How to treat an uncooperative model

When you are a photographer you have to make sure the enviorment around you is right for taking a photo. Children are really hard to have sit still for enough time to take a picture. You need to have the correct ideas to make them sit still long enough for you to get that special snap that you want. Give them somewhere to sit this is especially important for younger toddlers, who have learned to walk recently enough that they do it every waking minute. It’s much simpler if you provide somewhere for the child to sit a stool, rocking horse, chair, etc. Have your camera out and ready before you sit the toddler down because he/she may only stay there a moment or two. You could also give them something to hold or something small to eat. Be prepared with a small toy or a small treat. Hand the toy or treat to the toddler and give her a few minutes to look at and play with it. Then just wait, camera ready, until he/she looks up at you, then capture the expression. Also, giving them something to look at also works very well. Toddlers seem to know you want them to look at you, but do everything in their power to avoid making actual eye contact. Wheedling, threatening, and bribing occasionally work, but giving them something interesting to look at works better. Move around a bit while you talk to the child stand up, sit down, lean to the left or right. Your motion will naturally draw her eyes toward you, and you’ll be able to get photos from a variety of angles. Make sure you are also aware of the background, which is very important. Often when we have our camera in front of our face, we are focusing on what cute thing the child is doing. We sometimes forget about what is behind them and how it is going to look in a picture. If we don’t pay attention to the background we will end up with photos of things that can detract from the beauty of the children. Get in there and make their face fill your entire view finder. You can show that childs feautures by using your zoom feature or just getting in their face. Don’t worry about cutting off the top of their head or chin. If that happens it is fine. If it doesn’t happen it is fine also. Either ways will look great. When it comes down to treating with an uncooperative model the answer is to focus and get behind what it takes to make that good shot. Be ready for anything, a good shot could come out of no where when you least expect it. Take as many shots as you can. Don’t be afraid to take a ton of pictures. You are more likely to get some good ones if you take a whole bunch, just delete the ones you don’t like and keep the ones you do, and always keep your camera handy!