It’s been a very exciting few months in the run up to my first Children’s Photography Workshops for professional photographers. The idea began with a discussion from a number of photographers who follow my work. They had asked if I would consider travelling to spend some time teaching them as group. In particular they wanted to learn more about photographing children outdoor,s and how to handle the unpredictable UK light.
The Venue
The first photography workshop took place at the end of June in Basingstoke in Hampshire. The venue was the beautiful walled garden in Down Grange. As part of the historical Down Grange Estate the Walled Garden originally served as a kitchen garden to Down Grange House, which now operates as a restaurant.
The Workshop format
My childrens photography workshops aims to cover 4 key areas:
1. Its all about the light!
When developing this workshop I really considered what I wish I had been taught earlier in my photography career. As much as I wanted new lenses (and lots of them), and to learn how to use Photoshop inside out, with hindsight I wish someone had told me the importance of studying light. I think its very important to understand how light impacts images on a day to day basis when out shooting with real clients. Over the past 4 years I have developed my own methods for assessing a location for a family shoot and finding flattering light. No matter how bright the sun, or how cloudy the sky is, its important to be able to find light that is flattering for your subject and also creates the look and feel that your brand stands for.
2. How we can use environmental backdrops to add colour
I am also a huge fan of colour in my children’s photography, so the workshop also covers how to find colour bases as inspiration when shooting, whether it is flowers, walls or gates. We looked at how we could use colours found naturally to bring additional interest and vibrancy to our images.
3. Working with children of all ages – boys, girls, twins and siblings
Again when creating my ideal workshop, I was keen to give those attending an opportunity to portfolio build and to work with children of all ages. We photographed 2 year old twins, girls and boys and varying ages plus a teenager.
Following the workshop I then shared some of my before and after edits with my attendees and also illustrated how to add more depth, contrast and colour to images. I illustrated my basic editing techniques I use on a day to day basis and them my tricks for making the image really pop. We also shared all of our own edits in a private forum, which is another great way to see how images can be edited differently to create more impact.
My next Childrens Photography Courses are in London, Nottingham, Tunbridge Wells, Birmingham and Bristol and details of how to book can be found here
Feedback and images from the attendees
Finally, I wanted to share some feedback for the photographers that attended the course and also showcase some of the images they took on the day.
Hee from Hee Jeong Savvides Photography “Nina has made her workshop most informative and enjoyable. I have learnt to search for the direction of lights and where to position the models. Thanks Nina for your continuous support in the forum after the workshop!”
www.katielister.co.uk “I recently attended Nina’s Colour and Light workshop for professional photographers in Basingstoke. Nina was well prepared for the training and shared a wealth and knowledge of experience with myself and the small group of photographers present. My biggest rave about Nina is how giving she is – always answering questions, sharing tips and tricks, discussing the way she goes about not only the technical aspect of photography but also running her business. I feel inspired and motivated after spending the day with her – can’t wait to do it again!”
Allison from Magic Photography ” The best thing I got out of this childrens photography course was thinking about where the light is best before anything else, which is not what I was doing before”
Helena, Lovely PhotographyReally enjoyed the day, and have not stopped looking for the light ever since. Changed my view from being background led to light led. Thank you Nina x
Kelly from www.umoyaphotography.com “Nina has a way of explaining the technical aspects of light and colour composition that is so easy to understand, you are left wondering why on earth you didn’t see it in the first place”…Just kidding, but really, Nina does have a real knack for explaining what people normally battle to get their heads round!
Pratika from Kay Sehmi Photography “Thank you Nina for an excellent and enjoyable workshop. I have always sought locations where I liked the backgrounds and worked around that but after your course, I am very much converted to looking for the light first. I would highly recommend this workshop to anyone thinking about it; its been a great learning curve and the post workshop Facebook forum has provided me with lots inspiration for editing outdoor location shoots. Thanks! “
Childrens photography; Shooting for competition success
This year, I was incredibly pleased to have been awarded Children, Family & Lifestyle Photographer of the Year from the Guild of Professional Photographers. I have been actively entering the competition for 2 years and am now supporting some up and coming children’s photographers on their journey. With this in mind, I thought would be useful to share some of my experiences and offer my thoughts on how you can plan your road to success.
Nina Mace Children’s photography
Changing your mind-set
If you were about to enter an exam room, and have you essay judged by a team of experienced judges, how would you prepare? Entering photography for competition is a similar process. Rather than editing and entering images on the last day of the month hoping for the best (and lets be honest we have all been there), how can you plan for a more successful result?
