Before the days of digital, one of the biggest differences between amateur and professional photographers was the amount of film they would shoot. A photographer will often shoot lots of frames of what looks to be exactly the same shot. While doing this people sometimes say to me “you must get one good one out [...]
Trying to include too much in the picture is a common fault with many holiday and family snaps. If you want to have really personal shots of your child you should try getting in really close. A tightly framed head shot makes you concentrate on the eyes of your subject and gives a real feeling [...]
It is a good idea to have your camera ready to shoot when you are in the house. Pictures of your children playing with their favourite doll, climbing a tree in the garden or just covered in breakfast are the images that you will treasure when they are grown. The moment may pass by the [...]
This section is for you to leave any comments you wish to make about the service we provide. Were you pleased with the results or are there things that you think we could do better? Please feel free to give any advice that may be helpful to us or to parents thinking of having us photograph their children.
I try to never use flash when photographing children. As well as being very distracting it also ruins the atmosphere that natural light can give. When working on magazines I used to have situations where I was forced to use flash and tried hard to make it look natural, but now I love capturing the varying moods of available light.
July has been our busiest month since we started doing family portraits eight years ago. As well as doing the most jobs in a single month we also covered a lot of ground in the UK, photographing families from Glasgow, Fife, London, Surrey, the South Coast and Yorkshire. All that just after returning from visiting my new grandson in Australia. Pretty exhausting but we do enjoy travelling.
The most difficult child for me to photograph is the one who has been trained to say cheese at the first sight of a camera. Saying cheese does not produce a natural smile, usually it results in a grimace that will not show your child at his or her best.
Here you will find any news and comments that I think you may be interested in. Over the coming months, work commitments and time permitting, I will be posting a series of tips to help you improve the quality of your family pics.
Ken Sharp creates classic, natural photographs of families and children.
