Hardest Photoshoot EVER

You know what's a hard photoshoot? YOUR OWN FAMILY.

I can't believe my family did this to me. :)

I dragged them during standard nap time (after going to late mass) and made them go for a photoshoot. And you BET they made me pay for it! Ya think I would know better. But considering this is the LAST weekend it would be ABOVE 60 degrees for a while AND it was flippin' gorgeous, YOU BET I dragged them out to the Newlin Grist Mill!

It is Christmas card photo time and let me tell you - I would definitely pay for someone like me to take my family picture for me. Since I am the only one in my particular price point that does what I want, it's got to be me.

I had 2 guys, both ready for naps - and it wasn't pretty.

This is why you shouldn't tell your kids to "smile! Say cheese!" Because you'll get this:
EEK. That's not gonna work. Well, at least Brian is looking good! I finally got a decent picture of me but accidentally cut off the top of my head. You bet my family wasn't gonna wait for me to get another try. Tough customers. Michael is still channeling his inner Zoolander:

Naptime? That's like 2pm.

Yes. 2pm. It is winter and here are the light conditions for photoshoots up here in the NE:

2:00 pm - This is setting sun light - perfect for shade photography as well as direct sun photography.

2:30 - 4:00pm - Get your photos in NOW.

4:15 - light starts to fade. Having to bump up ISO to make up for it but that means more noise in the photo.

4:30 - Still can eek out some photos, but in about 15 minutes, you better get out of there. It's the end of the session anyways so a) no one is interested in a camera in their face anymore and b) you are at a low shutter speed and high ISO so it's time to give up.

5:00pm - SUNSET.

Here's just a few from the shoot. I'll post more later in smugmug. And I'll probably hold out on the Christmas card picture until it goes out in the mail. It will be a tight race between our Boston picture from the summer and this one - but one will end up being the winner.

This is what happens when Brian tells us to say, "Yahtah-hey. Hello my people." for the camera:

Somehow, he didn't get the memo and Michael and I did. I am glad that for my official picture, I turned for a side view instead of straight on view for the camera.

I just love Michael in these pictures so voila:

Those are SOOC, JPG. I need to recalibrate my monitor before I make another step. And I SOOO wish I could just shoot in JPG for the rest of my life.

Yes, I will post about Halloween and Brian's parents visits. I finally got the pictures downloaded and ranked. Still haven't found my 5 halloween pictures. They are on some memory somewhere...

Thank you to Kim Kropka for introducing me to the ranking/organizing function in Adobe Bridge. Has made my editing SO much easier.

More later and love to all,

p