At about 10:00 am on Thursday my wife called me and asked if I could take some family photos of her sisters’ family that evening. I happened to have a borrowed Nikon D100 and 50mm 1.8 lens. The conditions were not ideal, and the short notice didn’t allow for much planning on my part. I am fairly knowledgeable in the realm of electronics and photography and know the equipment rather well. The act of actually choosing the setting and posing my subjects however, are relatively new to me.
The sun was to set at 5:00 pm and we arrived at the park at nearly 4:30. The light was fading fast but the fast lens made things more simple. The temperature that evening was also a factor. Poor Jaidyn shivered and many of her poses included raised shoulders and scrunched face as she fought to not freeze. I also was having issues with the camera. I started out with the camera set to shoot RAW but it wasn’t working. I switched to JPEG and the camera jumped into action. I would have liked to be able to shoot in RAW but things worked well in JPEG just the same.
Anyway despite all the little problems, we did get some images that they were pleased with. I did learn a few things as well. Due to time constraints, I shot hand held. I would have liked to take the time to use the tripod but the fast lens did allow me to get some reasonable shots without. Shooting JPEG, I also would have liked to adjust my white balance in the camera. I was able to adjust a little in post but I would much rather get it right in camera if possible. The more important lesson though is that I really would like to plan a shoot next time. Possibly scout the location and have more of a plan.
Overall, I’m proud of what we got and hope I get more opportunities in the future. Here are a few of them. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think.
What do you think?