Saturday 27 July 2013

ANGELS OF PARADISE... OR DEVILS IN DISGUISE?

ANGELS OF PARADISE... OR DEVILS IN DISGUISE?

Some of us affectionately call them the "Angels of paradise". And others - "Devils in disguise"! And both the groups have reasons to justify their statements. Children - cute, naughty, playful, affectionate, unpredictable... even devilish! But all of them - lovable. It is difficult to predict their moods... and their movements! They giggle, they smile, laugh, weep, cry, they throw tantrums, they imitate our activities, they throw away things, they try to draw attention all the time or they want to be just alone. But whatever they do, they do it in their own inimitable style.

Photographing children is one of the most difficult task for a photographer. They are continuously moving or running - thus making it difficult to properly focus or to fix 'exposures'. Every now and then, they have 'mood swing' and it becomes extremely difficult to capture the mood we want to capture. The angels (or devils?) are never ready to give a 'pose'. O my gosh! How can one press the shutter at the right moment? Needless to say, photographing children needs patience, and tact on the part of the photographer. Beware!!!!!

Give them space. Take them to a place where the child feels comfortable and at home. Allow them time to get relaxed. And keep the camera controls ready beforehand. Set your camera to Auto or Programmed Mode. Set the lens to Auto-focus. Get the 'flash' ready to fire at the right moment, if need be. And 'click' the shutter at the right moment. With a little experience, it will be possible to use a 'large aperture' with a proportionate 'speed' to have the correct 'exposure' with your camera. A large aperture will throw the clustered background out-of-focus, keeping the child in 'right focus'. But, don't worry, any camera - compact, SLR or mobile is good enough to capture the angels of paradise (or devils in disguise?) to your satisfaction.

The pictures below were shot by me over a long period of time after having spent lots of  hours with them, and by showing tons of patience, perseverance and tact. Please feel free if you want to comment or criticize. Just click the "no comment/comment" button below. Happy viewing...


















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