{"id":1291,"date":"2009-08-15T13:25:24","date_gmt":"2009-08-15T04:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-15\/1291"},"modified":"2009-08-15T13:25:24","modified_gmt":"2009-08-15T04:25:24","slug":"six-cousins-thoughts-on-kid-group-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-15\/1291","title":{"rendered":"Six Cousins: Thoughts on Kid Group Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 160 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 280 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nSix Cousins<\/span>\nAnthony (6)<\/span>,   Grace (4)<\/span>,   Josh (3)<\/span>\nLuke (2)<\/span>\nTiti (4 mo)<\/span>,   Jena (10 mo)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I've been quite busy helping my folks with some cleanup projects lately,\nbut wanted to do at least a quick<\/span> post from the Conflagration\nof Cousins<\/a> week, which has now finally ended, as all but Anthony have\nreturned to their various far-away corners of the world.<\/p>\n\n

We attempted a group shot of the six kids, a short<\/span> but stressful event\nthat was doomed to failure from the start due to lack of planning on the\npart of the photographer (me).<\/p>\n\n

First I'll recount what actually happened, then, based upon what I\nlearned,<\/span> what we should have done differently.<\/p>\n\n

I told all the parents (my siblings) to pair up with their kid and be\nready in five minutes. Since my kid (Anthony) is six and the oldest and has\na lot<\/span> of experience standing while Daddy takes photos, I asked<\/span> him to be\nhelpful to the other kids so we could get a photo.<\/span> At the appointed<\/span> time my\nsister Marci got the older four kids arranged on the toy backhoe as I found<\/span>\na good<\/span> vantage spot for the camera, then the two babies were brought in and\nI started<\/span> snapping shots.<\/p>\n\n

The two oldest looked at the camera and smiled, and the other four\nlooked all around aimlessly, sometimes at one of the various adults arrayed\naround the yard, or at the sand pile, or whatever caught their attention\nfor that microsecond. The older<\/span> kids' attention then went to the younger\nkids who were not paying attention, and soon each of the six kids were\nlooking in a different<\/span> direction.<\/p>\n\n

Seeing this lack of photogenicity, the parents started jumping and\nyelling and clapping.... Look here honey..... smile.... look at\nMommy..... smile....<\/i>. The kids' reaction to this display of lunacy\nvaried depending on the kid and the moment, but they ranged among\nindifference, smiles, bewilderment, and tears.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nCanon PowerShot SD870 IS — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPhotographer and Crazies<\/span>\nPhoto by Grandma Friedl<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The only ones not acting crazy were me ('cause I had<\/span> the camera), and my\nfolks. My mom, having gone through this each year for our Christmas picture\nwhen we were kids, just smiled and chuckled a well<\/span>-earned “now it's your\nturn” chuckle.<\/p>\n\n

Here's our family Christmas card picture from 35 years ago, in 1974,\nas my folks were working on an addition to the house:<\/p>\n\n

\nAl and Phyllis Friedl Family, 1974<\/span>\nMike, Alan, Steve, Mom, Jeff, Dad, Marci\n<\/div>\n\n

I'm below my Dad, standing on the backhoe stabilizer foot. We have wonderful<\/span> shots from every year, and I actually<\/span> remember the experiences\nfor the ones starting when I was<\/span> four years old.<\/p>\n\n

They're great memories now, but it was a huge<\/span> ordeal to get the shots,\nas one or more of us kids were usually in a bad<\/span> mood or otherwise\nuncooperative. Generally, once we were old enough to understand (that is,\nold enough to know that it was eating into our play time but we weren't\ngetting anything out of it), we hated it. We all complained<\/span>, and the moment\nthe first picture was taken we all tried to bolt, only to be called back\nfor a few<\/span> more frames, “just in case”.<\/p>\n\n

Perhaps it's a bit late, but I think I speak<\/span> for all my siblings when I\nfinally<\/span> say “sorry, and thanks” to my folks. I suppose<\/span> the thanks applies\nnot only to creating these photo memories, but also to little details like\nraising us to be good people. Thanks Mom and Dad.<\/p>\n\n

Oh, and by the way, the backhoe in the cousin shot is a homage<\/span> to the\n1974 family photo, my sister Marci's wonderful idea.<\/p>\n\n

So, what did I learn<\/span> about taking a photo<\/span> of a group<\/span> of kids?<\/p>\n\n

First, parents and grandparents and other things that tend to grab a kid's<\/span> attention should\nall<\/b> be generally behind the camera, so that the kids appear to be looking at the camera if they're looking at someone.\nI have pictures<\/span> where half of the kids are looking off to one side, and surprise surprise, my mom (way\noff to one side) has a picture<\/span> at the exact same moment of half the kids looking right at her. In the\n“Crazies” photo above, one parent (Natalie) is too far off to the side, so her daughter (the infant, Titi) spent most\nof the time looking that way.<\/p>\n\n

Second, prep the older kids. Each parent of an old-enough kid should talk to the kid beforehand, one on one away from everyone\nelse, and do whatever is required to put them in the right frame of mind to look at the camera and smile. Candy and bribes of toys\nif they do a good<\/span> job are the order of the day here. If you're the type of parent who, like me, is\nreticent to use bribes, make an exception (or forego the photo shoot, unless a photo<\/span> of a brooding,<\/span> pouty kid is your idea of a fond<\/span> memory).<\/p>\n\n

Third, prep the younger kids. This usually involves timing their naps or feedings so that they're in their best mood. If a kid<\/span> is usually grumpy right after waking up (as I am<\/span>), don't schedule the shoot\nfor just after their nap. And have lots<\/span> of treats on hand to ply them (and the photographer) with.<\/p>\n\n

Fourth, and this is just a guess, but I think<\/span> it would have been helpful if the photographer had\na really<\/span> wild and silly hat of some kind, so that the parents could invite the kids to look at it.\nThat's much easier, and more fun, than “look at the camera” or \"look at Uncle Jeffy (even though you can't see him\nbehind that big camera thingie).\"<\/p>\n\n

Fifth, plan a bit more about exactly where the kids will stand, and do some tests ahead of time with something standing in for\nthe kids, to test focus, background, and composition. I neglected<\/span> to do this, and as a result,<\/span> did not realize that Jena (the toddler standing in front) was slightly out of focus in every\nshot.<\/p>\n\n

I learned all this too late, and there wasn't a single<\/span> photo (of the several dozen I took<\/span> over the course of a minute<\/span> or two) where more than half of the kids were\nlooking at the camera with some semblance of a smile.<\/span> But, this is the digital age, and I was<\/span> able to take parts from four separate photos and comp them together in Photoshop to create the photo\nthat leads this post.<\/p>\n\n

It's not great, but it'll make for a nice<\/span> memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I've been quite busy helping my folks with some cleanup projects lately, but wanted to do at least a quick post from the Conflagration of Cousins week, which has now finally ended, as all but Anthony have returned to their various far-away corners of the world.<\/p>

We attempted a group shot of the six kids, a short but stressful event that was doomed to failure from the start due to lack of planning on the part of the photographer (me).<\/p>

First I'll recount what actually happened, then, based upon what I learned, what we should have done differently.<\/p>

I told [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}