Secret Santa

To end the year, I thought it might be fun to post a few Christmas-y photos taken this holiday season. First up, our Secret Santa. I know it is a play on words but with the look he is giving the camera and the gesture of the arms & hands - it just sounded right and suited his personality.

He was a little underexposed because he moved forward and out of the bulk of the key light flash zone, but the fill light kept him from going completely dark. I could have "fixed" it in Photoshop, but I decided I liked the underexposure in this case because it made for that quiet, home-for-the-holidays feel.

Strobist info: The key light is an SB-800 with full CTO + 1/4 CTO gels in a Lumiquest Softbox III from high camera right, zoomed to 50mm and fired at 1/16 power. The fill light is from an SB-600 with a full CTO gel on a stand behind the camera facing away from him towards the wall behind me, zoomed to 24 mm and fired into the corner of the walls/ceiling at 1/32 power. Shot on tungsten white balance to make the Christmas tree lights the right color and bring the gelled flashes back to neutral coloring.