Want a photo-recipe to be able to do portraits of your friends that will be appreciated all year? Read on!
THE HOLIDAY
New Years
WHEN
December 31, any year.
INGREDIENTS
This can be a high-end selfie or a festive portrait of fellow party-goers. Position someone you love in front of glowing lights. No one is going to complain if it’s the Christmas tree, but remember that photos with colored Christmas lights in the background scream Christmas NOT New Years. White lights look much more like party lights. They’re going to be out of focus so, if you’re not lucky enough to have them already decorating your place of portrait, you don’t have to go crazy hanging them. Just drape them on a bookcase.
EQUIPMENT
If you’re going to shoot an annual self portrait it’s probably time to buy a tripod. An easily adjustable head is going to make the tripod easier to use and you will love your tripod more and therefore use it more. That’s a good thing.
DIRECTIONS
Shoot in manual exposure. I shot my pictures at ISO 1600. If you’re having your picture taken with someone pose them where you want them—about ten feet from the background lights. That will help put the lights out of focus and give you that beautiful glow that I know you want. Zoom in all the way and use the largest aperture you have. Both of those things will also help create the dreamy, romantic out of focus background. Focus on your partner’s eyes and set your self-timer for ten seconds. When you finally jump into the picture try to get your eyes on the same plane of focus as your partner’s.
THE KEY TIP
Creating a family tradition—regardless how many people are in the picture—of shooting a self-portrait is a great way to start the new year. Let’s face it, New Years is something of a non-holiday holiday. This just might be the most important— and memorable thing that happens every year.
Focusing on the glasses in the foreground as our lovely couple steal a romantic moment puts them out of focus and gives the picture a feeling and air of mystery and privacy.
A Simple, Sophisticated Selfie
It’s a white string of lights in the background and an out-of-frame Christmas tree as the soft, flattering, primary light source lighting our New Year’s Eve couple. I focused on Anne’s eyes, set the self timer, and then jumped into the frame doing my best to get my eyes on the same plane of focus as Anne’s. Because the camera was on a tripod, I was able to use a 1/8 of a second shutter speed to give myself a smaller aperture and thus a little bit of room for focusing error on the depth of field. My f-stop was f5.6 with an 85mm lens. (Yes, we held really still.)
And it gets my vote for the silly holiday.
Photo by Christy Eilers Wade
Let’s face it, New Year’s Eve is often a non-event. Watching a ball slide down the side of a skyscraper on television pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? That does, however, mean there may be some funny, ludicrous moments happening that just may need to be documented. What better time to shoot some funny, ludicrous portraits.
