Help/Ideas for indoor family shoot . . (yuck)

GoofBckt

I had an outdoor family portrait shoot scheduled in two weeks at the beach and a beautiful park in my area. I spoke to my client today and she now wants to do "holiday" shots with her family (3) in front of their fireplace with stockings, etc. This is SO not my style of photography. I don't like using flash (although I do it) and I don't like shooting indoors, especially in front of fireplaces.
Does anyone have some ideas for me or tips to help me make this turn out really nice? Or, have any of you had to do this and would you share some of your best shots? I would MORE than welcome any advice here. I'm just not thrilled about this. I suppose I could tell her I don't do this type of photography, but I don't want to risk losing a client, plus, I need to get out of my "box" once in awhile I guess and it will be a challenge and a learning experience, I'm sure. :rolleyes

ivar

You could try going to www.smugmug.com and use the searchbox to find shots that may give you some inspiration, maybe that will get you a bit of a start.

Anyone else have some ideas and/or sample shots?

adbsgicom

Caveat: I'm not in the business.

If your vision and theirs are diverging, you may need to ask them to pick out some looks they like (from a set that you find achievable and within your comfort range of style). They may want the 'all lined up on the hearth with the stockings' thing that you may not have selected in a million years; or they may have something else entirely in mind.

Dave Clee

Pending size of family you could shoot this with one speedlight off camera with some sort of diffuser...umbrella, softbox..etc..I would go with a shoot thru umbrella as they are cheap and have great coverage.

Position light, to left or right of camera...if using sync chord..Or you can remotely fire speedlight with on camera flash and move light even further of camera axis..

Or if you want to keep it simple, possibly bouncing speedlight off ceiling or wall, pending wall color could work as well.

You want to avoid on camera flash at all times if possible.

Cheers

Dave

Memories by Melinda

Last year I took family photos for a friend of mine. She said that she really didn't want a Christmas photo. Once we were done with the outdoor shots we went in and I asked her for just one more with only a portion of the tree. They ended up loving this shot and did have it printed. It is a favorite of mine as well.

The crop was done intentionally to give them several options...it was perfect when they asked for an 8X10.

sweet caroline

Depending on the size of the room, you could get them in front of the fireplace, but far enough away that it is a background element and a bit out of focus. After you've done a few fireplace shots, look around the house for some other interesting places to shoot. Maybe they have nice stairs with a decorated banister? Maybe decorating Christmas cookies in the kitchen? While you are getting out of your box, you could try to get them out of theirs.

Caroline

GoofBckt

Melinda, this is a great photo!! That's so encouraging. lol Thanks to everyone one for all the advice and tips, I really appreciate it and that's exactly what I was looking for. I feel much better about this now.

Memories by Melinda wrote:

Last year I took family photos for a friend of mine. She said that she really didn't want a Christmas photo. Once we were done with the outdoor shots we went in and I asked her for just one more with only a portion of the tree. They ended up loving this shot and did have it printed. It is a favorite of mine as well.

The crop was done intentionally to give them several options...it was perfect when they asked for an 8X10.