Photographing the Holidays
It's Thanksgiving time for those of us that celebrate it, yet even if you don’t, it’s time to start thinking of Holidays and ways to make better and fun pictures. There are many fun things to photograph during the festivities of the winter season - from snowy scenes to parades, festivals to ceremonies, in all our cultures. This is a time rich with traditions, so get out there and have some fun with your camera this season!
Here’s some tips for photographing indoor events with family and friends:
1. Watch out for mirrors and windows when photographing inside - those will kick the flash back in your face and create bad reflections next to your subjects.
2. Use redeye reduction if you have the capability on your camera.
3. Be certain you don’t have Christmas trees, menorahs, or picture frames growing out of people’s heads in group portraits. Nothing worse than old Uncle Bob wearing antlers in the picture.
4. Use a diffusion box to soften your flash - it makes all the difference with photos done inside with direct flash. Stofen.com makes ones that fit many accessory flashes. If you are using a compact digital, tape a small piece of translucent paper or foam over the flash - it will be a great improvement.
5. Shoot with shutter priority but lower it enough to capture some ambient room light - so the pictures don’t look like you made them inside a cave. Light falloff from the flash is very quick behind your subjects.
6. Try to capture the special moments of the family - the bonding, the love, the laughter - all those things that happen in an instant of time. For a little while, be a fly on the wall with your camera, at the ready, and see what you can capture. Family and friends are used to you hanging around with the camera so you can easily get ‘ignored’ if you just observe quietly.
Creative Ideas for holiday pictures inside and out:
Try to capture the essence of the season, or the holiday, in your pictures.
1. Capture still-life images of the holiday decorations on the table.
2. Photograph the last fall leaves that are still hanging on the trees - if there are any in your area - to capture the concept of hanging on, holding out, tenacity, etc.
3. Make extreme close-ups of christmas tree ornaments. Throw them out of focus for the magic of the sparkles of color.
4. Capture houses decorated with lights at twilight - about 15 minutes to 30 minutes after sunset is best for capturing the twilight sky and the lights in good balance.
5. If you are in snow country, photograph red ribbons on snow-covered branches (you might have to ‘plant’ the ribbon on the tree right before the snow to get dustings of snow on the bow...) or holiday lights glowing through a covering of snow.
5. Look for activities that are traditional in your part of the country or world for the specific holiday - maybe a surfing Santa in L.A. or Luminaries lighting the way to the chapel or nativity scene.
Whatever your plans, you can capture the fun and excitement, the special qualities of the holiday season.
Have a great week!
Comments