Family Portrait - Christmas Cards

Can you help me produce some fantastic Christmas Cards?

I have a Nikon D90 with the kit lense and a telephoto lense (up to 300mm). I do not yet have a flash, but am considering the purchase of one.

How do I get some good lighting in my home so I my kids pictures will turn out very nice?

Also - can you recommend a website or software package that will allow me to make some pretty nice cards/photo collage to send out for christmas?

Alternatively - is there a website that covers this already and I just haven't stumbled upon it?

Thanks for the tips -
John

Jwfortune said:

Can you help me produce some fantastic Christmas Cards?

I have a Nikon D90 with the kit lense and a telephoto lense (up to 300mm). I do not yet have a flash, but am considering the purchase of one.

How do I get some good lighting in my home so I my kids pictures will turn out very nice?

Click to expand...

Keeping it simple: Put the kids near the window during the day. Make sure that the sunlight isn't directly shining through the window as that'll give harsh shadows. Opposite to the window you could place something big and white. Perhaps a big piece of cardboard with white paper glued to it. This will reflect some of the incoming daylight to illuminate the subjects from the other side, hopefully to fill in some shadows.

This is all rather primitive, but it can give decent results. Obviously the usability will depend on how well you can setup the shot (not all kids will be happy to sit still in a staged pose for a while) or how large the scene will be (just a headshot will need a far smaller white-reflector than shooting a larger scene where the kids are only a part of the entire scene).

I think that one of the most important accessories that you'll ever use is an external flash. With it you can bouce the light to fill for shadows, or use it as a main light source.

I think the latest Nikon flash is the SB800???

Based on your question, I'd say that you first should look at the effects of lighting and understand how to accomplish it.

Here's a great site for lighting techniques-
http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

When it comes to software manipulation...there a lot of applications from Adobe Photoshop to Corel, etc. etc. You can generally download 30 day free trial of these from their websites.

You'll have to research the ones that suit your abilities. Some are way complicated, yet powerful, others are poor yet offer eycandy tool bars.

Here's a halloween example I'm currently working on-

This was a snap shot of my son in my kitchen. He had just pulled out his tooth. I bounced the flash over my right shoulder, and got the catchlights I wanted. I corrected the white balance, used the smudge tool to reshape the ears and eyes, converted to B&W, then used the paint bruch tool on the eyes. I then used the layers and mask tools to overlay the photo onto the graveyard. I use Adobe Photoshop CS2.

Here's a great Adobe Photoshop Tutorial site- Go to the very bottom and look for the tutorial called "Advanced Masking". Not for the faint of heart...but an awesome technique to learn. http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

But there are much, much easier ways to create masks and apply them to layers...but you'll have to explore them...basically to cut and paste.

Pretty straight forward example, took me about a hour and a half.



If you want to do this, you'll have to learn one of the photoshop type tools that are available. It's pretty fun. In the Retouching Forum, there are tons of helpful folks and information.

But, if you find that you don't want to get into the photo manipulation, you can always take a photo to a place like wallmart that will put your photo onto a Christmas background. Also, websites like Kodak, Picasa, etc offer ways to put your photos onto an already made background.

But if you want to do this yourself...you'll have to purchase and learn one of the many photo editing software suits.

My stuff: Canon 30D, 24-105L f/4, 580EX-II Flash, Adobe PhotoShop CS2.

r/Mike

Jwfortune said:

Can you help me produce some fantastic Christmas Cards?

I have a Nikon D90 with the kit lense and a telephoto lense (up to 300mm). I do not yet have a flash, but am considering the purchase of one.

How do I get some good lighting in my home so I my kids pictures will turn out very nice?

Also - can you recommend a website or software package that will allow me to make some pretty nice cards/photo collage to send out for christmas?

Alternatively - is there a website that covers this already and I just haven't stumbled upon it?

Thanks for the tips -
John

Click to expand...

--
B.R.A.S.S. (Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze)

Another vote for an external flash (with a bounce and swivel head to bounce the flash off walls / ceilings). They really are massively better than the awful little built-in pop-up flashes, and with a very moderate amount of practice you can balance light from windows and the flash to get a very natural look.

For this pic I put my daughter close to a window (light from the side) and bounced the flash off the ceiling. I set the exposure manually so that without the flash it would have been underexposed by about two stops. So the side-light from the window contributes about 25% of the light and the flash the rest; the TTL automatic metering takes care of adjusting the flash to give a correct exposure.



For this one: the same, except I taped a small piece of white paper behind the flash head (which was pointed at the ceiling) to divert a little of the light directly forwards otherwise his face would have been in shadow. You can see how this works here:

http://thedigitalstory.com/2005/12/the_holiday_photogra.html

Otherwise the same technique as for the first shot, using some window light as well as the flash.



