Sunday, July 28, 2013

Family Photos

Goofing Off
Who Thought It Would Be Easy to Get a Decent Family Photo?

One of the goals of our family gathering was to take a big group family photo. The last one I have was taken when my kids were very young, my sister only had one kid and my youngest sister wasn't even married. It must have been taken in 2002!

I was given the task to coordinate the group family shot. Unfortunately, I left my tripod and home, so I rigged up a structure to hold my camera - it consisted of a lawn chair, two rubbermaid bins and towels. I don't recommend this approach, but it worked for us. I also didn't have my remote shutter release (again, lack of planning on my part), and instead used the interval shooting feature on the camera. With the interval timer, the camera fires off "x" number of shots, waits a time interval, then fires off another round of shots. The user configures "x", the time interval and the number of rounds. I find it to be faster than using the simple delay timer which only yields one exposure. Of course, a capturing a 14 person group is going to be a challenge - you add in toddlers and silly teenagers and you need as many exposures in as little time as possible! The interval timer is feature available on newer cameras, so check your user manual.

This one wasn't too bad and taken early on. I noticed the shots taken earlier were better than the later ones. Must be a function of attention span.
A Close Second

In between intervals, I had to run back to the camera and trigger another set of shots. The camera took a round immediately after I triggered it, so there are always some photos with out me. I wish we had a video camera to capture all the running around in between takes.
Inbetween Takes

When I went through the photos, I thought this one was going to be the keeper:
Dang Rabbit Ears
But there's something amiss - my silly son and his silly rabbit ears behind his cousin!

I ended up cloning them out (it's not the best job, but it will do):
The One - No Rabbit Ears

After about 5 takes, the natives were getting restless:
Goofing Off

I didn't realize I had lost all control - of my husband!
The Photo Shoot Is Officially Over

And with that, the group photo shoot was over. At least we'll always remember how much fun we had taking them!

3 comments:

  1. I'm smiling looking at these photos, I am always given the task of taking the group shot too. I have a 10 second delay setting which usually gives me time to get in the shot....well, almost. We spent part of our honeymoon in Arcadia...I loved it there too!

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  2. The fun out-takes in my opinion are what family photos are about. They best express character and personality and after all, isn't that what makes family unbearable and tolerable in the same breath.

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