Lateral Distractions
September 29, 2016 § 2 Comments
Photo by Øystein H. Horgmo © All rights reserved.
It can be difficult to get good lateral (profile) clinical photos of children , especially small ones. Both the photographer and the studio strobes are much more interesting than a parent snapping her fingers. So you have to come up with some distractions to get the child facing in the right direction. Here are two solutions we have found to work well.
PEZ dispensers
These cheap candy dispensers/toys are colorful and fun to look at. If the child is sitting on a parent’s lap, the parent can hold the dispenser in front of the child. If shaken, it even makes a noise as the head part moves. Since they’re made of plastic they’re also easy to disinfect.
Photo by Øystein H. Horgmo © All rights reserved.
CDs
I have had this idea for quite some time, but only got around to testing it recently: CDs hanging from the ceiling. This solution is great for both small and larger children. With the large ones the CDs are something specific to refer to. “Sit this way and look at that CD”. Much easier than ask them to look straight ahead/at the wall. With the smaller children a CD with a spin to it is totally mesmerizing. A moving shiny silver rainbow thingy! After we started using the CDs the toddlers sit still much longer than before. We have put up one on either side of the studio (see photo). They’re hanging from string attached to the light armatures with some old film clips, so they can be easily put up and removed.
Photo by Øystein H. Horgmo © All rights reserved.
The Sterile Eye 
Good suggestions. I do most of my work on location in clinics, so it is inconvenient to have anything permanent. For these situations, my go-to solution is my Infant Cranial Repositioning Device. Everyone else calls them keys. They make noise, they are shiny, they are always in my pocket, can be cleaned.
Hahaha! Great name :) One of my colleagues prefer keys, but I tend to leave them everywhere but my pocket…