ByRenee
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at my brother's house, out on his veranda after Christmas lunch. I always have my camera on me when I visit my family because I love taking pictures of the pets and because I do photography, I have become the unofficial photographer of family gatherings.Time
It was late afternoon after we had all stuffed ourselves with Christmas lunch. The dogs are not allowed out while everyone is eating because they are young and get overly excited. So after lunch they were allowed out and they were full of beans. Cody was super excited about all the visitors who, he thought, were there just for the purpose of patting him. This is his big brother, who was at the time trying to get him to settle down so that he would hold still enough to be patted. It didn't work. This was a very cute moment that just happened between all the wriggling and squirming and licking.Lighting
As you can see in the shot, the afternoon sun was reflecting off the window in the wall behind them. The shade cloth had been drawn down to protect us from the main part of the sun so the actual light on the veranda was lovely and diffused and the glow behind them from the reflected sunlight gives the scene a warm storybook kind of feel.Equipment
This was taken on my Canon 5D with 50mm prime lens. that was pretty much all the equipment I had on me at the time. It was such a brief moment that I didn't have time to get any other equipment out. I love the 50mm lens though, it is one of my favourites and has such a great balance of sharpness in the image and lovely bokeh in the background.Inspiration
Many people will call me crazy for it but the only inspiration I needed to have the camera out was "PUPPY!" Yep i'm an animal lover and what makes for better animal photos than adding children? It's not like I would even pretend to say that my nephew is cute also but together they are much cuter than they would be individually. I'm not biased at all :)Editing
I actually did very little post processing on this one, apart from adjusting the contrast and white balance I really felt that too much processing would distract from the moment. I like natural photos, especially when it is such a natural moment being captured, I wanted to to look like the snap shop of a moment in time, which is exactly what it is.In my camera bag
My bag varies greatly depending on what my intention is. For simple family gathering like this I keep it nice and simple, my family are not there to pose, they will not stop for me to adjust the light or reenact a moment if I miss it. In times like this I like to have a light and versatile kit that can capture the widest range of shots at little or no notice. My 50mm lens is my favourite for capturing my nieces and nephews and their pets so that is usually the one I have on the camera, it also fits better in my bag that way. I usually also have my 24-105 lens and a flash in my bag. If I am inside I use the flash to bounce off the ceiling to get my shutter speed up so that I don't get blurry children and pets.Feedback
My advice is be ready. Even at Christmas lunch my camera is never far away. Have the camera set up for the environment that you are in, flash/no flash, shutter speed where you expect to need it for your subject. I even leave the camera turned on sometimes so that if one of the dogs or one of the children start being cute I can just pick it up and pull the trigger. The more you have to think about before you can take the picture, the more moments you will miss.