Nuzum Photo: Canon

So not everyone has the equipment or know how to light their Christmas morning photos to look their best. They own a point and shoot or whatever they may have and capture the moment as it happens. With family photos capturing the moment is the most important thing. Once you are sure you can do that achieving optimal quality comes next. For our Christmas morning photos I followed the Strobist plan for lighting Christmas morning.

I had the lights setup a couple days in advance and practices shots from all over the room to get them right. Photos of them walking into the living area, opening, moving around, and just about everything in between. The setup is pretty simple. 2 Canon 580EX II's triggered by Pocketwizard plus ii's. Shot with a Canon 7D with the Canon 24-70L. They were setup on two light stands about 5 feet of the ground pointed up at the ceiling. Each light was in the perpendicular corner to the tree. The farthest light away was angeled at mid ceiling and the light closest to the tree was straight up. Below are some of the results...

Nuzum Photo Lighting Christmas

This article is for the fellow photographers out there. Non-photographer? Read on anyway.

From time to time we get emails asking what camera or lens we used on a shot or what we prefer to use. My answer is usually the same. "Regardless of gear, here is how I took the shot." The reality is no matter what gear you use every photo starts with seeing an image and making a photo. You have to be able to visualize the moment and capture it in the most unique and intriguing way. The gear is just the tool you use to do it. Some gear makes capturing photos easier or provides a wider range of flexibility in your work. Either way, an images starts long before you get to what gear is being used.

Ashley and I use all Canon camera gear. All of our cameras, lenses, and flashes are Canon. No particular reason why. It was just what we decided we liked best. We used to have an old Minolta but that thing is a dinosaur now and can't even come close to the range of the Canon gear we use today. Using all Canon makes it easier to switch between one camera and the next. Don't have to worry about which lenses are compatible with which cameras or flashes or anything else. Everything is the Canon EOS system and can be used interchangeably.

So what about Nikon. The debate grows stronger as to whether or not Canon is better than Nikon or Nikon better than Canon. Does it really matter? Some argue that Canon is better for sports and Nikon better for portraits. Does it really matter? As I said before, the equipment is the last step before the image is captured. Making the image and the photo starts early. We don't know exactly how we started using Canon, but it was the decision we made.

Here is a quick rundown of the gear we use:

Cameras:

4 x 2-Battery Grip (Model Varies by Camera)

Lenses: