Janel, thank you for posting those great ideas for taking photos of young children.
I have been experimenting so much with getting good resource photos that on my last photo shoot of a 'model' that I was paying by the hour, I practiced on my son over and over again until I understood the light before the model arrived. That helped so much, I saved a lot of time when the real model came over.
I recently looked out my window and saw the neighbor's twins outside. Great, I thought, so I grabbed my digital camera and off I was to take some photos. They're not even two yet! I came away from that 'photo shoot', if you can call it that, with no usable photos. Every time I would say one of their names or they would see the camera, they would make a bee line for the camera. Their objective was to get their face 2 inches away from the camera lens. Next time I plan to have them sitting in a chair inside their house. (I can hear laughing out there
! Anyway, I'll try that.)
Mary, I too enjoy painting children. I know I read here somewhere on the forum the suggestion of having a mom, or somebody, hold the child. That might be something to consider, if it's a head and shoulders anyway.
It seems like it just takes lots and lots of photos to get a good one. I think you got some great ones of Ben.
Joan