Santa Claus Party Shoot Tips

[NostalgicDad]

I've been hired to shoot a party for an 18 month old's Santa Claus party. The event is in a private residence, should include about 15 other children, and expected to last approx 3 hours. The agenda according to the mom is that Santa will arrive and do some storytelling and gift giving and each child will get a photo in Santa's lap who will even be sitting in a "Santa Chair". After approx 1 hour, Santa will leave but the party will continue and the mom wants lots of candids during this time. No prints are desired so I will only be providing a disc of images, with the prospect of the other parents purchasing prints from a private gallery on my site.

I'm trying to decide on my lighting for this. I consulted with my client last week to see the location and there will be an abundance of ambient light. However, I will most definitely be using at least some fill flash with my SB900 but can't decide if I need to worry about mounting a monolight/reflector somewhere for those SC lap photos. There are good options to mount up and away on a balcony, etc so as not to have any light stands which could be a potential tripping hazard. She indicated she doesn't expect studio quality shots during this event but I still want to provide a solid quality product regardless. Maybe I should just keep it simple with this one since the environment will not be a totally static one? Would love to hear any thoughts on this.....

[rab3rd]

eat your wheaties.... Thats my suggestion...

[Fireball]

Can you not use a speedlite and bounce it off the ceiling? It would be less intrusive. I'm doing Santa photos at the animal shelter this weekend with people's pets and am using that set up, tested it yesterday and it works great.

[NostalgicDad]

Originally Posted by rab3rd

eat your wheaties.... Thats my suggestion...

Haha. Rob, no lie! She told me there may be as many as 45 parents there as well. Sounds like maybe the kids will be least of my worries!

[NostalgicDad]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Can you not use a speedlite and bounce it off the ceiling? It would be less intrusive. I'm doing Santa photos at the animal shelter this weekend with people's pets and am using that set up, tested it yesterday and it works great.

Well, the ceiling is about 20 feet tall in this particular room. But, I typically do use the bounce card on my SB900 with great success at these sorts of events also. I am mainly thinking about when I shoot the kiddos in Santa's lap but as I think more about it, the less intrusive the better. I do a lot of portrait work and it just sort of seems weird not to use my lights. I do need to keep this gig as simple as possible though if you know what I mean. Thanks for commenting!

[ChristopherCoy]

I did a Holiday party last year where SC showed up. It was a large room and there were a lot of people, so I used two SB800's bounced off of 36 inch umbrellas on either side of the room.

[KJ Smith]

Unfortunately, I have a little to much experience shooting kids on Santa's lap.

My advice is to get in way closer than you are thinking.

All you need is Santa's eye's, part of his hat, part of his beard.

He is mostly filler. Have him lean his head into the child.


It is the child's face and expression that you need to capture.


Good Luck, have fun with it.

If you get a good Santa he will help out a lot.

He is the one that can draw out the expressions you need.

You have to work as a team.

[NostalgicDad]

Originally Posted by ChristopherCoy

I did a Holiday party last year where SC showed up. It was a large room and there were a lot of people, so I used two SB800's bounced off of 36 inch umbrellas on either side of the room.

Thanks for the suggestion Chris!

[NostalgicDad]

Originally Posted by KJ Smith

Unfortunately, I have a little to much experience shooting kids on Santa's lap.

My advice is to get in way closer than you are thinking.

All you need is Santa's eye's, part of his hat, part of his beard.

He is mostly filler. Have him lean his head into the child.


It is the child's face and expression that you need to capture.


Good Luck, have fun with it.

If you get a good Santa he will help out a lot.

He is the one that can draw out the expressions you need.

You have to work as a team.

Good advice Kevin and I was hoping someone would chime in with lots of SC experience. Luckily, the Santa at this party is a pro with many years under his belt.