Your Family in Pictures: The Parents' Guide to Photographing Holidays, Family Portraits, and Everyday Life by Me Ra Koh
Author:Me Ra Koh [Koh, Me Ra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780823086214
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2014-08-11T22:00:00+00:00
DSLR SETTINGS: Aperture number was low at f/2.5. ISO was set to 1600 because of the low lighting, and shutter speed was slow at 1/50 sec. (50). Photo by Lisa Walker
birthdays
Birthdays are the best! The moment one birthday is over, the family is already brainstorming ideas for the next one. The birthday seems like it will never arrive, and then before you know it, the lights are being turned out and everyone is singing “Happy Birthday.” You rush to grab the camera and end up with a photo that isn’t worth writing home about. Let’s change all that with the inspiration of this photo by Janna King, a former CONFIDENCE workshop attendee in Texas, and a photo recipe that will give you the best candle-blowing, birthday-singing results ever!
WHEN: On your child’s birthday at the big moment of blowing out the candles.
PREP: Set the scene first. Consider how you can fill the frame with as many birthday details as possible. Set the balloon bouquet on the floor to add more depth and color to the background. Put the party cups and plates near the cake. Hang a sign in the background to offset a white wall. Have your white balance and exposure settings figured out beforehand so that you’re ready when the moment comes.
FOR P&S USERS: Turn off the flash. Set the camera to Portrait mode for a low aperture number. Some point-and-shoot cameras even have a Birthday icon for this moment. Don’t be afraid to crank up the ISO a little, as Janna did here, to 1000. Experiment with white balance settings to find the color balance you like most. Candlelight is warm and sometimes orange, so you’ll want to try Auto, Manual, and Incandescent settings if available.
FOR DSLR USERS: Turn off the flash. Select Aperture Priority mode, and dial down the f-stop as low as possible to blur background details and let in more light. Boost the ISO until your photo is bright enough, and don’t be afraid to go as high as 1000 or 1250. Try different white balance settings to find the color that looks most natural. If color casts become an issue, consider switching to black-and-white mode. Set your camera to Continuous Shooting mode so that you can capture the whole sequence of blowing out the candles.
COMPOSE: Get everyone set up around the birthday child, and have them leaning in with their faces toward the candles so that you can see all the expressions. Depending on the number of children around the birthday child, either a vertical or a horizontal format can work. In this shot, horizontal framing gives you more of the background party details and gets children in the background. If children are closer in and different heights, a vertical composition may be better. Have fun experimenting with both. Get down to your child’s height so that the camera is looking straight into the scene.
CAPTURE: Focus on the birthday child. If necessary, reframe the image to center your child, lock focus and exposure, and then reframe to the composition you like and fire.
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