To get a picture like this you will need a flash unit on your camera that you can control.
When we are photographing children many times we need to take the photograph when we are indoors, say for example at a birthday party or pajama party. In order to capture the very best images we need to make sure that we understand the basics of flash photography and use them as we photograph the children.
Photography flash outdoors is a much different matter. In the photo on the left, if no flash photography had been used, the faces of the kids would be quite dark and almost a silhouette because of the brightness of the sunlight and the light it reflects on the water. If you wanted the faces of the kids to have even less shadow, you could just add a little more power to the external flash unit. However, do not add more exposure to the camera, because you do not want to over expose the background. Do not use bounce flash photography for a picture like this, because there is nothing but open sky to bounce it from. Bouncing flash is one of the flash photography techniques reserved basically for indoors.
Photography Is All About Light. . .
Remember – photography is all about light. In earlier posts I have discussed photography when we are using the existing light in a scene and how to control the camera to take advantage of or compensate for a particular lighting situation.
But we don’t always have the ability to use the ambient, or existing light, to get the photograph that we want. Sometimes using the light that you have doesn’t work quite well enough, however. This is why professional photographers spend so much time working with flash units, strobe lights, reflector units and other devices to enhance or supplement the existing light.
Almost every camera you pick up will have a flash unit either attached to it as part of the camera, or will have a “hot shoe” which allows you to attach a flash unit to the camera. Mastering Canon EOS flash photography is a favorite subject of mine, and Canon flash photography units
I have found that most people really don’t know how to take advantage of flash units when photographing children, so I will provide some posts that deal with fill flash, red eye and bounce flash photography.
Lighting isn’t just about using flash units either. You can use reflectors to spread light around for a more pleasing photograph of your children, and you can adjust the white balance setting on your camera for better lighting control as well.
And let’s not forget about night lighting as well.
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
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About Betty Muscott
Betty A. Muscott is an experienced child photographer and online entrepreneur for tools to capture great photographs of children by parents and grandparents. Connect with Betty on Google+
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