TB’s Christmas Card Photoshoot

I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried before to get a beautiful picture of Adam in front of the tree.  It’s hard.  If I do it at night, I have to use a flash, and it ruins everything.  During the day, I don’t get that beautiful glow from the lights.  What’s a girl to do?

My best buddy Nick Kelsh recently addressed this issue.  (Okay, he’s not really my best buddy, but I wish he were.  He’s just “another better than average photographer out there” who critiques and gives advice to amateur photographers through his facebook page, books and dvds.)

Here is Nick’s Christmas Card video.  It’s 10 minutes long, but you’ll enjoy his sense of humor and great tips.  The last three minutes give tips on pictures in front of the tree.

I decided to give his tips a test run before trying them out with my little guy.  I wanted to get all my settings right before dealing with a mobile subject.  So, Teddy Bear and I had a photo shoot yesterday.

I should have taken a picture with the flash, to show you the difference.  But I didn’t.  Maybe I will do another photo shoot with TB tonight.

First, I set up the studio:

(The disaster relief efforts from the Christmas explosion are taking longer than expected.)

This is the key, friends.  Lots of white lights, draped over a hanger, with tin foil behind them.  I hung them on a sled that was propped in another corner, but Nick Kelsh used a pizza box lined with tin foil hanging from a clothes hangar on a chair.  Either way works.  And the lights give you that pretty, Christmas-tree-esque glow.

Anyway, here’s how TB’s Christmas Card photo turned out:

 

I didn’t color correct or even crop since it’s just TB.  I wish he would have looked at the camera for me, though.

Then, I decided to try it with the self timer, to see if it would be possible to get a family photo in front of the tree.  But I don’t have a tripod, so my camera was sitting on a bar stool in the living room.  And it had issues focusing the first time around.  Pretty good picture of me, huh?

 

Okay, this one’s a wee bit better.

 

 

I would have went ahead and had a photo shoot with Adam and hubby last night (even had their shirts ironed) but they were both a little crabby.  We’re snowed in tonight, so we will try again!