December Family Portraits

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Make the 2018 holiday season uber special by organizing family portraits.  This means hiring a professional photographer who will come to the designated house to take pictures of grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters and cousins all under one roof.

Photo:  Nonqaba waka Msimang

No, your cellphone won’t do because despite the high quality of cellphone cameras, we still take out of focus pics. Grandparents push phones in your face and you have no option but to say the grandkids are cute, although you can hardly see them.  Yes, I can see you in this camping pic, when I can’t.  Therefore, cellphone portraits are out of the question.
O.K. You don’t want a professional photographer?  Get a family member who has the right hardware and it doesn’t have to be $10 000 lenses.  Someone who takes photography seriously understands the light source.  Is the light coming from a window or desk lamps with white bulbs? 
Be creative.  Transform the garage into a studio if you have a fantastic garage like those I see in fancy magazines.  Take out the cars if it has interesting natural light, white walls and is clutter-free.
Photographers also know that the following in a no! no! when taking pictures.

·         Posing in front of house plants

·         Curtains with flowers or busy designs

·         Taking a pic of 20, because none will be clear.  Remember your high school pic?

·         Pics on the walls

·         Rooms painted red or yellow.  (Plain white or cream is ideal).
The photographer will shoot the family in groups, for example, the baby with the grand parents, all cousins together, individual nuclear families etc.

 Tips:  Move in, when taking pics. Close-up is better. When people are sitting down, forget their shoes. Shoot hands on the lap and upper body.  Baby crawling?  No problem.  Go down and crawl yourself.  They love it, think it’s a game.  Funny creatures!
Preserve the portraits in picture frames.  It's very frustrating scrolling down your phones looking for pics.
Nonqaba waka Msimang is a freelance photographer and author of Sweetness the novel.

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