See the light! Crop with intention!

Photographing Children doesn't have to be as difficult as one might think. You can literally capture a beautiful portrait very simply if you learn some things about seeing gorgeous light and cropping purposefully. I love the expression: "Simplicity is elegance." Sometimes we are fooled into thinking that one can just snap away and fix or embellish a mediocre photograph in post-production. My philosophy is that you will be much better off photographing in beautiful, contrast-free light, learn a few simple cropping principles, THEN shoot away.


If you learn about really good natural light, you can forget about using a flash! Flash comes in handy when all else fails or you have NO choice about when or where you are photographing. Unless you really know what you are doing with the flash, you are likely to have that "deer in the headlights" look, and your images certainly won't have the dimension that natural light can provide.

In this photograph, I waited until twilight, just after the sun was setting. The light was pink, the tide was low, and the reflection was an important part of the composition. Within this framework, the boy was free to roam in the wet sand. I walked about him as I sought the best and simplest background, so that he would be delivered to the eyes of the viewer. Of course we made sure that he was dressed in complementary colors, so that his skin tones would stand out.

This photograph was made using automatic settings on the camera! You can only imagine how much freedom that gives the photographer to be spontaneous!

In love and light,

Ginny