Photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus 2018

Ho ho ho!

We recently once again had the pleasure of taking photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the home of our friends the Jamersons. It is always a fun time, and we are always happy to do it. Plus, it is nice to get to hang out with Santa and the Mrs. for a little while each year, too.

Of course, we usually get a photo of us with the Clauses, too. Why take photos of everyone else if you can’t get a photo, too, right? As you may remember, last year we used our photos with Santa for our Christmas card. But we like to keep things fresh and do something different for our card each year, so I can go ahead and share our Santa photos with you now to start off the Christmas season.

For whatever reason, this year we did not get a photo of all three of us together with Santa. I made sure to get one of Jaylin before everyone arrived and things started getting crazy, but then I never did get him to come back for a family photo. So his photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus is above. Compare it to our first photo of Jaylin with the Clauses at the Jamersons’ home from 2012 to see how much Jaylin has changed over the last few years. Someone is growing up! Santa probably appreciated that Jaylin did not sit on his lap this year.

The Burnses and the Clauses

Although we did not get a photo of all three of us with Santa and Mrs. Claus, we did get a photo of Laura and me as things were winding down. They probably did not want us sitting on their laps, either. But we still appreciated the photo, as well as their time to stop and talk to everyone who came that night.

While we were waiting on Maggie Jamerson to take our photo with Santa, I got a photo of Laura with the Clauses. I like it. And I like how her red Hawaiian Christmas shirt matched the red in their outfits, too.

Then, Laura said, “Hey Santa, I’m going to put on your hat!” And she did. And we all got a good laugh about it. Fortunately Santa knows us well enough to know that we were not really going to steal his hat. He does know if we have been bad or good, after all. So be good for goodness’ sake.

As always, we had a great time, and it is always interesting to see how the different children react to Santa Claus. Children are fun!

Bible Verse

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” - Luke 2:10-12

About the Photos

This was my first time to try the remote flash setup with the Sony camera. I have used this flash setup many times on many different occasions with my Canon camera, so it was not all that different this time around, except that the camera itself was different.

I use a flash on a flash stand firing into an umbrella for indirect light, which to me looks much better than a flash on top of the camera. The flash was triggered using an old set of Cactus V2S transmitter and receiver, and it still works well after several years.

I did use all manual settings on the camera. I did a few test photos to get it all set up right. Actually several test photos, because it always takes me several tries. But once I got the settings like I wanted them, I did not have to change that any. I also used manual focus to make sure that I was focused on the people and not the background. Sometimes that took a few extra seconds to get the focus right, but I could usually do that while the kids were doing their initial talking to Santa.

Hopefully, everyone enjoyed their photos, which were provided free of charge. I always enjoy seeing them pop up on social media.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: November 17, 2018
Location: Eads, Tennessee