With the SS set to 30 seconds, yes, the person writing will have 30 seconds to write something. You know when you take a picture and you hear the camera go, “CLICK!”? The shutter speed (SS) is clicking rather quickly. With the SS set to 30 seconds it won’t go “CLICK!” very quickly but instead you’ll hear your camera make a “CLICK” then a long 30 second pause before you hear the second “CLICK!” The first click is the shutter opening and the second is it closing. IE: CLICK!……………………….30 seconds……………………….CLICK! You’ll then have your picture.

I hope that all makes sense. 🙂

Also Off the top of my head, bring your camera down to their level (or a little bit lower) and get right in on the action when they are at a front door. It’ll be fun to see the image from their perspective.

As for the kids on Christmas morning, there are a number of ways to get good images of them. I always figure that young children have an attention span that’s no longer than their age. IE: 2 year olds might give me 2 minutes before they get bored of me and want to go do something else. To combat this, I’ve found it’s best to take the attention off of them and onto something else. Never tell the child, “Don’t smile like that!” or “No! You’re real smile! That one’s ugly!” Negativity never brings out the best expressions from kids. Instead, I sometimes like to play little games with them so they feel like they are playing as opposed to having a photograph made. One of my favorite things to do is tell the child, “We’re going to play a game. I’ll be the monster and when I get close to you, you have to say. ‘RAWR!!!!’ to scare me away!” Then I’ll walk towards them, acting like a monster and then they’ll make a RAWR! at me and I’ll run away scared and they smile and laugh. Then I can get the shot I’m wanting and the look is always better than a fake, “SAY CHEESE!” smile.

I hope that answered your questions. 🙂 Thanks again!