Photography Blog

There is not much a parent values more than quality time with his or her children.

Wouldn’t it be nice to freeze those moments with your camera so that you can relive your children’s childhood? Sure, most parents take pictures of their children, but wouldn’t it be great if you could capture who they are and not just photos of them smiling directly at the camera over the years?

What about composition? Lighting? “Oh my goodness, help! My children move too fast and it’s too dark in here…and, and…and….” Oh c’mon, stop making up excuses!

Step 1:  READ your camera manual

Most point and shoot cameras have different settings…for instance, ‘sport, portrait, landscape, etc.’ If your child moves a lot, you will want to put it on sports mode. Sports mode is meant for movement and children, who are not playing sports, can still move as much as or even more than adults who ARE playing sports.

First things first, set your ISO!!!  ISO what used to be called ‘film speed.’  The lower the film speed you can get away with, generally, the better as the photo will be less grainy (ie. a film speed of 100 will make for clearer pictures than a film speed of 1600). However, sometimes the scene is dark and you will need to set the film speed higher. Experiment with this

Next, we set either the shutter speed or aperture.

If you have a digital SLR, you will probably want to use a fairly high shutter speed for your moving offspring. Ie: 1/250 is better than 1/60. If the child moves and it’s set at 1/60, you will get motion blur (which can be a cool effect-but master the basics before attempting it intentionally!).

For example, in the image below, the shutter speed was set to 1/100. It should have been a little bit higher because you can tell Julia’s hand is moving. To stop the motion, 1/250 would likely suffice, though you could go higher.

NOTE:  This only applies for those using SLR cameras. If you are using a point and shoot, I would recommend sports mode to avoid motion blur. Of course, there are some instances where you may WANT to show movement and then you should experiment with lower shutter speeds, like 1/125 or 1/60.

So, if I don’t want to show movement, why don’t I just shoot with a higher shutter speed all the time?

Higher shutter speeds mean that you will be letting less light into your camera. If you shoot with a high shutter speed, you may have to adjust with a wider aperture. Sometimes there is not enough light to allow for this.

WHAT?!?! I’m lost.

For example, the image on the left is using a shutter speed of 1/1000 (note: there is NO motion blur) and an aperture of 2.8 That is why the background is out of focus, whereas the foreground is in focus. This effect is often used to focus on one particular element of an image. Ie: Sometimes you want to focus on the person and not the background. If you use an aperture of 2.8 the background SHOULD be out of focus, whereas if you use an aperture of f16 or f22, for instance, everything should be in focus. The reason I was able to use such a high shutter speed and wide open aperture for the above photo is that we were outside on a fairly bright day. I highly recommend photographing children outdoors or by window light when you are starting out.

Is it starting to make sense?

I hope so!

Okay, okay, enough with the technical stuff…I just want to take pictures! I don’t even HAVE camera and I can’t set the aperture or shutter speed on my point and shoot.

Okay.

Let’s get to some common complaints…

COMPLAINT 1:   Everytime I want to take my child’s picture, he/she looks miserable.

You mean like this?

Personally, I think it’s good to capture your child in ALL of his or her moods. This is my daughter in the midst of a temper tantrum. She’s two. Two year olds have temper tantrums. One day, you will look back at these photos and laugh..and when you’re taking a picture of your child having a temper tantrum, it certainly helps diffuse the situation since you are focused on getting that photo and not on how miserable your child is.

COMPLAINT 2:   My child never smiles for the camera.

So, what’s stopping you? In some of the best images of your children, they will not be looking at a camera. They will be engaged in an activity. In this photo, for instance, Julia is calling her ‘daddy’ on the toy phone. She was not aware at all that I was taking this photograph. This is the kind of moment that you may forget about when your child gets older, but not if you have a picture of it!

But I really want a photo of my child smiling.

The real trick is to capture your child when he or she is engaged in another activity!

For example, in this picture my daughter is laughing because she is having fun with her daddy.

COMPLAINT 3:  Why is it that sometimes when I take photos they seem to be such poor quality?

