Giving Thanks

Today was Thanksgiving and we were blessed with beautiful weather (66 degrees).

We got together at my mother's house for Turkey dinner. I decided to take my camera (of course) and I also brought along my tripod and new Gary Fong Lightsphere.

I thought it would be nice (especially with the nice weather) to take some portraits of my family (including myself). Everyone was up for the idea so we took them right when I arrived at my mom's.

We found a nice spot outside her house and I set up the tripod, etc and joined the group for photos. The thing that made it very easy was the remote control shutter release. I could get everyone set up through the view finder and then join them with ease and snap the photo.

I made sure I tried to find a little shade but we were limited where we could take the photos where my mom lives. I used the flash (with the lightsphere) like everyone suggested and it worked really well.

We got some great shots and some fun ones too! My sister and her husband didn't arrive until it was dark so they weren't able to join in the pics but I got some nice ones of my grandfather, my aunt, my, my husband and my mom.

Check out a few below:







This was tonemapped in Photomatrix. I wanted to make it look "funky":

Finished!

I stayed up late last night just to get the portraits finished!





I'm relieved but I learned a lot from the editing experience. I learned that I need to decide, based on the mood or feel of the photo, what filters I want to apply to the photos rather than applying the same few filters to every photo. I also learned that I don't need to do filters on every photo. It will save me so much time if I can get this all straight.





I also learned that I need find shady areas for portraits and use my flash outdoors as well. I just learned about the Gary Fong Lightsphere and I just purchased one for myself at B&H photo. Gary Fong sasy the "Lightsphere is the only diffuser that lights up the entire room, softening your images tremendously."



I also learned that I should invest in reflectors and I chose to buy a 5-in-1 reflector. I chose to go with the Norman Collapsible Reflector 5-in-1 - 32" Circular - Gold, Silver, Black, White and Translucent



Next project I need to complete are the photos I did last month ...I started the editing but I needed to put that project aside to work on the portrait session I was commisioned for by my co-worker.

In other news...


Check out my friend's new website. She's an aspiring portrait photographer in the Terre Haute/Indianapolis, Indiana area. If you're looking for a portrait photographer here is her site:

http://www.julielawsonphotography.smugmug.com/