A Little T-Day Portraiture

(complete gallery of selects)

The Idea: Thanksgiving is a big thing with my family and each year I trek down to San Diego for the festivities. I usually break out a camera and take a few snaps throughout the day which generally results in me missing the best of the dining and ending up with half baked photos of guests with turkey drooling out of their mouth (there is something fundamentally unappealing about the human specials in mid bite).  This year I figured I would try something different and embarked on doing a portrait of every guest as they arrived hoping to do a bit more of "making" photos then "taking" photos, but most importantly allowing myself to acquire the requisite 4,000 calories for the day.

The Setup: I usually struggle shooting inside of houses as walls, furniture and funky lighting tend to make things cumbersome and complex.  This day was no exception as I tired to find a location I could properly light that also give a some what relevant backdrop (I didn't have the space nor did it seem appropriate to do a seamless gig here).  I ended up shooting through the front door so I could get the lens throw I needed and used as a backdrop the set tables for the day trying to capture some of the t-day ambiance w/o being overly contrived.  The lighting was a bit mixed, with daylight through the windows and halogen from the lights inside (which I turned on for effect). I ended up putting a 1/2 CTO gell on the SB-900 to match the lighting from the lamps and to give a warm glow of the inside of the house.  In the spirit of keeping things simple, I went with just one light which worked reasonable well as I got enough bounce from the opposing wall (and general ambient fill).  I shot the lens wide open so I could abstract the background a bit (which I also underexposed a few stops for similar reasons).  The result was getting a bit of separation of the subject from the background.

The Results:  When I shoot portraits I really like to spend an hour or two with the subject so they can relex and forget about the camera, and when things go well, it is usually because photographer and subject find a connection and go about making a few images together.  Suffice it to say such was not the case for this shoot, in as much as I had maybe 2 minutes with each subject before they either got tired of holding the turkey or the football game called them (the real shooters manage to work this way....alas, I am not there).  That said, everyone seamed to have fun with the little project and I think we ended up with a few images that where a bit better then "snap shots" and one (of my aunt above) that I think enters the portrait realm.  My aunt Edith is a bit of the matriarch of the family and at 94 she has a take no prisoners kinda attitude, but in the most endearing sorta way.  For me, this comes through with her photo.  There is a shot of each guest as well as few group shots in the full gallery here.

Gear Stuff

Camera:  D700
Lens: 80-200mm 2.8 @ 80mm
Exposure: F2.8 @ 1/125sec @ ISO 200
Camera Support: Hand held
White Balance: More less balanced to daylight