Shooting Christmas Can be Fun.......or........

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Shooting can be a lot of fun. Formal shots seem to take a lot of prep work if one wants to get everything perfect, like making sure nothing in the background conflicts with the subject which is your critical Aunt saying she doesn't like it that Bernie's coat is so ugly hanging on the wall behind me. Or just the usual clutter which can easily invade a nice grouping of the family. It pays to take the time to pick out a bare wall or large window so long as the flash will not bounce back at you. In the other hand if you are going for the candid approach, and want to avoid the background clutter which is unavoidable in most cases, try placing a lens of portrait class, say a Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras which when opened wide you'll produce enough bokeh, or background blur to avoid most of the stuff and leave you with a wonderful clear shot of your Aunt who won't be able to critique your photo without using a compliment.

What I hear most often from readers is in addition to missing that shot they thought they captured well, is that they ran out of space on their media cards. With today's cameras producing ever-larger images, say the Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens which takes 15MP photos can fill a 4MB card in minutes. I hope your Holiday shoot gives you all the shots you were hoping for, but if you find yourself a little shy consider the following CF cards. These are in my opinion two of the best manufacturers money can buy. I own plenty of both.



Now that all the Holidays are past and the New Year is here, you can relax and concentrate on the 'HOW' of what you are shooting instead of the guests, the meals, and all of the hoopla surrounding you. Just get back to focusing on what you want to learn. Hopefully this one small example will help.

And here's an example of that bokeh I spoke of above. While the girls face and hair is sharp, the background offers that professional look.


Comments

Zeana Romanovna said…
Test comment only from Zeana. I hope this works. Your comments are set to moderated, Rich.
January 9, 2010 at 9:51 AM
Outsideshooter said…
I'll take a look thanks Zeanna
January 9, 2010 at 9:56 AM
Anonymous said…
I wondered if you had any ideas as how to better capture a childs, (or persons) character. Or, just getting a decent picture for that matter. I find that when I try to take pictures of loved ones, all my intentions and ideas seem good, but the result appears so "staged".
March 1, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Outsideshooter said…
Well Krista may not get the answer, since it was posted so long ago, and my apology, but yes I can help with that. Make sure you are not the focus if you want spontaneous photos. Set up the location so that she will be attracted to ongoing activity if outside or inside, such as any people moving about or talking and laughing, handling objects which will flash or make noise, depending on the age of the children. It will help if adequate ambient light is available since a flash will take the child's attention right back to you and you lose the spontaneity. If there are more than one it is usually easier since they will tend to engage with one another more easily. Thanks for the question.
October 14, 2013 at 11:10 AM
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