Check the setting on your camera! If you are shooting JPEG, make sure it is set to ‘high resolution’. If you are shooting RAW you likely won’t have to worry about this unless you are saving your images as JPEGs (and accidentally saving them as low res JPEGs). Another reason for this could be how you are saving your images. For instance, if you use photoshop and ‘save for web’ you will not be able to print your image, though it should look somewhat decent on your computer screen.

This is hard to show over the internet, since low quality is often good enough for the computer screen, but it will show up in prints. Ie: You can print a 4×6 image sized to 300 dpi (or dots per inch) no problem, but if you blow it up to 8×12 or even 11×14 it will look grainy.

COMPLAINT 4:  None of the pictures of my child are that exciting.

Are you getting up close? Are you getting down to their level? Make sure your child is the main focus of the photo. If there is a large building in the foreground and your child is a tiny dot, the photo is not focused on your child so it loses impact. It’s also good to be at the same level as your child. Get on the floor if you have to.

That being said, once you’ve figured out the basics rules are meant to be broken!

Experiment and practice, practice, practice!

Give yourself projects and themes to work on. Ie: I chose to focus on perspective for the following photos.

This image is a reflection in a swimming pool, but it is also upside down.

Lastly, the photo above is one where I focused on shadows…

I hope you will be able to take much better photos of your little one now that you’ve read this article!

Do you have any questions? Did you enjoy this article? Please leave a comment!

Erin and I met at the Mississauga Canoe Club when we were about 12 years old.  We went to high school together and have celebrated many milestones together.  Her husband, David also became a wonderful friend and even composed the song for my walk down the wedding aisle.  Photographing their first child was of course, a natural progression. 

Here is baby Ian with one of the bunnies. They are bunny obsessed!

Here’s Ian dressed as a bunny and as corn.  I know, it’s a little cheesy but I think it’s cute!

The babies of the family.

Daddy is ‘the burpmaster.’ Don’t you love baby Ian’s expression in the photo on the left? I love mom and dad’s smiles in the photo on the right.

This is where you say “Awwww, what a cute baby!”  How is it that sleeping newborns look so dead to the world when they rarely sleep longer than 2 hours and are up at all hours of the night?

Mom successfully calms down her son by putting a finger in his mouth.

The whole happy (and tired) family!

Congratulations again on your adorable baby boy, Erin and David!

These photos were all taken just before Gianna had her first communion.  We were very lucky as it was pouring rain about 10 minutes before our photo session started.  The rain let up just in time!

Gianna is looking very mature. 

Having a tickle match with her sisters Amanda and Brianna. Don’t you love their dresses?

These sisters definitely know how to have fun together!

Amanda taking Gianna’s picture on the swing. 

Gianna receives some advice as younger sister, Amanda looks on (during their lunch break).

Dancing with a relative and riding on her scooter-mom’s idea! Cool mom, eh? 

Smiling with mom and smiling with dad.

The whole family.

Gianna with her parents and Gianna having fun with her whole family (another ticklefest)!

I was supposed to photograph Malcolm’s birth, but Jen’s sister called to tell me there had been a ‘turn of events.’ I soon learned she meant that literally, since he turned breech at the last minute! They were amazingly able to flip him back and he was born around a day later. We now have photos of him at 16 days old. He was 9.5 pounds at birth and it looks like he is even bigger now!

Doesn’t he look so peaceful?

Amazingly, this photo was taken just seconds after the last one.

Cozy in mommy’s arms.

Asleep again.

Awake again.

Congratulations again, Dan, Jen and Xavier on the arrival of baby Malcolm!

Father and toddler having fun together in the park

Wondering what to get your husband or father for Father’s Day? Did you want to get him something more special than a t-shirt or golf club?

You’re in luck because Rabbat Photography is offering mini photo sessions! What could be more precious than a moment in time captured between father (or grandfather!) and daughter or son?

All ages are welcome. Be creative! These sessions can be father-son or grandfather-grandaughter, for example. If you’d like to include more than 2 people in a session, please let us know in advance so that we can schedule more time for you. There will also an extra charge of $10 per additional adult, since we’ll be taking extra photos.  Note: These are not family sessions.  Additional adults means multiple generations (ie. child, father, grandparent).

