This shot looks like is was taken in a very bright room, or in daylight. It was actually taken in a dark room early in the morning.
The problem with most christmas morning shots is that they are taken indoors in the early morning hours, two things that kill most photographs. This time of the day indoors normally produces washed out flash looking, or horrible red eye shots that we spend hours fixing later (or never fixing, even worse). Two years ago I decided to invest 20 minutes the night before to setup two lights that would change the look of my christmas morning shots forever.
How to do this:
I took two studio lights that I already owned and pointed the lights directly UP at the white ceiling, angled VERY slightly toward the action, on each side of the room. I also made sure they were positioned behind me. These lights are not constantly on, they just flash just like a normal flash when you press the shutter button on your camera, and like magic you get very nice even lit shots. You won’t bother anyone in the room, they will only see what they normally see when a flash goes off.
You simply connect the camera via a sync cord to one of the lights, and the other light will flash at the same time. You will need a DSLR with a PC connection, or a connector that you can put on the hot shoe of any DSLR without a PC connection. I used a rebel xti last year, and that had no PC connector. These two lights are very inexpensive. Here are the lights I used just with the metal reflectors around the lights. You will need the stands as well, and they also can be found on Ebay for a low price. You will have to practice with the exposure. With studio lighting, shutter speed has no effect as long as it is slower than the sync, only the aperture matters. You will have to play with this to get it right. f6.3-f9 is normally where I shoot all my studio lit shots. Once you get the exposure correct, just write it down for future years. I shoot raw, and can make many adjustments, so if you shoot jpeg, that is a whole article in itself.
Here is a list of what you need:
2 ac powered studio lights with reflectors (they normally come with the lights)
sync cord and extension sync cord (cheap)
DSLR with a PC connection, or a hot shoe adapter with a PC connection
2 stands that extend at least 6-7 feet
Some practice the night before, and oh yeah, don’t use the flash on your camera
Get a cord extender long enough to be able to walk around the room and get all the shots you need.
This stuff can be found in kits on Ebay for less than 300 dollars US, so don’t get crazy, just have fun.
I will update this article as pertinent questions are asked and answered.
Have a happy new year,
Tony
Tags:
Christmas,
christmas morning,
flash,
studio,
studio lighting
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