HOLIDAY TRADITION Taking family photo can be a snap

Don't hesitate to use a vacation shot for the annual picture.
By SARAH A. CART
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
For many families, the holiday photo is sacrosanct. It's enlarged and framed for gift-giving purposes. It's mass-produced to be sent out with holiday greetings. It's tucked in a wallet to generate a smile in the middle of a busy day. But it doesn't happen on its own.
Some families plan ahead, make an appointment at a studio and leave the specifics to professionals. Other families, however, regularly choose the do-it-yourself route. How do they do it? Why do they bother?
"Why" first. The annual photo is a rite of passage, a bit of family history. Placed next to the ones that have come before, it shows the next chapter. It's documentary evidence of your children's existence to include in the annual Christmas card. Framed and sitting on a great-grandmother's bureau, it fosters memories and wonder.
DIY family photos materialize for lots of reasons. Expense. Scheduling. Lack of planning. A sense of adventure. Serendipity. How? With perseverance and a goal-oriented approach. Parents scrub children's faces, arrange haircuts and attire everyone in his or her Sunday best. Then they gather in front of the camera and wait for magic to happen.
With a bit of advice from the folks at The Vindicator (who tell me what I do wrong when I take pictures), a careful reading of "Photographic People" by Cliff Hollenbeck and a perusal of www.shutterbug.net, I've come up with a strategy that ought to work for most any family.
Getting started: The best DIY family photos often incorporate a bit of the miraculous. But the family shutterbug also needs to bring to the task some basics. Familiarity with the camera. Proper shutter and film speeds. Correct exposure settings. The ability to focus and adjust the lens. Working with flash. (This is not the time to take Dad's brand-new digital camera on its maiden voyage.)
A family photo session can be harrowing. But it doesn't have to be. With a few basics, like a plan (and a back-up), some advanced preparation and a willingness to adapt, everyone can walk out of the shoot unscathed.
Here are a few things I've learned over the years:
UFirst, the one who thinks the photo is important becomes the photographer. (What was I thinking?)
UA rushed photo session is a wasted photo session. Allow enough time.
UBe sure everyone, especially younger children, is well rested. If you're photographing very small children, get down to their eye level.
UGive the family a sense of the time they'll be spending in front of the camera. Harmony between photographer and subjects is imperative. Nowadays I warn my four sons a day or two ahead. We make an appointment with one another. That way there are no surprises. No pouts. No scowls.
In the thick of it: Take plenty of shots. The number of viable choices will be directly proportional to the number of individuals in the photo.
When it's time to coax smiles, shared history is invaluable. The best photo of our family was taken a split second after one of the children reminded everyone of the family dog's most recent antics.
Trust me -- once the 2-year-old begins to cry, the session's over. Even if you can coax an acceptable smile, you'll be amazed at what the camera, flash and photo processing pick up.
Similarly, once my guys begin to ham it up, we're wasting film. Oh, I keep shooting. But I know the results are only going to be fit for blackmail. (Ah, future daughters-in-law, wait till you see what I have to show you!)
Finally, having older children away at school, I've come to accept that the family's annual photo doesn't necessarily have to be taken between Halloween and mid-December. Don't negate the possibility that the perfect shot to include in your holiday cards or duplicate for gifts already exists.
Perhaps you've taken a vacation together or attended a family reunion, or celebrated a graduation or an anniversary recently. If you took a group photo then, consider using it. Besides showing all having fun, chances are good that the shot also tells a memorable story.
Future shock: Digital cameras are already transforming amateur photography. Pictures can be previewed on the spot. The computer-literate upload these images into their computers. They use a scanner at home to digitize slides, negatives or prints. Images can be enhanced (cropped, rotated, color-adjusted) with photo editing software. Prints can be made at home. Digital images can be attached to e-mail or uploaded into online photo albums on different Web sites. Inexpensive software is available for creating cards, fliers and calendars.
Friends assure me this is not as complicated as it sounds. For now, however, I will continue to shoot photos the old-fashioned way. That is, until one of my teen-age sons masters some digital camera equipment and software. Then I'll just continue to embarrass him with my ignorance. Eventually he'll teach me what I need to know. Ah, the joys of parenting in this technological age.