shutter speed shooting kids

[gooomz]

when shooting still portraits of kids sitting or standing or gazing into to the distance what shutter speed would one use to make sure the kids faces and eyes don't blur?

i shoot in natural and low light and sometimes get a great shot of my kids but they move or flinch or rock back and the photo gets slightly blurred.

at what shutter speed would you recommend to kill blur caused by kid movement?

1/90? 1/180?

thanks

 

[gooomz]

any recommendations for minimal shutter speed to stop pesky kids from moving during portraits?

since i shot a lot of natural light photos, i do find myself shooting a lot at 1/30 and 1/60 but its a crap shoot if a child moves slightly.

 

[Brian S]

I would be inclined to shoot at high ISO and with a fast lens, get as high of a shutter speed as possible. I like "portraits in motion", and 1/500th~1/2000th is my comfort level.

M8, ISO 160, Jupiter-3 wide open an F1.5:





"Fleeting Moment of attention"

When shooting at 1/125th, I either pan with the motion or make sure to have the subjects attention.

At F4-

 

[Shashin]

In many ambient light situations, you don't always have the luxury of choosing a shutter speed because you may be working wide open or you need the depth of field. What you may find important is your timing--with someone rocking back and and forth, take the image when they reverse direction which is a still point in their motion. Or move the camera with their motion. But random motion is really hard--take lots of images.

One problem with a one-size-fits-all number is it also depends on scale--is this a tight head shot or are you shooting the full figure. How fast are they moving? There really is no one answer than shoot as fast as you can.

 

[Shashin]

Throw water in their face. You have a one to two second period of surprise before they react. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but better than sedation.

 

[gooomz]

if a child is sitting or standing still what shutter speed would you be comfortable with to avoid motion blur if the child twitches around?

i would not take a picture of them running or jumping or doing any kind of fast motion.

would 1/60 be to slow to prevent blur from a child moving their head or arms?

i know this is something i just got a try. just trying to get a head start in figuring this out.

thanks a lot

 

[Shashin]

I would say with a stationary child 1/125 would be a fairly safe bet if you were thinking they may move a limb. If the motion is fast, then 1/250. You could get away with 1/60 if they were relaxed and not moving limbs.

But like you said, you need to find out for yourself.