Tuesday 8 December 2009

Impromptu Christmas Portraits



I am the first to admit that I am clueless when it comes to my camera settings - NO idea about any of them- all Greek to me I tell ya - but I can follow pictures & apart from AUTO {pretty handy ;-D} I like the "flower" one too...{makro}, oh, and "the running guy"...{sports/action}. Don't get me wrong, I am desperate to learn, but have no-one to teach me & no time to teach myself right now. I do play around with what I AM in control of, such as lighting {no choice here below as all at night...}, unusual composition, etc. So, amidst a lot of hustle & bustle this weekend, I managed to get these shots, better than nothing right?!

Chelsea with that veritable mane of hers now {all her real hair - no extensions} just before she went emo & dyed it very dark brown, now that she is "allowed" {final year of school}. BTW good photo-editing goes a long way to covering up a multitude of sins & soft-focus is one of my faves right now. I am also getting braver & manually adjusting the shadows & highlights for more drama LOL!

My 2 little girls - Chelsea sans make-up TG - while busy trimming the tree...

Jack, who needs serious bribery to crack a smile right now...if you work carefully with the soft-focus you can get it appearing at the back only to intensify the makro setting look {as I find that setting struggles to focus at night for some reason...}

I know the above shot is blurry & I have sharpened it up as much as possible, but my shutter speed is OH SO SLOW in poor lighting & tricky, tricky to get the kids to hold that pose for 5 secs after they hear the click!

Aaaaah...a little grin...kinda suits him doesn't it???!!!

He still has that youthful chubbiness in his cheeks {at 14} that Chelsea has lost now {at 16}...

This little one needs no coaxing to smile!

Here I stood a few rungs up on our little freestanding ladder {sure works those calf muscles...} in my attempt to get a "Karen Russell" type shot {mine is definitely minus the definiton LOL}

And here is the end result - our 2009 "E card" collage - no time for the real thing this year!


6 comments:

Diana said...

I was like you--didn't have a clue about aperture, shutter speed, etc. But I was desperate to learn (I am not able to teach myself these things from books; I'm a classroom learner) so I took a short course this past summer and it was great. I now know what all the functions are and how to use them. But my photos are still not great, so I still use the auto settings a lot. But I'm still working on it!

tania said...

me too!! also still learning, this is the longest course i have been on in my life!! got my camera almost 3 years now!LOL!! still learning. great shots anyway, will have to make a e-card too, but i have a few cards on their way to the post office. i must admit i am better with the action photos, like them a lot!!

Shayne said...

Beautiful photo's Helen.

I was organised and did mine early and managed to print and post them.

Well done on catching some gorgeous shots of your kiddies.

Lynette Jacobs said...

Great photos and I am sure the card will look great.

Ella Swan said...

I have tried to do a course here but there is only one guy that does them & he is really disorganised & it is always a hassle to get the details of the next course - then when I finally organised it I had to cancel because we went to Botswana & Sod's law it coincided. I see now that he is doing one-on-one tuition & think I may have to go that route so I can fit it into a time that suits me. Honestly the bulk of our friends & family are scattered around the world & I don't even have their physical addresses - I gave up real Christmas cards years ago - with 4 kids the end of the year is always chockablock full of functions & exams so I don't think real cards will ever feature to be honest!

Desire Fourie said...

I have said it before, but am saying it again, you truly have beautiful children ... all of them with such perfect little noses!
Hugs
Desire