Christmas is the favorite time of year for so many people, but it is unfortunately one of the least-well photographed holidays. Want to really make this Christmas memorable? Here are some of our very own tips (from the pros at Portrait Shoppe) that will help make your Christmas photos stand out!
1. Make a list...Check it twice!
At this time of year you are busy with so many things (gifts, cards, wrapping, travel plan, etc.) that it's easy to overlook the camera. Make it a point this year to prepare for photo taking: charge your battery before Christmas day, have a fresh memory card (or 2, or 3...), you might even set up your tripod the night before so it's ready to go in the morning!
If you're traveling for Christmas, pack your camera bag and all the accessories the night before (you won't want to have to try and think of all those details in the morning), and please--whatever else you do--remember to bring your camera with you!
2. Add Light
Indoor photos are notoriously dark, so you'll probably have to add some light to get the exposure correct. But don't use your on camera flash - it ruins the "mood" of the photo! Find a way to bounce the flash off the ceiling or the wall, or add light from another source: a window, a bright lamp - anything you can find to brighten the room.
3. White Balanced Christmas
Many Christmas photos are taken inside, under many differently colored artificial lights. White balancing your camera is a must if you're going to have natural colors in your photos (and especially if you are taking Tip #2 seriously).
4. Take Befores and Afters
The best presentation of any Christmas morning is NOT photos of your kids opening every single gift, but rather a "before" and "after" photo of the tree. You could also do a "before" where the kids are holding their stockings, and and "after" with the candy strewn about them on the floor. Think of other creative ways to capture the Before/After dynamic of Christmas day!
5. Gift Opening: Continuous Shooting Mode
Set your camera to continuous shooting mode for gift opening, so that as your kids are tearing into their gifts you can simply press and hold the shutter button. This will help you capture the perfect expression on your child's face as he/she is seeing what Santa brought them. (then please see Tip # 9!)
6. Avoid Clutter...in your photos, that is
The biggest error of most Christmas photos is the busy-ness. There is so much stuff decorating the houses during this season as it is; then you add gifts, wrapping paper, and lots of people, and it quickly become a visual mess! Try your best to lessen the clutter in your photographs:
• Every photograph should have only ONE subject: decide what it's going to be
for each and every shot, then shoot only for that
for each and every shot, then shoot only for that
• Find your focusing point (highlighting your subject) then blur the rest of the photo
by getting in close and using a shallow depth of field
by getting in close and using a shallow depth of field
• Fill your frame, cropping out the other stuff in the room that is not your subject
• Set up your camera in a spot where there's not a lot of complicated
scenery in the background
scenery in the background
• Especially avoid any light emitting electronic devices!
7. Go Macro
Get close up on the gifts, ornaments, lights, nativity sets, and food. Christmas is full of little treasures, go on a hunt for them and get up close to them for maximum effect.
8. At least one GREAT Group Photo
Every Christmas needs at least one photo of the whole family together. Instead of waiting until right before everyone leaves (and is exhausted from the day!), take the group shot early in the day when everyone's fresh and still excited. And put them all really close together (closer than they want to be), and make use of different levels and heights (have some people sit, kneel, bend, etc.)
9. Edit Like Mad!
When the day of shooting is over, you might have a couple hundred photos from the day...you do not need every one of them! Nobody (not even you) needs to endure having to look at photographs of every single Christmas gift being opened. So really go through your photos carefully and pick only the ones that really capture the joy and spirit of the season, or exclaim the personality of the person. Toss the ones of everybody just sitting around looking dull, the one of your husband you snapped while he was in the middle of a sentence, and ALL the blurry ones! Everybody (and you most of all) will appreciate it!
10. Tis the Season for Sharing
Want to be the hero of the season? After you've distilled your photos down to the best couple dozen (use Tip #9), make that last extra push to get them up on Facebook or another photo sharing site before the day is over. Why not wait? Because there's something really special about Christmas day that makes people feel warm and fuzzy, and the sooner they see photographs the more they appreciate them and the more they remember just how wonderful it really was.
Hopefully you can put these to use this Christmas season and really "WOW" your family with your photograph skills this year!
Merry Christmas, and Happy Shooting!
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Thank you for the great tips. Now if I can just figure out my camera's white balance setting by Saturday, I'll have it made.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Laurie! Most people have in their homes soft white light bulbs. The "tungsten" or "incandescent" white balance setting (usually indicated by light bulb icon in the camera menu) is measured to the temperature of those bulbs, and does a really good job in most home lighting. If your home photos tend to come out too orange, then that's DEFINITELY the setting you want to use. If your camera has a "custom white balance" option, you can do it, but only if you have a gray card or something else to define white for your camera. (don't use a piece of computer paper, by the way - they add cyan to them to make them brighter, and it throws off the white balance of the camera.)
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