Photo Tips Christmas 2011
Photo Tips: Christmas 2011. Just a few days before Christmas so I felt a few tips would be beneficial
Make a list and checking it twice…
· Is camera packed?
· Fresh batteries with back up
· Clean flash card with backup
· Put someone is charge of photos.
· Light in the room… do you need more? Turn on lamps, open a window shade. Learn to look past the subject/product… is the background cluttered?
Light in the room… what type of light is it? Check your white balance first and if you shoot raw shoot and correct the white balance later. I would suggest taking the extra few moments to white balance your camera first.
Select an area good for family images. Again look for an uncluttered area, have a few props there just for fun, Santa hat, etc.
Don’t forget to capture the decoration and preparations. Food, setting the table, It may be a sentimental Christmas ornament or the nicely wrapped gifts. Catch the children opening the gifts, the tree before and after… you get the idea. Remember indoors 400 ISO is a good rule of thumb.
Christmas lights and decorations... Depending on your point of view, a long lens is good while blurring the Christmas lights. You will have to slow your shutter speed down and get off the automatic modes on your camera. Long exposures and a tripod will help.
Find a point of interest, not easy to do on Christmas day, look for a center of interest, subject or object, learn to look at what’s behind or in
front of the object or subject before taking the image.
Get everyone while they are fresh, do the group family images first. Do not wait until after all the festivities when everyone is tired and exhausted along with fussy/sleepy children.
Fill the frame in your view finder. One of my instructors/mentors told me you are responsible for what is in our out of your viewfinder. Most common mistake is the subjects are too far off in the distance with lots of space around them. Fill your frame by either zooming or moving closer to your subject. Another hint/tip: I like the look of the zoom lens better than a wide view.
Diffuse or reflect your flash. I really despise flash on camera and do whatever I can to diffuse it by bouncing or even making a home made device from the water jug. Get your camera off the auto modes, try the night mode, it’s good for slow shutter speeds, remember this is good for capturing Christmas lights. While photographing at slow shutter speeds you must remain still, use the gun techniques, slow down, hold the camera steady against you, breath in and hold your breath, squeeze the shutter, breathe out.
Get close up. Some of the decorations may look really cool close up. Most cameras have macro settings. Once on the macro settings you will no longer have auto focus so you will have to move in and out physically, but not much, remember you are in the macro mode.
Many times I shoot in the 2.8 range throwing things in the background out of focus and keep the subject/object as a point of interest, when doing family groups or needing a larger depth of field such as f/8 or f/11. Aperture priority works great.
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