You can do it!

Here is a challenge. Take your kids and or family out for a Christmas pic for your Christmas cards! If you have kids you have a dream come true for photographers. Models that can't say no! Yes, they can be unruly at times but that's okay it will get you primed for your first shoot with someone else's kids which take it from me IS HARDER.

I have done some of my favorite experimenting for our holiday pics in the last three years (which is how long I've had my digital).

This is 2002

This was actually before digital for me. It was taken with my Nikon N50. And then scanned into the computer. This was the beginning of photo manipulation girls.
While it is an okay photo there is no life in their eyes and the shadows are way too heavy. But it was fun!

I must have had a bad year in 2003 - but this is 2004
This was me practicing with a sheet that was backlit by the sun.
I wanted the background completely blown out but what I had trouble with is that the background was so bright that I had to adjust for it to get the kids correctly exposed which led to a slower shutter speed and a blurry result. But hey - once again I had fun!!

In 2005 I got serious and took some shots that I had and did a little designing using Photoshop. This year I think turned out a lot better but I think Grace's picture is still blown out a bit. I was starting to learn more about photography and take it more seriously this year.

And this year 2006. I tried something a little different. I took it one step further and created my own card. I also offered this card as a template to my customers complete with a portion of the card set aside for a greeting.


So there you have it! Try your own. And Above all...Have fun with your kids and have a Merry Christmas.