Even though the sessions will be taking place after Mother’s Day we’re happy to photograph moms and grandmothers as well, so feel free to surprise your mom or wife with a gift she will always cherish.
Portrait sessions will take place @ High Park in Toronto on Sunday May 30th, between 3PM and 7PM and Mill Pond in Richmond Hill between 3 and 7PM. We will have a rain date as well (or we can reschedule individually if the rain date does not work for you).

What will the session include?
• A 20-25 minute mini-portrait session just for fathers, grandfathers and their children (or mothers, grandmothers and their children).
• An online proofing and ordering gallery with 10-15 images on www.rabbatphoto.com.
• 1-8×10 print (a $30 value), 4 wallet sized prints, 1 watermarked image for social networking sites (ie. Facebook, twitter).

The total cost is $49. If you would like to book a session, please let us know as soon as possible as these sessions will fill up quickly! Payment is due in full at the time of booking.
Please email [email protected] for more details or to set up your session.

Julia has been learning to ride a tricycle…or rather, attempting to ride one. She hasn’t quite got the concept of pedaling yet, but she does enjoy sitting on it and pushing with her feet.

Julia trying to figure out how her trike works.

Do you remember how old you were when you first went on a trike? How about a bike? If you have children, how old were they when they started?

I’ve been a regular customer at Spin Dessert Cafe ever since The Etobicoke Moms Meetup Group started having weekly gatherings there.  I’d planned on visiting much earlier, but never got around to it, which is a shame because I am addicted to their matcha green tea smoothies and chicken pesto crepes!!!  Unfortunately, I can never finish my matcha green tea smoothies because my 2  year old is as addicted as I am and steals them on a consistent basis.

They are redoing their menu and Rabbat Photography was lucky enough to be chosen for it!

In case Spin sounds familiar (which it might if you live near Queensway and Islington or go to that movie theatre, which is the busiest in Canada), here is a picture of the outside:

Here is the inside:

Here’s a cappuccino for you.

Here’s the chicken pesto crepe.

Now it’s time for dessert! Enjoy! The ice cream is made in house so it’s extra delicious.

Are you hungry now?

More photos will of course be appearing on their new menu (when it comes out)!

I’ve been waiting to photograph baby Emmett since I found out Christine and Bryce were expecting him shortly before their maternity photos .

He was born just one day before St. Patrick’s Day and weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

I love the newborn ‘I was in my mommy’s womb for 9 months’ sleeping curl.

In a pea pod.

Sleep, sleep, sleep.  Newborns do a lot of that!  Of course, they do a lot of waking up in the middle of the night too.

(Yes, he has an outie bellybutton).

Bryce is applying two of the 5 S’s from The Happiest Baby on the block here “Shhhing” and “Swinging” (dad powered swinging).

Little baby bunny comes just in time for Easter!

I’m very happy with the bunny ears and diaper cover I ordered from Etsy.com .

It’s amazing how squished up newborns can get isn’t it? I guess it’s even more amazing that they once fit inside their mommies!!!

Mommy and daddy sharing a moment while their ‘baby burrito’ (another ‘S’-swaddling) sleeps.  Bryce (daddy) is from Australia, so this photoshoot would not have been completel without koalas.

London, the family dog, was the best behaved dog I have ever met.  They asked him to look in one direction or sit in a certain place and he did! Here he is being protective.

Congratulations on your beautiful (or should I say ‘handsome?’) new addition and thanks so much for having me over to photograph him, Christine and Bryce!!!

February is a super busy month for us. My husband and I celebrated our fifth anniversary (!) on February 5th and it was our daughter’s second birthday on Valentine’s Day. Then, of course, the Olympics took place and I don’t know about you, but I am a HUGE fan!!! I am happy to report that one of the grooms we photographed many years ago, Lascelles Brown, walked away with a bronze in bobsleigh this year!

Here’s a picture from Julia’s birthday. We went to Fantasy Fair at The Woodbine Centre in Etobicoke. It’s basically an indoor amusement park for little ones. She had a blast!