Enewsletter
June 2009

To help her capture all the warm-weather tomfoolery, Wilson brings along her two trusty Tamron lenses: the 28-75mm f/2.8 Di and the 28-300mm Di. “The lenses are lightweight enough so I can carry both,” she explains. “With other lenses, sometimes you’re weighed down with just one. Which lens I use as I’m chasing after the kids really depends on my proximity to my subjects. If I know I’m not going to be able to get that close to the action, I’ll go to the 28-300. If I know I’ll be able to go wherever I need to go, or if I need my f-stop range to be on the lower end, I’ll go with the 28-75. The f/2.8 on that lens is phenomenal.”

In composing her kiddie candids, Wilson tries to incorporate different perspectives into her shots, which includes constantly moving around and getting down to the children’s level. “Just get right in there,” she says. “If you’re at a soccer game, for instance, get out of the stands and shoot right through the goalie’s net. Or forget about being an adult and get a bug’s-eye view—I love that.”

For a shot of the kids cheering on their gravity-racer cars, Wilson positioned her camera down in the grass and shot just slightly upward using the 28-75mm lens (shot at f/5.6, ISO 400). “I knew I wanted the cars in the foreground to be sharp and the crowd reaction with a softer focus, since there’s so much going on,” she says.

 

Wilson prefers to keep her compositions simple to focus on the kids. “I’m drawn to uncluttered compositions,” she explains. “If I’m not able to maneuver myself or get the kids into a different spot, I’ll try to focus on getting my f-stop as low as possible with the 28-75 lens and really blur that background out.”

Her portrait of little Diana serves as a prime example (shot at f/2.8, 1/50th of a second, ISO 100). “We were walking to dinner, and Diana’s hair looked fabulous in that golden light on those trees behind her,” Wilson says. “I knew her white shirt would reflect and really brighten her face when she tilted her head down. I didn’t even have to give her much direction—she felt so pretty with her hair looking so great.”

 

Keeping kids comfortable while you’re trailing them with a camera is one of the keys to achieving compelling pictures on the spot. “When you’re in the backyard and the kids are all over the swingset and jungle gym, put yourself right up there,” she says. “You’ll get a totally different perspective—maybe you can position yourself to get a child coming across the monkey bars toward you, or climbing up the jungle gym, like I did with Sylvie. I waited at the top of the gym, and when she popped up, I was able to really easily pull back to 28mm. If you and the kids share a genuine enthusiasm for the same environment they’re playing in, you’re more likely to get great shots.”

 

Also consider putting a whole new spin on a typical photo. “You could climb up the jungle gym and actually shoot down the slide with the background out of focus, maybe as the child’s arms are in the air, so you capture her joy from the back,” she explains. “You can then switch the focus to get a cool reaction shot, the energy and laughter and tears, of a parent or someone else at the receiving end at the bottom of the slide as the child comes down.”

For shy kids who might be wary of an adult invading their turf, Wilson suggests taking a time-out from shooting your human subjects directly. “Turn your camera, and attention, to focus on a flower or a bug crawling on a tree,” she says. “Kids’ curiosity inevitably gets the best of them, and they’ll wander over to see what you’re shooting. That’s when you’ll get that great shot of a kid examining the bark on a tree or kneeling in a bunch of flowers.”

Sometimes you’ll want to freeze the action of your on-the-move moppets. Wilson was able to capture Kali as she leapt off the dock into the lake, nose tightly pinched against the soon-to-come splash (shot at f/5, 1/160th of a second, ISO 100). “It wasn’t superfast,” she recalls. “It was a little cloudy out, so I was able to be in that midrange. Depending on whether it’s bright or cloudy, go between a higher ISO or a higher shutter speed to stop that motion.”

 

For a special effect, blur the action by following a child as he’s running down the dock or on the playground. “Move your camera with the kid and keep him in focus,” Wilson says. “Then you can do a really great blurred background and keep the child sharp. With the 28-300 lens, you can do fun effects like keeping the lens at its widest focal length; then, while you’re shooting, have your finger on the shutter and zoom in just a little—that will give the image that warp-speed effect.”

Wilson tries to let the light guide her creativity. “I try to be inspired by the moment,” she explains. “I love it when the light is soft in the morning, or at the end of the day when it’s golden. Even when the light is kind of harsh at those magic hours, you can get some great shots.”

Wilson will take a few shots and check out the back of the camera in her quest to capture an object or activity in its best light. “I’ll try to get the shot in the shadows, then in bright light, and then I’ll go somewhere in between,” she says. “Of those three shots, there’s always one in which you can bring down the brightness and bring up the shadows in post-processing. But if you didn’t want to get involved in Photoshop techniques, use fill flash or an on-camera flash to even out the shadows.”

Proper positioning is paramount in ensuring a squint-free shot. “Unless I’m purposefully going for a kid squinting, I place the child so the sun is directly behind him and shoot that way,” says Wilson. “You get a warmth you can wrap around them that’s really fantastic. If the sun is directly overhead and I’m shooting a portrait, I sometimes ask the kids to just close their eyes for a few seconds, just to let them rest from the glare.”

Trying to block the bright light from a powerful midday sun, especially near the water, from infiltrating your shots can often prove futile, so Wilson has taken to be somewhat of a “cloud watcher.” “If you’ve got to take pictures of your pool party and the sun is directly overhead, and it’s a semi-cloudy day, watch for when a cloud is about to pass overhead and then do your shooting,” she advises.

The end of the afternoon and early evening are optimum times to catch kids in more reflective moments— you can fully take advantage of this rich, warm light to capture them being a little more introspective. “I photographed the girl in the art room [shot at f/5, 1/100th of a second, ISO 400, with the focal length at 30mm] toward the end of the day, with the light coming through the trees,” says Wilson. “The 28-300 lens was perfect for this. The image isn’t about the art room or the items around her—it highlights the process of making art. It’s such a great feeling when you’re in your own little world, creating, and that’s what I was trying to capture.”

 

Shooting doesn’t have to stop once the sun has gone down, as evidenced by Wilson’s nighttime light-painting shots. “I had gone down to the lake because I knew there would a full moon,” says Wilson. “Besides my camera, I just had a tripod and my flashlight. While I was waiting, I put the camera on self-timer and started the shutter speed at 8 seconds while I ‘wrote’ some letters with my flashlight. By the time I was done, I was leaving the shutter open for 25 seconds.

 

I shot the one you see here at f/7.1, with my ISO at 200. What’s important about light-painting shots is you don’t have to put your camera up at ISO 1600—the higher you go, the more noise you’re going to get. Plus you want to give yourself the time to write something. So keeping the ISO low and the f-stop midrange to high will allow you to get this type of beautiful shot.”

Even without these special imaging effects, however, Wilson says you can capture a season’s worth of wonderful memories. “You can just be driven by the summer colors and the energy that happens when you put yourself in the middle of these moments,” she says. “Just to try to keep it all spontaneous—everyone knows what happens when you try to give a kid too much direction!”

For more of Emily Wilson’s work, go to www.emilywilsonphotography.com.