds like something you fancy giving a go this year why not give me a call to set it up ....and if you're St Neots based in Cambridgeshire you can get a taster session on Mothers day morning for a mini price.

www.sammisparke.com

Contact me today

12 days of Christmas photography tips. Day six, tip six: The Traditional Family Portrait Part 2 - Children

The Traditional Family Photography (Part 2) - Photographing Children.

Me: 
As a family photographer I work in mix of styles with families.

I try primarily to work in a candid way, especially with children becuase as soon as they start to ignore the camera they become more relaxed. Alongside this type of photography I often mix in some posed shots of everyone smiling happily at the camera. So, Is there a magic formula? 

When it comes to photographing children it is easy to see why parents struggle to get that beautiful photo they long for. You know the one, your'e chatting to your little one or watching them play and you see that smile or that expression you long to capture on camera, the one that makes you go to mush inside but you have no camera to hand and if you did have you know as soon as you picked it up chances are you'd have just missed it.

Well fear not - help is here but first of all pick your backdrop wisely!

Shooting out of Doors

In Summer, Spring and Autumn nature tends to lend it's self as a beautiful backdrop for little ones. This photo of little Scarlett is testimony to this. 

Here we got Scarlet's Mum to lift her up so we 

had the blossom in the background which worked well. 

But becuase it's winter and cold and wet I'm going to focus on indoor photos with children. 

Shooting inside.

First things first, as discussed previously, pick the place you want to sit or stand your subject. Make sure there are no distractions like toys in shot and for an aesthetically pleasing photo, one you might want to frame or send to grand parents, makes sure the backdrop is aesthetically pleasing too. 

This fabulous sofa made for real interest as a backdrop with 

this little one and in this photo below we utilised the ultra cool 

wallpaper for an interesting backdrop.

Keeping them still

Well for really tiny ones you might want to use something like their high chair, a perfect way to keep them where you want them which additionally gives you time to get that fab shot. Try not to feed them anything really messy while taking photos - a biscuit works well and then just keep on photographing and eventually you will have one photo you love. 

Older Children

With older children you have more options. If you are feeling energetic then get them involved in a game and follow them around such as playing in a play house or you could get them to make you a pretend snack in their mini kitchen as we did with Sofia in the photo below... and ask them to tell you what they are doing as they are doing it. 

In this photo underneath I followed this little girl around as she was playing in her playhouse chatting to me about what she was doing and that's how I 

captured this cute picture.

Finally, is there a magic formula? Well for me there is and it involves talking to little ones and getting them to talk to you. I'm using little Martha, below, to show you what you can expect to see when you use a good chat to get a good photo.

Here we sat Martha down in a well lit area on a rather lovely sofa and I began to chat to her about play-school and who her friends were. These are results:

You will get some fabulous faces raging from confusion, to deep thought and then to a happy thought and eventually - BAM! - the shot you wanted.

If you try any of these tips do send me your photos I'd love to see them and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.

However, if you are in that, 'OMG, I totally want a great family photo' place but are overwhelmed by doing it yourself then never fear, help is here! Click here to contact me so you can check this off your list. Easy Peasey

12 days of Christmas photography tips. Day two, tip two: The beauty ofdaylight

Daylight Portraits - Window light

My fabulous Grandfather, lit by window light. 

These often dull winter days that close in before we even get going don’t lend themselves well to beautiful, naturally lit photos indoors.

When using your phone it seems any kind of movement ends up looking very blurred when you look at the photo after and this is becuase your camera phone isn't great at compensating for low light.

...If you have the new iphone7 you may already know it has been commended for its 'stunning' low light performance. I'd love to know what you think if you have one.  

What you need to bear in mind is that even professional cameras struggle in low light and require the ISO setting to be increased to avoid capturing unwanted blurring.

So if capturing moving subjects without the blur is something you want to master on these dull winter days and over the Christmas period you simply have to make sure there is enough good light available to shoot in.

This means shooting indoors between the hours of 9am and and 3pm, or finding the lightest room in your house to take the photos in. Whichever room you take your photos in make sure the light from a window is shining directly on the subject, and be sure to make sure you are not standing in front of the window when you take your photos or you will block out part of that available light. You may even want to turn the lights on in the house but beware when you have daylight and tungsten light in an image some of the colours can look a little strange.

. If approximately, why not place your subject next to the window. Here you have a strong light source where you will notice higher degrees of light and shadow on the face that make for quite arty photos.

This is Edna, a lovely elderly lady I used to visit when I was at university. 

Sometimes we forget to take photos of grandparents at Christmas yet for me there is such beauty to be found in an elderly face; a whole life imprinted in the lines and tones. Why not try taking some photos of your elderly guests this Christmas. One thing is for sure, when those elderly relatives come to pass no one ever says, 'I wish we had LESS photos' of nan or granddad. 

Another interesting affect comes from bringing your subject further into the room away from the window. Here you will notice that you don’t have the problems of strong light or shadow, instead you get a more even spread of light. This is Caroline from a maternity shoot we did this summer. She is lit from a far away window the other side of the room. This lighting is far more painterly, and subtle and gives muted tones to the image.  

Have fun playing about but always make sure when you bring your subject further into the room that they are facing that light source and your back is to it  …. and try not to block out that light source with your body, which is easy to do! Stand just at the side of the window when taking photos.

Themed Days for your amusement. Presenting Follow Up Friday.

So my new thing is trying out themed days of the week. Today is Friday and my themed day is Follow Up Friday ‪#‎followupfriday‬ (worth a try) where I look back at some of my my lovely returning clients/

 families too see how they have grown. You will have seen a lot of this little guy on my website but he is just so damn photogenic, as are his two new twin siblings. Through his first few years here is Leo. www.sammisparke.com

Inside a Family Photo-Shoot

This lifestyle family photo-shoot, with the lovely Johnson family, is a typical example of what goes on in a family shoot with me, Sammi Sparke Photography.

I usually start the shoot indoors which allows you and the children to begin to get used me there and the camera. This doesn't happen quickly so I will normally suggest a few posed shots to get us started and intersperse them with catching you guys naturally in-between these shots.

After a while I suggest we change the scene, which I will have chatted to you about before the day so normally you have a good idea of where we are going. Usually a short walk or drive to a nearly park or wood, just somewhere that is a bit green, will do.

And as we're getting ready to go, because this can take a while with big families, I normally make sure I'm snapping throughout to catch some lovely moments here too.

.....and we then try a few lovely group photos with the pretty backdrop.

When we arrive back at the home we sometimes take a few more family shots in various different arrangements before heading inside.

Back inside everyone is usually a lot more relaxed, which lets me take some of my favourite, natural, photos of you guys just being you!

.......and the sillier you guys are, the better :)

As you all wind down we wrap things up and generally that is my cue to pack up and leave. 

The family shoots are designed to last no longer than 2 hours and if small children are involved and need a nap I will endeavour to get photos involving them taken before they head off to sleep. 

One big tip to make these kinds of generational family shoots run smoothly is the following: When I arrive at a family home where different generations of family are gathered together especially for the shoot there are a number of things running through my head. My first thoughts and hopes are that if you guys have not seen each other in a long time, that you have had long enough catching up with each other before the shoot so you are at ease in each other's company. 

This really does make the whole process so much easier and fun. 

So if you fancy booking a family lifestyle photo-shoot then do it today! 

Message me: info@sammisparke.com