It really is easy and my Sigma external flash cost about £100.

Best wishes
--
Mike

An external flash is a great tool, but you'll have to learn working with it. I don't know how experienced you are in photographing, but if you do buy a flash, do experiment before taking a photo that needs to be (nearly) perfect.

If possible available light can do.

You probably will need the kit-lens in wide angle and not the telezoom.

As for pimping the photograph towards christmas: you can do something before you take the photo (like clothing, make up, props or even a spray can of spray snow) and you can add bells and the like in an editting program like PS or PSP.

Succes with your project and good to start this early!
--
All in my humble opionion of course!

(I might get a preposition wrong -or any other word for that matter-. English is a nice language, but it's not mine)

Thanks for the tips, I really do appreciate it. It sounds like the light really is my key for getting a great photograph. I saw the intro for a class on the new Nikon flash - it is the 900 series. It looks like a fab tool.

Regarding the creation of the card - I have thought about photoshop - but the software is sooo expensive. There are a lot of classes on the Kelby training website on it that look very interesting.

Avery sells greeting card stock and envelopes and they are available in many office supply stores. You can download free software templates for making the cards at Avery.com.

--
Richard Weisgrau
http://www.weisgrau.com

In terms of available light, shooting outside is an option (or even a preference) if you don't have good light indoors. This might also help you in using your telephoto lens by giving you more working room to get a nicer bokeh on the background. Just look for an idealic outdoor setting.

If you prefer indoors but don't have good light, than you can get an SB600 (or anything more expensive if you prefer) and set it up to fire remotely with your D90. I think the Strobist web site is best for going over off-camera shooting, but it's not too hard once you play with it.

Last year I set a couple SB600's up with a $100 umbrella & Stand kit from B&H, and a $150 background kit and below is one of my samples (it wasn't the image I used on my card):



Once I had my image, I looked around at some of the templates from the cardsdirect.com and their prices. I couldn't find anything I really liked so I wound up using some of their designs to eventually come up with my own using Photoshop (you can use just about anything, including the free Gimp software). I tend to be very IP-conscious and wasn't crazy about using their templates for ideas, but I did.

I then printed the cards on normal 5x7 paper I had gotten from RedRiver. Red River and other paper companies sell special card papers with matching envelopes. I wound up going to staples to get pretty 5x7 envelopes.

Creating and printing the cards took several hours of my time, but in the end I printed something like 40 cards at a savings from ordering them printed and I got a design I liked. I don't recall the savings amount, but I took into account the cost of ink and paper, not my time.

Personally, I like being in control and being able to print it myself. I don't want to get 40 cards from a shop to find out I mispelled something or that the colors were off, etc.

Just start now, so you have some time to experiment and play and figure out what works best for you.

Good luck, and be sure to post your favorite photo when done.
--

Everything I write is a personal opinion. Even when I quote facts, they are the facts I personally choose to accept.
http://www.pbase.com/mariog

Very nice example - thanks for sharing - so your basic camera flashes, like the SB series work with the umberellas - I wasn't sure if the umberellas needed their own light sorce. Also, I didn't know if the SB series type flashes would provide enough light for nice photos.

I will have to research some of the template card sites you recommend. Photoshop is not only pricey, but has a learning curve. I don't want to be too overwhelmed learning about flash, card layout and photoshop.

Jwfortune said:

Very nice example - thanks for sharing - so your basic camera flashes, like the
SB series work with the umberellas - I wasn't sure if the umberellas
needed their own light sorce. Also, I didn't know if the SB series type
flashes would provide enough light for nice photos.

Click to expand...

I used two SB600s, but one would have sufficed. The SB600 comes with stand and can be mounted on a tripod, any flat surface, or light stand and fired remotely. I don't recall the exact settings, but I am pretty sure I was nowhere near the power limits. I used the background and light because I live in a packed apartment, and it's more often a mess with lots of toys around.

Jwfortune said:

I will have to research some of the template card sites you recommend.
Photoshop is not only pricey, but has a learning curve. I don't want to be
too overwhelmed learning about flash, card layout and photoshop.

Click to expand...

Wise decision. I wouldn't buy Photoshop unless I was really hard-pressed or really rich. One step at a time, and have fun.

FYI, now that I'm home, here's my final card:



I was inspired by a Pop Photo picture where an entry explained he stuffed the caps with newspaper to make them stand up (sorry I can't give proper credit).

--

Everything I write is a personal opinion. Even when I quote facts, they are the facts I personally choose to accept.
http://www.pbase.com/mariog