You know those moments when you aimlessly scroll through Facebook feed, and all of a sudden, a gorgeous photo captures your attention? It happened to me with this beautiful photo by Amy Weiblinger of Lainey Lou Photography. It got me smiling and I was curious to learn how she got it. So, I contacted Amy, and she shared her settings with us, along with some valuable tips for directing and editing photos of children.
To start with the technical stuff: Amy took the photo with a Canon 5D Mark IV and a Canon 135 f/2. The settings were: ISO 400, f/2, shutter speed 1/1250 s.
Posing tips
Amy tells me that, as a matter of fact, she can’t take credit for this amazing pose. However, she can take credit for waiting for the right moment to snap the picture.
The photo was made a Sandra Bianco Photography workshop. Amy says that Sandra handled most of the posing so that the attendees could fully concentrate on learning and getting great photos. This adorable kiss happened spontaneously, and that is one of the keys to photographing children.
“These two siblings were having fun just interacting candidly together, and they were playfully asked to kiss. The little girl throwing her legs up was an adorable surprise to us all, and I was lucky to capture the quick moment!”
The posing advice Amy shares from this experience is not to actually pose children too much for the photos. You should rather “have patience, let children be children, and playful prompts are helpful posing tools!”
“Don’t worry about getting perfectly posed smiling shots, because a lot of times the real magic is within the candid, fun moments of childhood whimsy. If you observe with a patient eye and your camera ready, you can capture natural beauty within children playing and interacting. Also, fun and silly prompts that make children laugh and enjoy the photography session create authentic moments that radiate real emotions from photos.”
Editing tips
Other than the playful and joyful moment captured in the photo, my attention was also drawn to vibrant colors that make the entire photo radiate with joy even more. So, I asked Amy about the editing process and if she had some tips to share. These are her tips:
“Never be afraid to bump up color vibrancy! Color adds interest and allows a photo to really stand out. I love bright and colorful edits, so I concentrated on bringing out the beautiful colors that were already in this image. I made sure to brighten the subjects up nicely and add a bit of contrast, so they would not fade into the vibrant background. Additionally, I added a subtle vignette to draw the eyes right to this magical embrace. While I adore pops of color, I always want my models to be the main focus of the photo. You can do a lot to a photo with a combination of curves, levels, saturation, and gradient layers in Photoshop!”
Here are the SOOC photo and the final edit for comparison:
Amy specializes in baby, child and family photography. I believe her tips were valuable to you, and I’m sure that the photo put a smile on your face just like it did on mine. To see more of Amy’s work, make sure to check out her website, Facebook page, and Instagram.
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