Spreading the Love – Week 7
Keep the love coming friends!
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, friends. Life has been crazy here. I’ve been doing my first Mom*tog Pro session, which has been taking up my evenings. It’s been so much fun and Amanda has already improved so much! I’m going to share some of her before and after images with you tomorrow! Her son, Pierce, is just the cutest!
And then we actually sold our house. And have a 30 day escrow. With nowhere to live. Because we didn’t think our house would sell so fast (4 days)… Yeah, I’m kind of freaking out and having a nervous breakdown. So, my days are filled with house hunting. It’s a great thing for our family and we will be able to upgrade to a bigger house. We just have to find it 
Today’s question from a Mom*tog comes from Christie:
I am a Momtog who lives on pins and needles each and every day for your next post and I have a photography question that is causing me unending confusion and frustration. It is about focus. Well actually focus coupled with aperture. My main (well really only) photography subject is my 11 month old son. He is in constant motion and I mean constant! I am shooting with a Canon Rebel XTi and a Canon 24-70mm lens. I am almost always in AV mode with the aperture set at 2.8 as we don’t get very good light in our house and I am usually shooting indoors. I typically use the 9 point focus system to focus on his eyes (or I use the old focus and recompose trick.) My problem is that my son is constantly moving and I am going crazy changing the focus to keep up with him. I lose 90% of my pictures because he has already moved on by the time I focus on his eyes for the shot. And with the shallow depth of field I am usiing, I have to be so spot on with the focus. I constantly am losing the most beautiful pictures and it makes me so sad. How do you focus when you are taking action photos of your son? Do you use auto focus? I notice that you typically use a very small aperture, but your photos are so beautifully in focus. For instance, the swing photo (which just made me smile by the way!) I tried to take a similar picture of my son in the swing while he was swinging back and forth and I couldn’t ever get the focus on his eyes. Half of my pictures turned out with the trees in focus, but not him! I know this is another question to add to your pile, but I just had to ask it. I thought if anybody would understand how badly I want to nail photos of these priceless and fleeting moments with my son, it would be you!
Hi Christie!
Thanks so much for your question! I totally know what you mean about your little guy being in constant motion. They don’t sit still at that age and I can’t imagine that they are going to be sitting still in the next couple of years!
For your indoor shots you may want to invest in a lens with a wider aperture. The Canon 50 1.8 and 1.4 are both affordable lenses. You all know that the Canon 50 1.2 is what I use about 90% of the time for the pictures you see on this blog. It’s expensive, but worth every penny! It’s important to keep the shutter speed above 80 or 100 to prevent motion blur and with a lens that will allow you to stop down a few more stops you can keep your shutter speed higher. Also, try shooting manual and bumping up your ISO to avoid having to lower your shutter speed.
I would also suggest to not zoom in. The more you zoom the higher your aperture will go. When you zoom in you can’t shoot at 2.8. It will bump you up to 4.0. Remember, the wider your aperture the more light comes in. Instead of zooming in with your lens, zoom in with your feet. Just move closer so you can still shoot wide open at 2.8.
I also have to say that while you see my best work on my blogs I get A LOT of out of focus and bad images. I just shoot a lot!!! For instance, I posted this swing image that you mentioned:
But, I also got this
this
and this
All out of focus and horrible pictures! So, remember when you have little ones who only sit for a split second and are constantly on the move you have to shoot A LOT to get one good image. Don’t get discouraged. Just keep shooting!
About DrewB
I’ve started this blog as a way to connect with other moms who love photography. Whether you are a professional photographer who is looking for advice on how to manage your own business and your family or if you are a mom who is looking for tips on how to take better pictures of your kids, I hope that you can find some good information and be inspired!
Thank you so much for the good info! Do you recommend using a single point focus setting? Thanks!
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I’m so glad Christie wrote to you about this, I have this problem a lot of the time when trying to shoot children on the move! So helpful, thank you for posting it
OMG….I am SOOOOO happy for you guys! Congrat’s on selling your house…OMG…I’m still in shock..so excited!!! I just told Doug…he’s excited to..he is doing cartwheels around the house before he leaves for work..j/k
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Drew just seeing these pictures makes me feel so much better – You are the BEST for sharing your good pix, your bad, and your FABULOUS information. We love you!! And a HUGE congrats on selling your house!! That is so exciting! Happy house hunting and don’t ‘settle’ for something to fast, just rent if you have to till you find the perfect house!
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YEAH!! Congrats again on your house! We’re so excited for you. Great post! Great Q&A.
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thanks!! He is sooo cute! great advice as always. can you move by me?
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Drew, you are amazing!!! Thank you so so much for answering my question! I can’t tell you how much your response just helped me with great information as well as boosted my confidence at the same time! I have never seen a photographer’s ‘outtakes’ and just seeing yours showed me a misconception that I didn’t know I had….professional photographers don’t get perfect photos with every click of the shutter! I have been beating myself up for so long and now can maybe take it a little easier on myself! Thank you so much for sharing what it took to get that perfect shot. Also, one quick follow-up question…..Do you use auto focus for action shots or do you constantly change your single point focus setting? Buckets of thanks and congratulations on selling the house!!!!
Another thought may to be change to AI Servo instead of 1 shot for the focus. AI Servo tracks the subject as it’s moving and keeps it in focus. Works great for kids in swings especially. Won’t work every time, but it could help.
Great tips!
That is sooooo true…I get so many fuzzy pictures and you just have to keep shooting! What a precious baby
Thank you for posting this! I have been having that issue with my new prime lens, and I thought it was just me! For every perfect shot, I get at least 10 bad shots!
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I want you to know that I just love your blog!!!! You have such wonderful information and so willing to share with other mom photographers. Your awesome!!!
I am SO GLAD that you posted this. I have the same dilemma as Christie…I usually just use auto focus because I am so fed up with having to change focus every five seconds. I’m glad that you gave some real advice that isn’t too technical–this is definitely some advice I can follow! I just found your blog through Brenda’s Flickr stream, and I’m a huge fan!