# Christmas Portrait



## Crickett (Dec 11, 2010)

Ok here's my 1st attempt @ a Christmas portrait of my kids. I'm not completely happy w/ it b/c I am having a hard time getting their faces sharp. This is an issue I struggle w/ often. Not sure what I'm doing wrong so if any of y'all can give me advice I'd sure appreciate it. I plan to take some more this was just a start. Kids cooperated w/ me pretty well @ 1st then they started to fight w/ each other. So some of the shots were rushed. I do like my background I just need to figure out how to get their faces sharp & add some fill light that's not going to be too bright.


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## carver (Dec 11, 2010)

Cute kids,I like it


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## Keebs (Dec 11, 2010)

It looks good to me!!


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## fishfryer (Dec 11, 2010)

You're not trying to finagle a compliment out of us are you?Your children are beautiful,and the picture is well made.I wouldn't hesitate to show this to anyone.Oh yeah,Merry Christmas.


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## rip18 (Dec 11, 2010)

First, you ought to be pleased with this one.  Well done!

I understand what you are saying about their faces.  One simple-sounding, but complex to pull off, thing to increase the sharpness of their faces - more light!

You're shutter speed was running one-tenth of a second - lots of time for little people to move ever so slightly.  That was even with a really open aperture (f/3.5) and high ISO (800).

Having the background being lighter than the main subject draws the eye away from those photogenic younguns slightly as well.

Potential solution:  desk lamps/can lamps/directional lighting.  If you've got a lamp (including your husband's construction lights?) that is directional, get them up high & pointed slightly down right on those younguns & shoot again.

As you've figured out, you need to get things just like you want them & then get the younguns in there for just a bit - too long & cooperation (& "photogenicness") tend to start dropping.

Again, this first round looks great, but I understand what you are saying... 

Best of luck!


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## Lee Woodie (Dec 11, 2010)

Great job your well on your way the children are wonderful the background is perfect.Quit beating your self up.


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## leo (Dec 11, 2010)

1'st ..... I think that is a beautiful Christmas portrait, a mighty fine pic.

While I understand what you are wanting, and I think Rip is right on with his suggestions, when I first viewed the pic I was thinking how it showed your beautiful kids in a very nice warm light.


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## wvdawg (Dec 11, 2010)

That is an awesome portrait!  Love your background choice and you decorated it nicely.  The kids are precious!  And thanks Rip for the mini lesson - I sure learned a bit from it!
DJ


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## rip18 (Dec 11, 2010)

leo said:


> ... when I first viewed the pic I was thinking how it showed your beautiful kids in a very nice warm light.



Leo's comment made me jump back in for a bit...  Yep, that is one of the tricky parts of lighting.  If you can borrow some of those tungsten or halogen shop/construction lights (usually yellow or orange) on a stand, they throw off a warm light as well that would really complement the lighting you used in your original shot...

Here is a link to the kind of lights that I'm talking about: http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edge-L-14SLED-Two-Light-1000-Watt/dp/B0002YW2C8

The light temperature of those lights is "warm" compared to sunlight - with a quality almost like an early sunrise or late sunset lighting.

Here's a snake post where you can see the results from using that type of "warm" light - http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=584309


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## Crickett (Dec 11, 2010)

Wow y'all are awesome. Thanks for all the nice comments & advice. I think I'll head over to Home Depot after dinner & see what I can find. We have no kind of lamps whatsoever in this house. I am going for the soft warm glow look. That's why I didn't use my 430ex. Overall I do love the photo I just want to make some slight adjustments. Thanks again for all y'alls help.

Lee I did get your PM just haven't had a chance to call you yet.


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## ronfritz (Dec 11, 2010)

Here's a +1 on the more light comments....1/10 is about as low as a person could expect to have those subjects hold still so reducing the shutter speed probably is a hit or miss option.   You could drop the speed to 1/5 and bang off three or four in a row and hope that, in one of them, they are motionless.

