Hand the Camera Over So You Can Get in the Shot

I LOVE this photo.  We were visiting my brother’s family in Manhattan, and I was reading my niece and nephew a bedtime story.  My niece had a small pink Christmas tree in her bedroom.  All other lights were off.  Our chair was slightly turned toward the tree so the light could illuminate our faces.  And Brian snuck in with the camera and got the shot.

ISO 3200, Aperture:  f/2.8, Shutter Speed:  1/30th of a sec

Few Notes:  He had the camera on continuous shooting mode which means it took several frames a second.  When you’re trying to take a picture of someone speaking, reading or singing, you’ve got to take a handful of shots to get the right facial expression.  Nine out of ten times your mouth looks weird, so this is one situation to overshoot.  🙂  To continue our white balance talk, he had the camera set to Auto White Balance (AWB), and I love the cast of pink light from the pink tree.  That pink light creates a wonderful mood to the story of this photo.  He also zoomed in on us so the tree and the three of us are the only things in the photo.  Anything else in the photos would have been a distraction from the story.  If something in your photo doesn’t add to the story, get in closer.

I would LOVE to see you photograph Christmas lights!  Will you share them this holiday season on my Facebook page.  You can post a photo right in the comments of this post, or on my wall.  I’ll do my best to respond to each one.

Have a wonderful Christmas full of wonder!

xo,

m