Photographing A Child With Autism

I love to take photos. It’s a true statement as I love to record life through the lens. As part of this recording of life I like to record my own children growing up, having adventures and enjoying the places we visit.

When photographing landscape, it’s easy as it does not move around, pull faces and all those interesting things that people do. Children especially enjoy making faces in front of the camera.

Photographing little Mr has more challenges though. With not so little Miss I I can ask her to pose for a photo, stand there, smile and so on. Little Mr doesn’t really understand when asking him to do similar things.

So, I have come up with 5 tips I use when trying to get a photo of little Mr. It’s possible that these may also come in handy for anyone else who finds it challenging to photograph their ASD diagnosed child.

5 Tips For Photographing ASD Child

Here are the 5 tips I use when taking a photo of little Mr.

1. Try to take a natural photo. I always find the best photos are when little Mr is not asked to pose, is not even aware I am going to or are taking a photo. This may be the time to capture that smile as they are playing with their favourite toy or doing something they enjoy.
2. Be prepared to take the photo. There may be a slim window of time to take a photo with your child in the right pose. I prepare my camera, get him in focus, then I call him to get him looking in the correct pose. I’m ready to take that photo as soon as he is looking at me.
3. Don’t crowd the child. Taking the photo should be unobtrusive. You need to be far enough away so that you don’t worry or disturb them. You will never get the best shot if you are right next to them, causing them to stress or worry about what you are doing.
4. Take multiple shots when in the pose. If you rely on just taking a single image, that image may not be the perfect one. If your camera has a burst mode then take 4 or 5 shots. You can then choose which one is the best and work with that one to make it perfect.
5. The final tip is not to take to many photos at once. Don’t expect to have a big photo shoot with your child, they can get a bit annoyed or upset if you are spending more than a couple of minutes trying to get multiple photos. Instead, spread it out and have many play breaks.

Natural Is Better

Personally, I find natural looking photos are the best. I try not to get little Mr to pose, instead, I try to photo in locations where I know there are things that will interest him, getting him playing and enjoy his time.

I’m always looking for that perfect photo and not a force one. Children can get annoyed if forced to pose for too long a time and you will never get that perfect photo that way. Instead, try to get them enjoying something and you will find that perfect pose just comes.

As an image is worth a thousand words, here is an example of what I mean. I was ready to take the shot and got something I think is special. 

One more final example. While I had my camera ready I got this shot of little Mr just watching the world by.

Get That Camera Ready

I hope these tips help you get that photo you want. Just always be prepared and ready to capture they image at an instants notice and you will get some wonderful photos to share with your family and Facebook…

Sean

I recently came across the following quote

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
― Maya Angelou

This is my new goal in life. Not to conform to be normal, but to be amazing and I hope to inspire you to be amazing too.

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