I began the process of creating our Christmas card this weekend. Blatantly stealing an idea from the fabulous Merecat, I have decided that it will be some variation on a photograph of Sophie with Christmas lights. Great, right? Well, as it turns out, my fabu little digital camera doesn't have the chops to take a photo of a constantly moving toddler in low light without coming out blurry. See above.
After taking about a hundred and fifty two pictures, all grainy, I was blaming it on myself and my lack of knowledge of what our camera can do. What I don't know about photography would fill up your average encyclopedia. I resorted, as I do with most things, to searching the internet for answers. It turns out I need a much more expensive camera, and even then there are no guarantees because, shocker!, you have to know what to do with it. What's a girl to do?
I fancy myself something of a creative and the artiste in me is screaming out to do something a little bit more exotic than the traditional family photo. So now I'm working all the angles to try and figure out how to do the best with what I have, given that a new camera is just not in the cards until after Christmas, if then. I spent some time experimenting, taking a bajillion more pictures, and I think I'm getting closer to my desired result.
I only need one, or maybe three, good photos. Keep your fingers crossed!
They're crossed. And now I want one! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm the SAME way! You should see the cards I've done over the last 18 yrs! I'll have to post this years at Christmas (maybe I'll email you a copy a head of time) Anyhow, I was looking at the pic in this post and a little cropping and that's a great shot! LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteHer face is priceless and she's obviously concentrating on those lights!
Isn't it so frustrating when you have this image in your head of what you want something to look like & it just doesn't translate to said project?! I've been known to throw things on occasion when that happens! I used to make my Christmas cards (stamping/scrapbooking-type stuff) and it was really fun (ha! Did I just actually say that?) but I haven't done it the past couple of years.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get it figured out--it's great to indulge your creative side; I think it helps keep those of us cooped up at home a lot of the time SANE!
I love more creative Christmas photos. No need for the classic pose before the tree in matching reindeer sweaters.
ReplyDeleteI think that could be a really beautiful picture with a little cropping of the left side... don't worry too too much about the fact that it's a bit blurry and imperfect. It's still a beautiful, artsy shot of your family and unless you have some crazy judgmental photography addict on your Christmas card list, you'd only get compliments for being so creative :]
ReplyDeleteI will keep my fingers crossed for you. I hope to get a good shot today when we put up the tree. Perhaps I will do a dvd card. Sounds like an idea.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! You are a far better woman than me. I just searched through our semi-recent pics and found one mostly cute, and smacked it up on a Tiny Prints card.
ReplyDeleteI love photo cards! :) Last year one of our friends did that with their little boy - they just didn't have the lights lit, but had him kind of playing in and tangled up in the lights laughing. It was adorable - my favorite photo card by far last year!
ReplyDeleteI have trouble too when it deals with darkness and bright lights like that.
ReplyDeleteLet's blame it on our cheap camera's 'kay?
What a precious picture!!
ReplyDeleteI like the above photo. Will you share the finished product? I can't wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish that I had the skills to do something more than just the traditional photo but alas, I don't. *sigh*
I love your idea of the babe w/ Xmas lights--good luck! I hope you're able to pull it off! I went off the deep end w/ my card this year--it's due in the mail any day and I'm so nervous!!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to stop by to thank you for visiting my blog today as part of BATW. It's been great to meet so many new people from around the world!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to say that I completely agree with you about Amish and shoes...that alone would keep me from ever being able to be Amish. Driving around in an open buggy on a 10 degree day would be my top reason though. Insanity!
Good luck with your Christmas card picture. I just took 157 shots of my kids tonight for my card. I'm hoping that all four of the kids will be looking at me in at least ONE shot. One shot...that's all I need! :)
What you've got looks cute as can be! I'm always after the elusive perfect holiday photo...STILL hasn't happened!! If you figure it out, please share your secret! =)
ReplyDeleteI got lucky capturing some good shots of the boys in matching Christmas jammies. I then ordered my cards from Costco: cheap and pretty cute.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others who have said the photo on the post has potential with cropping. The "blurry factor" could seem like an artistic choice!
Unleash your inner artiste!
Ain't a thing wrong with that picture, Cara...it's precious and special and I love it.
ReplyDeleteOh HELL no.
ReplyDeleteYou need nothing expensive. Turn on some regular old lamps, and kind of position them close but not in the picture. You need a lot more light than you think. I used lamps regular lamps. Several. you just can't see them in the picture.
Set it all up with lots of lamps, fire off your digital without Sophie to see if you like the lighting. Turn off your flash or cover it with your hand. The exposure will still likely to be slow, so you will get blur. Which is fine if you take it 80 times like I did.
Email me and I can guide you in a bit more if this doesn't get it for you.
BTW I stole the heck out of this idea, so I can take no credit.
My husband has always been in charge of getting the card made, and sometimes we'd be cutting it close with him trying for just the right layout...
ReplyDeleteThis year, we're not even sure whether we're sending one.
Anytime I get an idea in my head of how a photo should turn out, it is bad news! I can't take a decent photo at all it seems. Good luck!
ReplyDelete