1. Knowledge is key
Back to my exam analogy. You know an exam deadline is looming, and you need to start preparing. Your first task is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. You go and look at past exam papers; you look at successful essays and try to understand why they have done well. Exactly the same applies for photography competitions! The great news is this information is readily available and very easy to access. I would suggest:
– Visiting the competition website and reading up on the rules and judging criteria. Really try to absorb what at the key elements the judges are looking for (strong storyline, well-crafted light, excellent post processing etc.).
– Review past winners. If you are entering the children’s category for example, go and take a look at the past Golds, Silvers and Bronzes. This isn’t about trying to shoot the same images, but instead understanding what it takes to lift an image from Bronze to Silver, and then Silver to Gold. What are the constants that you can see in the images? For examples there no distractions, the post processing will compliment the image, is the light well crafted etc. Also consider what takes an image to Gold – all of the technical elements are ticked, but these images often have a storyline, creative spin or impact that really pushes it to the forefront.
2. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Back to that exam – What would your chances of success be if you hadn’t prepared properly? Say you had no calculator, you didn’t know which room the exam was in, you didn’t know what time of day it was?
Preparation is absolutely key for competition photography. Yes, you may well achieve a great score for an image taken on a paid for client session, but my experience is this is rare as you cannot control all the elements you need to (refering back to the above point about absorbing the judging criteria)
So before you go to shoot for competition, sit down and come up with a plan. I have often sketched my images to keep me focused. Elements to consider:
When
– What time of day do you want to shoot to deliver the light you are looking for? if you are looking for beautiful backlight (my favourite) then you need a glorious evening and let’s be honest, how hard is it to plan for this type of light in the UK? You need a plan A, a plan B and probably a plan C.
Where
– Consider where you are going to shoot ahead of time. Where is the light good and what is the background you are looking for?
Who/Why
– Also very important is who you want to photograph. What is the story of your image and does it require a boy, a girl or siblings? if you know what background you are using this can help you work out the type of child you want to photograph, even down to their hair colour. For example I love red hair against a strong greenback ground so I often put out casting calls for red haired children at certain times of year. This is also the time to consider clothing, what works with the background you are looking for and what wouldn’t?
How
Thinking ahead of time gives you the best chance of success – so which lens are you planning on using? Will you need additional light? What depth of field will work best to tell your story?
3. Timing
This is back to my point of editing and entering on the last day of each month. Would you start revising for an exam on the day? Ideally (and with hindsight which is a wonderful thing) this is how I would plan my month
Week 1 – Planning. Know what I want to take, when, where and how.
Week 2 – Shooting. Allowing myself 7 days for the best light to appear.
Week 3 – Editing and refining, and if necessary, reshooting. If I am so close to what I want to achieve but its not quite right, I have been known to go back and reshoot again.
Week 4. Time to review and time to distance myself! If I edit an image and go back and look it again days later, I often see something I had missed before. This time for me is crucial to remove myself and my emotion from the image.
Your pathway to success
My experience is it takes time and planning to be successful in competition, but being more structured with your approach does lead to success. It has also helped my photography grow and made me able to be far more objective that I was a couple of years ago. Hopefully you will be able to take my learnings and develop your own process. The end result is you will feel more in control over what you are entering, and that you have more confidence in how your images will score.
I hope this has been some use and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below. I would love to see some of your journeys over the coming months! Good Luck! Children’s photography
Nina is a Photographer based in Hertfordshire who specialises in Children’s photography. She also offers Beginners Photography Training for Mums and Dads with DSLR’s and 1-2-1 mentoring for aspiring professional photographers. She works throughout Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Berkhamsted, Kings Langley, Tring and Harpenden.
Throughout December, even though its very cold, I do still try to work as the light is very, very pretty as it is so low. At the end of last year I was really lucky to be able to photograph this gorgeous little girl. We wrapped up warm and headed up to Boxmoor in Hemel Hempstead for an outdoor photo session. Hats, gloves and furry hoods were the order of the day!
The mini session was great fun and we played a lot of games including hide and seek. It turns out she was much better at hiding than me but I tried my best. Below are some of my favourite images – I love the colours of winter and she did an amazing job!
If you would like to book a photo session in Spring 2015 please get in touch. I work all throughout Hertfordshire including Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Harpenden, Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley. I photograph families with new babies, pre school and school aged children. I also run Beginners Photography Courses if you have a great camera and would like to learn how to use it out of auto.
Nina Mace is a baby, children & family photographer based in Hemel Hempstead. Last Year she was voted one of the UK’s Top 10 people photographers and has this year just discovered she has been shortlisted again for both Photographer of the Year and Image of the year with the Guild of Professional Photographers and Professional Photographer Magazine. To keep up with her work, and up to date on training courses as and when they are released, just visit her Facebook page here
