For the Christmas Card

We took the boy to see Santa a few days ago, and decided to also try to get in a little family photo session for our Christmas cards. So, we tried to choose some coordinating outfits, and I took my tripod to the mall. Here are the results of our time there:

Checking the light and framing...

The first set - a little bit wonky!

The final choice.

This was the second set of "group" shots. I like it alright - I mean, I printed it on a Christmas card. But, since you asked. (You asked, right?) If I were to do it again, I would have done it slightly off to the side - as in, put the camera to the left of us, and had us angle/look over to it. The straight on styling is not the most flattering...but I didn't think of that until afterward - and who knows what would have crept up into the background in this space, had I done that - it might not have worked. Also, I need to start getting used to using reflectors - we could use a little more catchlight on those dark brown eyes.

Then a few with the boy!

I ended up using this one for the back of the card.

But, since you asked, it is not, actually, the best quality photo of the bunch - if you will look carefully, the thing that is most in focus in that photo is NOT the boy's face. It is, instead, his right hand, closest to us. This is a common mistake of the amateur photographer (me, ahem) - not paying attention to where the focus points have collected. And, given the lens I was using, I should have been paying closer attention to the depth of field - it focused on the thing closest to the camera. Of course. Anyway - I still chose it, because his face is not terribly out of focus, and it showed off his stunning (at least, I think it's stunning) personality at this age of his. A snapshot in time, shall we say. Ok, moving on...

He was actually sort of "in" to me taking his photos, so I continued...

Oh, how I love this boy. 

See you soon.