I  LOVE the holidays! Nothing like meeting up with friends, letting your hair down with colleagues, boxing day deals, and making memories. In our most recent Canon Blogtography Session at Herman & Audrey, I was pleasantly surprised to see Christmas decorations, a tree, and lights.  It may have only been November but there was no stopping me from putting  on the Christmas music! You can bet I started with Mariah! In this session we learned how to take portraits. It was my most favourite session all the ones we’ve had so far. We went over a variety of ways to shoot perfect holiday portraits and what lenses to use. We worked on depth, putting things in focus, and shooting under low light. ex. candle light. I’ve been taking my own portrait since 2004 when I started this blogging so it was really wonderful to learn how to actually do it right. Our session was lead by top Canadian portrait photographer Steve Carty.  He’s taken a few of my portraits before, see here and here for video. Tips on Taking Portraits from Canon Canada My Portraits from Our Session We were encouraged to snap shots of each other. These are a few of my favourite shots from the session. I’ll share some they took of me before Christmas comes! Andrew Dobson  Corinne McDermott Steve Carty Nelia Belkova It definitely helps to have a tripod when you are shooting group shots like this around the table for example. You can pick up a tripod from any camera store. I love to use a tripod and the self-timer for taking self-portraits and making sure I’m included in group shots.  Aren’t they cute? 🙂 For more tips and tricks on taking great photos visit canonoutsideofauto.ca and check out Steve Carty’s portraits for creative inspiration. Happy Holidays…