Looking for an Adelaide family photographer who has a way with children; little children; energetic toddlers in particular?
Introducing Michelle Forte – lead photographer here at Professional Photos and Video. Here’s what Michelle has to say on the topic of toddlers!

It’s still hard to believe that I’m a photographer – I never thought that doing work could actually be rewarding. Whilst a huge portion of my portfolio is made up of wedding and newborn photography, I have done a fair bit of family stuff too.
So let’s talk toddlers! Anyone who owns one of these tiny, energetic, negotiating, selective hearing, funny, cute and just down-right amazing little humans will know that capturing a photo of them can be, well, challenging!

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Having had two of them myself, I feel that to some degree I have worked out a few recipes to capturing their emotion with my camera. I think I can narrow it down to 3 tips, and here they are:
1) Earlier is best. Dealing with a grumpy or unsettled toddler is a bit like trying to put socks on an angry octopus – it’s not for the faint hearted. So – do yourself a favor and if you can, plan to get photos earlier in the day – or at least do it at a time that you know your toddler is likely to be in a good mood! (hint – making sure they’re well fed is another factor in this step!)

2) Learn about shutter speed. Ok – not all camera’s have manual settings, but if your camera does, you want to find the shutter speed setting and set it pretty high. Toddlers seem to have an abundance of energy which often leads to them doing everything at twice the speed of light. Having a fast shutter speed on your camera means you’re less likely to get blurry and out of focus shots.
Having a faster shutter speed will also mean you’ll need to be in well-lit conditions – so again, early morning (or at least day time) is best.

3) Don’t tell them what to do. This can be the game changer for a successful toddler shoot. Ever tried to tell your toddler to stop doing something? Occasionally they may be inclined to listen to you, but telling a toddler to ‘stop’ is often code word for ‘go harder!!!’. So watch what your toddler is up to – see what is taking their interest and let them explore for a few minutes. Then you can position yourself somewhere out of distractions way and snap away for some awesome candid shots.
Once you feel you’ve got a handful of key shots – kind of like the bare minimum of a successful shoot, you can ease in some instruction for your little explorer. Try to avoid telling them to ‘stand nice’ ‘do your nice smile’ and stuff like that – these statements are a matter of opinion and there’s often a high chance that you and your toddler will have different views on the matter! Instead, get down on their level and try to interact with them and spark their interest. Tell a few jokes or play a little trick on them – something that they’ll find amusing.

As an Adelaide family photographer – I encounter toddlers quite frequently – the above 3 tips would probably be the 3 main things I concentrate on during any photoshoot involving a toddler. Keeping the shoot short, sharp and shiny is also a good thing – once they lose interest in the camera, it’s game over!

This is why I find that my mini family shoots are absolutely PERFECT for families with little munchkins!

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