I'm surely not the only semi-professional photographer here who finds himself in a serious dilemma when it comes to shooting his (or her) own Christmas (or holiday) card shots. I spend hours on assignment, whether shooting or editing the results. And then, as my less-than-patient wife points out, we wind up scrambling at the last minute to get our two daughters (the one with and the one without fur) posed in front of the tree in a halfway-appropriate manner.
We've already received holiday cards from most of our friends. On Sunday, we managed to get everyone sitting in front of the tree, and I think I grabbed some nice shots. Ironically, I shot dozens of photographs of kids with Santa on two different assignments for the newspaper for which I freelance. But it wasn't until I tried shooting at home in front of my own Christmas tree that all of a sudden I became all thumbs and clipped highlights.
However, I was thinking that in the absence of a thread here, this seemed like an appropriate time and place to start a discussion on the topic of personal holiday shooting, whether for cards or for general memento purposes.
Of course, my wife and I disagree on which shot to use for our card. Here's my vote.
I'm glad you like the lighting. I tried bouncing my flash with diffuser off the ceiling, but the adjustment brushes in Lightroom really made this shot possible, both in terms of effect and the amount of time I was able to devote to post.
I like number one the best. The second and third image look a little harsh from the flash. It gets progressively harsher. I feel like xmas cards should have a gentle feel, which I see most in the first one. Nice work!
Funny: folks with a background in serious photography more-or-less consistently vote for Choice 1. Non-camera/non-artistic folks seem to generally pick No. 3.
That being said, I'm going to work on the temperature of No 2 and 3 and maybe selectively reduce the clarity a bit to smooth things out. I think I can get a little more of a healthy glow from my daughter's face, as well, rather than the I-May-Be-Three-But-I'm-Already-Goth look my wife's camera's flash conveyed. (No. 3 is the only one of the series she, rather than I, shot.)
I had a similar discussion with my wife last night. I was preferring shots that I thought had the best lighting, best composition, etc. (and unfortunately, very few turned out very well this time with squirmy kids and some unsuccessful homemade lighting attempts), and she just wanted one where all the kids were looking directly at the camera and smiling. As that pretty much never happened (at least one child was looking at her 75% of the time), it wasn't the most fun. We're going with a collage: 1 of our two boys I took earlier this year, one from the christmas card family shoot from h.e. double toothpicks, and one of my infant daughter.
It's so true that we photogs look at a photo differently than non-photogs! My preference is 1, 2, and then 3. #1 has the best mood. #2 is nice, but her expression is not the best. In #3, her expression is better (which I'm sure is why your wife likes it), but the lighting and the wider environment are not as nice.
I think #2 would look best as a xmas card photo.
Here is the photo I've decided to use for our card this year. I got the idea from a thread here a year or two ago and tried to make it work. I like how it came out! What do you think?
It can be SO difficult to get kids to stand close together! By destaurating the background (nicely done, by the way), you have prevented what would otherwise be, I suspect, a multitidue of elements from distracting from your subjects. I also like the manner in which the shot tells a story. For reasons I can't quite articulate, however, there's something about the angular flow that I find troubling . . . can't quite put my finger on it.
Nonetheless, that's a really creative idea for a holiday card! Well done.
