Family Christmas Portraits

[delmama]

Im a newbie but I have 4 bookings for christmas photos. I was wondering what setting would be best? I want to make sure I have the perfect light and all of my subjects are sharp, most of the families Im shooting are 5+ people. Some will be outdoor some will be in their home with their own Christmas setting so I do not know what the light will be like!

I have my canon rebel xt w/ 18-55mm, my 70-300, and my sigma 530 flash with a lumniquest difuser, any advice will be very much appreciated!

[egordon99]

Im a newbie but I have 4 bookings for christmas photos. I was wondering what setting would be best? I want to make sure I have the perfect light and all of my subjects are sharp, most of the families Im shooting are 5+ people. Some will be outdoor some will be in their home with their own Christmas setting so I do not know what the light will be like!

I have my canon rebel xt w/ 18-55mm, my 70-300, and my sigma 530 flash with a lumniquest difuser, any advice will be very much appreciated!

Since you don't know what the light will be like, we do not know what the light will be like. As such there is no way to recommend "what setting would be best"

You have shot people inside before with your flash? How did you get these bookings? Have they seen any of your work before? Getting multiple bookings usually means that you'll be able to pull it off. Good luck!

[stsva]

You have some very nice shots on your site, so hope these Christmas shots work out as well.

One thing you'll need to check is that you have deep enough depth of field to keep everyone in focus. That will mean putting priority on your f/stop over shutter speed, which probably shouldn't be a problem with posed photos and decent light.

I'd suggest doing a rough lay out of the area where you will pose the family members so you know the width and depth you'll need to capture (use your own family or friends, if available, to get a feel for how much space adults/children will take up). You can use this calculator to determine what depth of field you'll get from different shooting distance, f/stop, and focal length combinations: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html. That will tell you some of the settings that you may need based on the depth the people will take up.

You'll almost certainly need flash for the indoor shots. I'd recommend doing some practicing at home to see how your flash will work with various f/stops and ambient light levels. Maybe try shooting in Av mode and go through a series of f/stops from something like f/5.6 down to f/8, which I'd guess would be in the ballpark for the depth of field you'll need, depending on the focal length you use. You could also test how your flash with diffuser does in direct versus bounce flash (and maybe also bounce off the ceiling or side wall without the diffuser), to see what approach works best to minimize creating background shadows. One other thought on indoor shots. If these are at night, watch out for color casts from the ambient lighting (for example, yellow/orange from regular light bulbs).

You may also want to use your flash for fill light for the outdoor shots. Here again, doing some practicing ahead of time will give you a feel for how your camera settings and flash will work in different outdoor lighting situations.

Here's some reading that may be helpful:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=138907

[delmama]

thanks guys. I will do some reading and hopefully some practice shots this week.
I have used my flash indoors before but just on a single subject not with a group, I have not mastered the flash well but Im practicing and I hope to get it right soon! my only concern is trying to get EVERYONE in focus and sharp.