Hmmm….how do I even begin?!!
So today’s Commercial Photography at SuperFranks started off as a single room shot of their new Holiday Tea Party in the Princess Room.
Holiday Tea Party Room
Specs: Nikon 14mm ultra wide lens, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 800. Shot in Manual. I used a tripod, so I could drag the shutter, and used the timer, so there wouldn’t be movement from my pressing the shutter button. (You can also use a remote shutter release.)
I timed the shoot, so the room would be dark enough to see the holiday lights, but there would be enough ambient light from the window to give context to the room. (If you’ve been one of my clients, you know that I am very particular about when your shoot begins because good light is key!)
The Creative Process
To get that shot (above), we had to rearrange a couple pieces of furniture and I had a few creative decisions to make, such as which angle to shoot the room and what settings will best highlight the holiday lights. It was pretty straight-forward. 20 minutes, done.
What you don’t know is what happened after I got the room shot.
Frank, the owner of SuperFranks, was there as well. With two creative minds, there was an explosion of ideas.
Here is an example of our discussion:
*****
“Hey, should we get Santa in the shot?”
“Yeah! Is Santa here???”
“Sure, I can get him. Hold on.”
“How about he sits there… no, how about he drinks some milk?”
“It’s a tea party, he should sip tea!”
“Great idea! And have a cookie on the plate!”
[I take a couple shots.]
“This Santa looks like he’s been on a diet. Can we make him fatter?”
“What about his bag? Maybe we should put more in there.”
“It looks like he doesn’t have many gifts to give the children! Oh my gosh, it looks like he’s a thief!”
[I take a couple shots once Santa returned fatter and with a fuller bag.]
“Hmmm….something looks awkward. How about he holds the cookie…. and takes a bite out of it.”
“A BIIIIG bite!”
*****
And it kept going from there! It was so much fun. We had 6 people in there at one point and we started getting a lot of attention, so I had to close the door! (I didn’t want any kids to see Santa adjusting his belly or anything like that.)
At one point — no kidding — I was on my knees and slapping the floor from laughing so hard! (Tim, you know what I’m talking about!)
A Few Shots from the Creative Explosion
This is Super Frankie, the mascot!
Isn’t that nice of Santa to take a break from his busy schedule to play catch with Frankie? 🙂
What do you think: Is Frankie on Santa’s Naughty or Nice List?
Nice, of course!
Whatever your holiday celebrations are and whomever they’ll be with, I hope you will all have periods of slap-the-floor-laughter as I had today!
xo,
annie