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.
 |
| krwhome |
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.
 |
| krwhome |
 |
| krwhome |
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.
 |
| krwhome |
 |
| krwhome |
 |
| krwhome |
 |
| krwhome |
Have fun and don’t forget to capture those candid shots of
whacky family members. There's at least one in every family!
 |
| krwhome |
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:
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!
Its always wonderful to take our family / friend pictures ,thanks for making it even more beautiful with this tip .
love the picts
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!
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!
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >
><}}(°>
< ° ) } } > <
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
My son takes amazing photos with his cell phone. A little practice is all it takes and remembering photo composition.
You're welcome - glad you enjoyed this.
Keith, the photographer, will be pleased!
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.
I agree - I love a soft dreamy blur on portraits. You're using excellent settings.
Aloha!
Have fun - those whacky subjects sometimes make the best photos ;)
Thank you Mari for sharing such wonderful moments with us along with the precious lessons! This was really good : )
Thank you for sharing this Mari. Have a wonderful holiday!
http://rimlybezbaruah.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-love.html
A very informative post, Mari. Thanks and have a great holiday.
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
i also use me cell phone, but i do sometimes get lucky with some good shots
~laura
Thanks for the tips Mari, will need em for the coming holiday parties and reunions.
don't know much about photog so this tips would be very helpful for the coming holiday! thanks much for sharing. :)
These are great tips! I don't take too many portrait photos. :) I love the candid shots best....
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 :)
I would like to thanks a ton for the work you’ve put in writing this web site. I am hoping the same high-grade webpage post from you in the upcoming also. The fact is your original writing abilities has inspired me to get my own site now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is the best example of it.
Loved the photos and the great tips! I always get something out of your posts. Thanks!
This is very intriguing, You are a quite skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to looking for far more of your wonderful post. Also, I’ve shared your internet web site in my social networks!
Great photos and great advice. Thank YOu.
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 :)
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
:(
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!!
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.
Fantastic post, I really look forward to updates from you.
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 :)
Have fun with your camera - looking forward to seeing your photos. :)
Oh well! We're all good at something :)
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Good for Josh, bad or you - maybe a camera is in order for him for Christmas :)
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Thank you - glad you enjoy my posts :)
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Candid shots are really fun :)
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Cells phones can be great for photos :)
Happy holidays to you also. Glad you enjoyed the post on taking portraits.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed. How's Ron's photography coming along?
Thank you - glad you enjoyed.
Post a Comment