Ever been to a photoshoot where the kids are just going nuts? Where the parents are freaking out, shouting at their progeny to behave? Where no one’s having fun, least of all you? This prompt can help. It’s a technique for leaning into the conditions, embracing—and, in fact, enhancing—the chaos. The goal is to burn through the nerve to the relaxed other side—and, if you’re lucky, get some fun photos out of the mess too.
Embrace and chase: techniques to manage over-excited and hyper kids
This prompt is a useful one for managing super-excited kids and frustrated parents who are trying to get them to “sit still and SMILE, for goodness’ sake!” Instead of trying to herd cats, help everyone relax and ease into the photoshoot by burning off the kids’ beans.
How to use this photo pose prompt
Reassure parents that they don’t need to worry if the kids are mucking around, being silly, and going crazy during the session.
Embrace the chaos and chase the kids with your camera ready. Encourage silly faces, running, playing, tickling, hugs, chasing, swinging around in the air, giving kisses. Shoot for the relaxed smiles and laughter that follow, rather than the craziness itself (although that may make for great photos too).
Shoot with a fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/200 or faster), fast frame rate (burst mode), and continuous focus mode (not single shot). A higher f-stop (e.g. f5.6) will be more forgiving of fast-paced movement than a low one (e.g. f2.8).
Allow enough time in your photoshoot to let this fully play out: you can’t do this for two minutes then expect the kids to sit perfectly still and pleasantly for the rest of the time.
Prompt: Embrace and Chase
- Reassure parents that they can let their kids be kids.
- Embrace the chaos, chase with camera.
- Encourage parents to join in with child-led games.
- Make suggestions: Everyone show me your best soccer moves, dance moves, tickle attack, monster face, running legs, airplane arms, kissing face, etc.
- Amp up the energy to really get everyone moving.
- Shoot for smiles and laughter following the action.
Creative extension
- Open your camera wide up to your lens’ widest aperture, and embrace the low depth of field. Capture feelings rather than sharp shots. Then switch it up and slow your shutter speed down: hold still to keep the background clear and let the moving kids and parents motion-blur in the image (in a bright setting close down your aperture to avoid over-exposing). See what motion and emotion you can represent with different kinds of blur.
Tag @promptographerguide and use the hashtag #promptographerguide to share your favorite photos of crazy kids being kids.
Want this prompt in your Field Cards set?
All the info in this prompt post is summarized onto a single card in the Promptographer Guide Field Cards, with the details given in the accompanying Guidebook. All the ideas are given on the one card so you have a rich, comprehensive tool for sparking ideas. I’ve designed it this way so you only need five to ten cards to build a whole photoshoot.
If you want this prompt in your set, make sure you include Set 6: Family Essentials in your Field Cards.
