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Hack 17 Capture Kids Without Going Crazy
Sure, kids are cute in real life. But when it comes to capturing them with your digital
point-and-shoot camera, they can be as elusive as leprechauns .
Digital point and shoots
are great general-use cameras. But most of them are plagued by a
phenomenon called shutter lag
: the response time from the moment you push the shutter
button to when the picture is actually captured is too long, sometimes as long as a second. In
kid photography, a second might as well be a week.
2.3.1 Choosing a DSLR Camera
This next section of this hack provides ways to increase your odds of success with point and
shoots. But first, if you want to cut right over to the fast lane, consider getting a digital SLR
(DSLR), which has a much faster response time and performs better overall. DSLRs look and
behave just like your favorite 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) cameras of years past, but they have
a sophisticated image sensor instead of film.
Not long ago, this wouldn't be practical advice for parents, because DSLRs were just too
darned expensive. But you no longer have to choose between a camera and a college fund. Both
Canon and Nikon have introduced quality DSLRs for under US$1,000, and more are sure to be on
the way. The Canon Digital Rebel and the Nikon D70 are two examples of DSLRs that will help you
keep up with your kids without maxing out your credit card.
DSLRs have minimal shutter lag times, allow for generous sequential shooting, accept a
variety of lenses, and enable you to use external flash. In other words, they are perfect for
action, er, kid photography.
2.3.2 Hacking the Point-and-Shoot Camera
Now that you know what your next camera should be, how do you get the most out of the
one in your hand? OK, here are some tips to increase your odds of success.
First, get everyone outdoors, where there's more light, better backgrounds, and lots of things for
kids to do. Then, make these three adjustments on your camera:
Set for the highest resolution your camera allows.
This enables you to later crop out part of the picture, yet still have enough pixel
information to make a good-sized print. It's like adding a powerful telephoto lens to
your little point and shoot.
Find Infinity Focus mode and activate it.
Essentially, this disables the autofocus (which is slow as mud on most consumer
digicams) and lets you capture perfectly focused images from about eight feet to
infinity. By doing so, you've just shortened the length of time from when you push the
shutter button to when the image is recorded. This also allows you to hang back a
few feet, so you're not spending all your energy chasing kids around instead of
photographing them.
Enable Continuous Shooting mode.
Instead of taking a bunch of single shots and missing the action, Continuous Shooting
mode lets you hold down the shutter button and fire a series of frames. The knack to
this is starting the sequence right before the decisive moment and shooting through
it. Then, review your pictures on the LCD screen, remove the obvious misses, and
keep the winners.
Here are a few other things to keep in mind. Arrange your shoots for the time of day that
your children feel the best. They will cooperate more and act less fussy. Remember to get
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