Holiday Photography
As the holidays are fast approaching, not only am I trying to finish up buying gifts, I am trying to come up with a different approach to taking photos at holiday gatherings. I only have 2 of them, so I want to have a concept in my head beforehand.
I like to travel lite if possible and usually have 2 sb600′s in my bag. The cool thing this year is I have a couple of different modifiers for them. I have recently obtained a Lumiquest Softbox III and have been experimenting with it around the apartment to see what it can and cannot do. So far, so good! It really does soften the light and shadows quite a bit. More than I thought it would do, that’s for sure. You just have to move the light closer to your subject. A couple feet away and it looks like a much larger light than it actually is.
I won’t get my other modifier until Christmas Eve. My Mom asks every year what I would like for Christmas and I rarely ask for anything related to photography but this year I asked for an Orbis Ringflash. It got delivered last week! And who says only the kids get excited about the presents under the tree? I can’t wait to take it for a test drive!
Which brings me back to the holiday photos. My sister Liz picked up a Nikon d60 this year and has been giving it a real work out. Liz was the team Mom for my nephews championship football team this fall and she has taken some great photos! She has also done a great job with the family gatherings we have recently had. The light bulb went on last Sunday at the Cousins Christmas party. She was shooting everything and had a gallery up the next day! They were all good photos and unlike most of my family event stuff, everyone had their eyes open and looked good! I just don’t take good family photos for some reason. Everyone says I never share them and rarely post or email any. It’s only because they are not that good. I do fine when I go out shooting for the local newspaper but for some reason when it comes to family….
My thinking is that from now on, Liz can record the event and I can pick and choose my photos a little more. She does a great job anyhows, why not? I am going to try and get a nice photo of each family member. My plan is to use the Softbox as a key light on a small background stand, and use that spankin new ringflash as a fill light. Everything is small enough not to really be in the way and I can take my time a little more thanks to Liz.
This could work out great!