Grandchildren
This is my favourite photograph of my grandchildren. Taken on holiday in Devon, July 2021. There is clearly an earnest discussion in place....
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This is my favourite photograph of my grandchildren. Taken on holiday in Devon, July 2021. There is clearly an earnest discussion in place.
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Aug, 2021Views
474
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Awards
Curator's Selection
People's Choice in GRANDKIDS Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Emotions
Impressed
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
PRO+
karensommerslohre
September 08, 2021
People's Choice winner in my GRANDKIDS Challenge! Congratulations on a neat picture!
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
We went on holiday to a farmhouse in Devon (UK). My son and daughter came with their families so that there were six adults, five dogs and three children all lodged together. The three grandchildren in the picture all get along with each other really well and played beautifully. Here they are all sat together in a window seat in the farmhouse clearly they are in earnest discussion about something.Time
It was taken quite early in the morning as the children are all still in their pyjamas. I had taken a couple of single shots of them from the other side of the room to test the settings. I had to be careful not to disturb their conversation because if they saw me they would instantly turn to pose and say "Cheese!' because they are so used to adults asking them to. Once I was happy with the settings I switched on burst and fired away, probably taking six or seven pictures. As soon as the camera stopped they all looked over to me and sat up ready for posed picture, which I took, but it isn't anything like as good as this natural one.Lighting
All the light is coming from behind them through the window. There was some ordinary electric lighting in the room, but it was quite dark, which is why I had to raise the ISO number to 1600. Even with the lens wide open at f4 I still could only go as fast as 60th second. I was quite pleased that the lens had to be so wide open as it meant there would be a shallow depth of field and I wanted all the attention to be on the children.Equipment
I was using a hand held Canon 5D MkIII, with a 24-105mm L lens.Inspiration
Like all grandparents I think mine are really special. They are all fairly close together in age. At the time of the photograph the eldest (on the left was four and six months, the others were (reading from l-r) two years 8 months and two years 9 months. I had been watching them for some time, as I sat at a table eating my breakfast, fascinated by this conversation that was all about going to play on the beach. I wanted to capture them being completely natural with each other as I hope that as they get older this relationship will continue to flourish.Editing
I had shot the original in RAW and used Lightroom to do some post production work. Mainly I had to lift the shadows and that brought the faces up nicely. Then I added a subtle tint to warm the scene up as the original did seem quite cold using the interior electric lighting. I did try to adjust the white balance but that made the background look very unnatural. The picture has become a family favourite and prints are now hanging in all our homes as well as adorning a mug, which is the one I now always choose for my morning cup of tea.In my camera bag
I always have my Canon 5D MkIII. If it is possible to love an inanimate object then I love this camera. I have four main lenses Canon 24-105mm, Canon 14-40mm, Canon f1.8 50mm and a Sigma 70-500mm. My back up camera is a Canon 7D MkI, which I sometimes use with the Sigma lens. As this camera is a crop sensor it gives me a maximum focal length of 750mm, this is really useful for photographing cricket matches.Feedback
Try to find occasions when the children aren't aware of you. Sometimes you have to sit and watch for quite some time as they play before they stop posing and just behave naturally. Always use burst. In a run of six pictures there is more chance of one of them capturing the moment you had hoped for. If you saw the pictures either side of the one that is featured here you would fully understand why I always shoot this way.
