Holiday Photo Inspirations 2014
Kristi Bonney offers her tips for capturing the moments your family celebrates during the holiday season. |
Article by Jenn Gidman
Images by Kristi Bonney |
What defines the holidays in your home? Is it a time for nonstop festivities, or is it the time of year when you wind down with your loved ones and spend quieter, more-reflective moments together? However you choose to celebrate the season, you'll want to photograph those special moments that are unique to your family alone. |
Here are Washington photographer Kristi Bonney's tips for training your eye to look out for those moments and then effectively capturing them for all time. |
Use a shallow depth-of-field to create drama.
Shooting dramatic images of everyday items like festive paper straws in candy-cane patterns is relatively easy to achieve. Using a shallow depth-of-field allows me to direct the viewer's eye to a specific element in the frame by eliminating distracting elements. By using F/3.5, I was able to create a beautiful blur around the straws. Also play around with your perspective: Lower or raise it to dramatically alter the depth-of-field until you find the right fit for your image.
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Fill the frame.
One of the first things my kids do when they get off the school bus during the holiday season is to ask for a cup of hot chocolate or cocoa. It's a great way for them to warm up and for all of us to sit around the table and just catch up with each other after a long school day.
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My photography is driven by emotions and the relationships I have with my subjects-in this case, my daughter. By filling the frame with her face and goofy hot-chocolate mug, I'm able to focus the viewer's attention on her freckled cheeks and the twinkle of excitement and curiosity in her eyes. I also created a fun bokeh backdrop by positioning a sparkly garland about 5 to 10 feet behind her. |
Focus on parts of your subject other than the face.
Much of the excitement of the holiday season can be seen, not just through the eyes of your children, but through their hands, feet, and body language. Don't be afraid to take a break from photographing faces-the entire body is expressive and beautiful. And besides, you'll want to remember how your son's hand looked as it was lighting the menorah or how your little girl's hand held onto her colored pencil while writing a letter to Santa when she was 5 years old.
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Get creative with props.
Each year, I try to create a fun backdrop to use while shooting portraits of my kids. This year I created a snowy indoor setup by stringing mini-marshmallows on monofilament wire. More than 20 strands and a couple of sticky fingers later, I had my cute little backdrop. I hung the marshmallow strands from the ceiling in the entryway of my home and placed a white backdrop behind my daughter. Nice, even light was coming in through my front door, and the fast 24-70mm lens was all I really needed. It was nothing too complicated-it's a fun holiday photo project that anyone can do!
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Head outdoors.
Snow days always seem to up the excitement of the holiday season. My kids love working together to build snowmen. To create a more dynamic feeling in these types of images, I'll frame one of my kids on one side of the frame while she's walking, running, or rolling giant snowballs to emphasize movement. Placing the child on the side of the frame opposite of the direction they're running in creates a more dynamic and pleasing feel to the overall image.
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Not every captured moment has to be perfect.
Life is messy and beautiful just as it is, and I'm determined to capture those messy holiday memories, as well as the perfectly put-together ones. You can create images of messy hands decorating sugar cookies or the aftermath of a gingerbread-decorating spree to capture that imperfect beauty. Or consider photographing your expansive holiday spread by shooting from above as hands busily pile food onto Grandma's china. Whatever you photograph this season, be sure to pay special attention to those details.
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That also means it's OK to embrace those more pensive, reflective moments. Let's face it-the holidays aren't always filled with nonstop cheer. There are moments of disappointment and quiet contemplation, even for a 5-year-old. In the image of my disappointed daughter against the snowflake wall and in front of the Christmas tree, the Tamron 24-70 really shines. These short winter days make for tougher shooting conditions unless you have an arsenal of lighting equipment.
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To let more light into the image of the snowflake wall (which was shot after the sun had already disappeared behind the mountain), I slowed my shutter speed down to 1/80th of a second. My ISO was set at a comfortable level, and I wasn't willing to open my aperture any further. Thanks to Tamron's VC feature, shooting handheld at 1/80 was a breeze. I exposed for the brightest part of her face and took advantage of the 24-70's VC; I used the same technique for the image of her in front of the tree. |
To see more of Kristi Bonney's work, go to kristibonneyphotography.com. |