Photographing babies and children is usually placed narrowly behind the subject of pets in most photographers’ table of nightmare commissions. You need to develop strong powers of persuasion, anticipation and stealth to get a good shot. And like many other specialist subjects in photography, shooting great portraits is 99 per cent preparation and 1 per cent good luck. If you want to improve your hit rate, then read the following tips

Natural light for portraits

Unlike the strong and stark light produced by an electronic flashgun, natural light produces sensitive and character-enhancing portraits when used indoors. Great for small babies, who are easily spooked by the rapid burst of flashlight, simple window light can be enough to cast soft and flattering light on your unwitting subject. Shooting portraits indoors using natural light can be a worthwhile technique and is easily controlled by using a homemade diffuser to stop excessive contrast produced by bright sunlight.

Portraits always look better if the subject isn’t squinting, so you can easily modify the contrast of your free light source by attaching a sheet of tracing paper to the window. Keep this out of the frame and notice how it reduces the depth of any dark shadows and creates a softer, more flattering result. If your digital compact has an auto-flash setting that fires off automatically in low light conditions, then make sure that it’s turned off and select a wide aperture value such as f4 to blur the background.

For babies, create a pose where it’s held by a family member and is facing the natural light source. Get close and make sure you shoot with a shallow depth of field to enhance the delicate nature of your subject. Less sharpness in this situation is a good thing because it creates a more evocative and less descriptive scene.

Long lens portraits

For those children who won’t stand still and pose for you, a better tactic is to shoot them with a long lens. Give your child a task to concentrate on and walk off to a reasonable distance so that they are not aware of your presence. For digital compact users, set your zoom lens at its maximum telephoto setting and try to pick out your subject from afar. For digital SLR photographers, try a 200mm telephoto lens together with a shallow depth of field to isolate your subject from its background and avoid distracting patterns. When shooting at a distance, you’ll notice that even the slightest body movement can result in camera shake, so it’s important to brace yourself when shooting. If there’s a nearby wall or other solid object, prop yourself against it and use a faster 1/250th second shutter speed. Don’t crop too tightly around a moving subject, or you’ll find some shots have missing feet, heads and other body parts.

Fly on the wall

Candid moments occur all the time, but you have to work fast enough to respond to these fleeting happenings. Instead of getting in the thick of the action, use a zoom lens and set yourself some distance away, in order to record children going about their playful business unguarded. Natural and unposed photographs will convey the personality of your child, rather than capturing them pulling faces or awkward poses. The secret to great candid photography is no more complicated than pressing the shutter at the right time.

A good habit to get into is to look through the camera viewfinder and wait patiently for a great photo to occur. Keep your eye on the situation or the chance may evaporate. Try to remain in the background and make sure that you are not spotted, or your subject may freeze or start pulling faces.

If you want to take advantage of fleeting moments, try having your digital camera primed and prepared to put into action immediately. Keep it in your pocket and keep one finger placed above the shutter release, so all you have to do is frame and focus when the chance appears. If you leave any more setting up tasks to do, you’ll probably miss your chance.

Shooting humour

It’s not necessary to shoot in a serious and moody style because you can capture someone’s personality just as well by inventing a humorous situation. Aim to shoot during a deliberately staged event – such as the opening of a parcel, a practical joke or when they’re eating an ice cream – and you’ll end up with a large selection of frames to choose from. Don’t be afraid to get in close to your subject and experiment with a very shallow depth of field.

Shooting at close range will give you focus fall-off within a very short distance, but this is fine for blurring out the background. Running ahead of your child and photographing it as it approaches you can provide a humourous seguence.

Fill-flash technique

Often called daylight flash, the fill-flash setting is a very handy tool for livening up all kinds of photographic subjects, including children’s portraits on location. Fill-flash works by firing a much-reduced burst of light that mixes with natural daylight to form a balanced exposure. It’s great for reducing the dense black shadows found under strong, sunny lighting conditions to much more acceptable grey. It helps to reduce contrast and restore balance to objects that fall within its limited range. Fill-flash is often used in press, public relations and wedding photography by skilled photographers aiming to reduce heavy shadows cast on a portrait by overhanging eyebrows! The trick with fill-flash is to make it unnoticeable and not to remove the delicate effect of the dominant natural light.

Documentary style

Much used by the new generation of wedding and portrait photographers, the documentary style is typified by its relaxed attitude and total rejection of set poses. Designed to make subjects look as natural and unguarded as possible, this style is a great way to turn family record portraits into great photographs in their own right. There’s no need to wait ages to observe your sitter in an unselfconscious moment, but you can direct and stage-manage your ‘actor’ until they are immersed in another activity. After shooting your portraits, try converting them into black and white, so that they become timeless by losing all trace of their date and contemporary context.

Pairs and couples

Rather than just shoot single portraits, a good idea is to create double or couple portraits. With the added ingredient of playing one person off against the other, this kind of portrait can really express both the character and relationship between mother and child or two siblings. Try shooting informal scenarios where there’s visible activity between the two, or engineer a situation where they are forced to interact. Great photographers think on their feet and can always see the potential in a setting or location. Use all that comes to hand and don’t be afraid to beg, borrow and steal photo recipes that you’ve seen elsewhere. You can spot recurring poses and popular settings and adopt them for your own use.