Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Photographing Family and Friends During The Holidays

During our holiday gatherings we want to capture great photographs of family and friends. We want our photos to be special remembrances of happy occasions. What’s the best way to make this happen?

Start by taking lots of practice portrait photos before your get together. Ask a few willing family members to pose. Practice both candid and posed shots. Read your camera’s manual. Know your camera’s settings.

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Take your camera out of automatic mode. If you’re fairly new to photography set your camera on portrait mode. Portrait mode is typically located on a dial at the top of a camera and is represented by the symbol of the little lady in the jaunty hat. This mode will help adjust for lighting and background.




Whenever possible turn off your flash and use available light. You’ll be shooting at close range in small spaces so your flash may be too harsh on your subject.

Window light and no flash makes for the best indoor photos. If you do need to use your flash, turn on as many room lights as possible to reduce the flash power that’s needed to expose your image.  



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Check through your viewfinder for harsh shadows on your subject and either move them to a location with better lighting, or position lamps to eliminate the shadows. 

I have a couple of tall floor lamps with bendable arms that I take with me whenever possible. They’re great for adjusting lighting and I use bulbs with a soft glow which keeps my subjects from looking harsh.

Remember to turn on your camera’s red eye reduction feature.

Tripods are handy in low light so there’s no blurring in your photos.

Keep composition in mind. Don’t cut arms, legs, hands or other body parts off in awkward places.

Make sure your subject doesn’t have any odd items “growing” out of the top or side of their head.

It’s best to leave plenty of room around your subject and crop the image later to a pleasing composition.


Use gaily colored fabric, a family heirloom quilt, or holiday items to make a backdrop for posed photos. Get creative and you’ll create really special images.

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Be prepared for spontaneous moments.

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Have fun and don’t forget to capture those candid shots of whacky family members. There's at least one in every family!


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Thank you Keith at krwhome for allowing me to use your wonderful photos. You know how much I enjoy your images. Please be sure and follow the link to his flickr site and leave a comment or two.


After the first of the new year I'm dedicating a post to all my followers. I'll share a post on which you can link to your blog or Facebook and share some of your holiday or party photos with us. Fun!


I will be mostly off until after the new year. So stay tuned for some great new years tips and ideas for your photography. 







48 comments:

Jenni said...

Thank you for the tips Mari. I still only have my cellphone to take pictures with but, I will do my best to use these tips and attempt my hand at better photos. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Team G Square said...

Its always wonderful to take our family / friend pictures ,thanks for making it even more beautiful with this tip .

emilydookhoo said...

love the picts

lavina melwani said...

Thanks Mari for the great tips - I'll use them when taking holiday pictures this year! I've been taking no risks and putting it on automatic - will get a bit more gutsy now!

Notanottinghill Mum said...

Found this interesting as I never use flash indoors but often have to use ISO of 1600 and a v slow shutter speed to compensate! When it works it looks way better than flash and even a slight blur can look effective in some cases! 

Cloudia said...

 Aloha from Honolulu

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wan maznah cooking varieties said...

hi mari, finally i am able to put comment..from the cyber cafe shop.. love this post and will remember your tip on watching out for the whacky subjects.. cant wait to observe this

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

My son takes amazing photos with his cell phone. A little practice is all it takes and remembering photo composition.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

You're welcome - glad you enjoyed this.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Keith, the photographer, will be pleased!

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

I'd love to see some of your images - practice using the semi-automatic modes like portrait - you'll be thrilled with your new talent.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

I agree - I love a soft dreamy blur on portraits. You're using excellent settings. 

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Aloha!

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Have fun - those whacky subjects sometimes make the best photos ;)

kriti said...

Thank you Mari for sharing such wonderful moments with us along with the precious lessons! This was really good : )

Rimly Bezbaruah said...

Thank you for sharing this Mari. Have a wonderful holiday!

http://rimlybezbaruah.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-love.html

Sulekha Rawat said...

A very informative post, Mari. Thanks and have a great holiday.

Sarah-Jane Klemis said...

I love candids and portraits and I'm really getting into the manual settings now.  I'm hoping I get my studio equipment for Christmas so I can start to really get things moving.  Fabulous photo's, I love these natural shots and a really great write up to boot.  Happy Holidays Mari oxoxo

poochpurplereign said...

i also use me cell phone, but i do sometimes get lucky with some good shots
~laura

Lakwatsera de Primera said...

Thanks for the tips Mari, will need em for the coming holiday parties and reunions.

Thepinaysolobackpacker said...

don't know much about photog so this tips would be very helpful for the coming holiday! thanks much for sharing. :)

Rachel & Pokey said...

These are great tips!  I don't take too many portrait photos.  :)  I love the candid shots best....

David Smith said...

Thanks for the helpful tips which I can certainly use during the upcoming holiday season get togethers. I especially appreciate the info regarding use of the flash and lighting which ruins my pics when least expected. The one spontaneous wacko relative is me btw :)

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Jessica Mokrzycki said...

Loved the photos and the great tips! I always get something out of your posts. Thanks!

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jan said...

Great photos and great advice. Thank YOu.

Anna Sides said...

I love all of the different variations of photography, but portrait has never been my strong point.  Thank you so much for sharing these pointers.  I will try them the next time I am taking pictures of family and friends :)

Mary Hudak-Collins said...

These are great tips for portrait photography!  I always forget to set my camera to the portrait setting.  Josh has taken interest lately in taking photographs, so I am losing my camera during family gatherings 
:(

Rogueartist said...

Mari, this is an excellent article, and one I can really relate to.  In past years, I took many photos of family at holiday gatherings, but lately, not so much.  I plan to get back at it this year!  Thanks for the little push!!

Larry said...

I am sure these are brilliant instructions, but there is nothing that will ever improve my skills with a camera. I blame my big thumb it just gets in the way.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic post, I really look forward to updates from you.

Melissa Tandoc said...

Yey! I'm glad I read this before Christmas :) I'll share this to my elder sister who's also now into photography (*although I still wish it was Belle handling the cam lol)...

I have to take care in cutting the images, I like it really close and I tend to cut off the background...

I'll also maximize the light so that the exposure will be better rather than adjust it afterwards (*to minimize editing ;)

Thanks Mari :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Have fun with your camera - looking forward to seeing your photos. :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Oh well! We're all good at something :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Good for Josh, bad or you - maybe a camera is in order for him for Christmas :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoy my posts :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Candid shots are really fun :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Cells phones can be great for photos :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Happy holidays to you also. Glad you enjoyed the post on taking portraits.

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed. How's Ron's photography coming along?

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Thank you - glad you enjoyed.