Welcome to our second edition of imageTech’s Tips Bulletin. Thanks to Ron Hughes for his contribution of tip 5 and 6.

4. Lighting
Never use an on-board camera flash. Remember, you are trying to be better than an amateur with a point-and-shoot camera. Use at least one professional strobe with a soft box or umbrella. It would be even better if you have room for a second strobe. Then, you can have a main light and a fill light creating much better results with a 3:1 lighting ratio. Don’t forget to have a backup sync cord and/or extra batteries if you are using a radio slave.

5. Charge your Batteries
Do it the night before. You won’t have time to charge them once you are in front of Santa and the kids. We recommend to charge one set of batteries and have an extra set stored away in case of emergency.

5. What about Memory cards?
The Santa Systems we offer use hard wire cameras and do not use cards. However, if there is a context in which you use memory cards for your photos, we recommend to get in the routine of formatting your card once a day or once every other day. Doing this won’t have any effect on the pictures you take after you reformat it, but it will definitely reduce any potential fragmentation of new data. In any case, make sure to keep plenty of cards and a card reader with you for emergencies.