Floods from HD are certainly good for adding light but they get hot so I wasn't too keen on that with a couple little grand kids running around.  If you're interested in a tad more money you could consider spending $40-$150 you could get a kit consisting of one or two light stands, high power fluorescent lights, and umbrella's.

http://www.cowboystudio.com/product/c07/c0701.php

Its a good, cheap way to get some photo lights.  They sell a single light kit for under $40 and a four light (two per stand) kit for $140.  I've got the set that has two bulbs on each stand.  I keep one stand set up and ready to go for when the granddaughters come over.  I just put it behind me and shoot, like you did here without a flash at f3.2 to f5.6, but at a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/100.  Plus having these or the HD lights around is very handy when painting at night or any time you need more light in a work area.  It would change the color of your light to less warm than what you were going for but prob not all that much and you could always tweak the white balance to warm it up a bit with PSE.


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## Crickett (Dec 11, 2010)

ronfritz said:


> Here's a +1 on the more light comments....1/10 is about as low as a person could expect to have those subjects hold still so reducing the shutter speed probably is a hit or miss option.   You could drop the speed to 1/5 and bang off three or four in a row and hope that, in one of them, they are motionless.
> 
> Floods from HD are certainly good for adding light but they get hot so I wasn't too keen on that with a couple little grand kids running around.  If you're interested in a tad more money you could consider spending $40-$150 you could get a kit consisting of one or two light stands, high power fluorescent lights, and umbrella's.
> 
> ...




Thanks Ron! I actually have an Amazon wish list started & I have a Cowboy Studio kit on there. I just need to save my money & buy it.

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-...UTF8&coliid=I23QR8LF82GG49&colid=TQMP5BZ1Q56S


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## Hoss (Dec 11, 2010)

As everyone has said, great job.  I really like your composition and background.  I certainly can't add a thing to whats been said.  Portrait photography has never been one of my strenghts, but I may manage to learn a thing or two from these pointers.

Hoss


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## Crickett (Dec 11, 2010)

Hoss said:


> As everyone has said, great job.  I really like your composition and background.  I certainly can't add a thing to whats been said.  Portrait photography has never been one of my strenghts, but I may manage to learn a thing or two from these pointers.
> 
> Hoss



Thanks Hoss! The composition was my daughter's idea. They both also helped w/ the setup of the background. They are such great little helpers. It made it more fun for them to be involved as well. We have a few more ideas that we didn't get time to do today that we will do next weekend. I'll post those up too!


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## BriarPatch99 (Dec 24, 2010)

Cricket do you have any other flash besides the 430EX...

If you had a 550EX, a 580EX or a 580EXII ... you could use the two flash to provide portrait lighting ratios. 

I use my 580EX to control(wireless) my 550EX. 

The 550EX on a small stand(tripod) is placed to give portrait lighting(Main light) and the 580EX on camera to give the (fill) light.

You set the on camera flash to control the slave flash on the stand. The reason to use a 550EX or 580EX ... is that they can control the 430EX, but not the other way around. 

Here is a good link to how it works....

http://usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2966

http://super.nova.org/DPR/Canon/MultiCanon/

Jimmy K


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## LOVEMYLABXS (Dec 24, 2010)

Christy heck I just shoot on auto and I think it's awesome ( but to be honest I'm going to put a bunch of the comments in my small memory bank for later )

I love the idea and I want to wish you and yours 
a very 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Mike


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## JasonF (Dec 24, 2010)

Great shot Crickett & great tips Rip & Ron!
Merry Christmas!!


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## Crickett (Dec 25, 2010)

BriarPatch99 said:


> Cricket do you have any other flash besides the 430EX...
> 
> If you had a 550EX, a 580EX or a 580EXII ... you could use the two flash to provide portrait lighting ratios.
> 
> ...



No I just have the 430ex which I haven't had for very long. Thanks for the info though. I did do some retakes I just couldn't get my son to cooperate so they are not much better.


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