We look forward to it all year long
and now Christmas is just a few short days away. Each year brings new precious
memories, and as photographers, we enjoy preserving those memorable moments as
best we can in photo. Our skills, techniques, and vision improve year over
year, and I felt that these 8 tips would help to provide a solid base for
capturing some great images this Christmas.
White
Balance
Christmastime is one of the
trickiest times for white balance control. If you’re outdoors shooting snowy
landscapes, all of that white snow can play tricks with your camera’s metering
and white balance. The best bet is to set a custom white balance as soon as you
go outside to shoot. Alternatively, you can shoot in RAW and adjust the white
balance in post process.
If you’re not going to be braving
the cold, there will be plenty of indoor moments to capture also. Take care to
set your camera’s white balance based on the indoor lighting so that your
images don’t come out looking too warm (although a little is nice this time of
year).
Capture
Moments, Not Faces!
It’s not always about getting
everyone to sit still and pose with a big smile. Memorable moments are all
about creative spontaneity. One way to capture such photos is to shoot the
Christmas Day action without your subjects knowing. Try photographing your
children from the back as they open a present. Look for ways to capture the
festivities while purposefully not including faces. It can be challenging, but
the results are worth it.
You’re
on Candid Camera
As with the previous tip, make
photos of your family/friends that are not posed. This time, look for
expressions of wonder, excitement, laughter… In the beginning it can be
difficult with everyone being aware of the camera, so keep shooting throughout
the day. People become less aware and you’ll be able to grab some great shots
of natural moments and pure expressions. Posed photos of loved ones are great,
but candid shots that capture reality in a frame can be timeless. Shooting in
burst mode with a fast lens is ideal in these situations.
Blur
is Good, Bokeh is Better
We all love beautiful bokeh, but
Christmastime has to be one of the best times of year to experiment. Throw your
camera out of focus and aim for those Christmas lights. Indoor or out, a whole
new world of creative opportunity opens when you bypass detail for shapes and
colours. Set your camera/lens on manual focus and have a ball. This works great
on lights, but try it out with some of your candid shots of people too.
Don’t
be Too Flashy
When shooting indoors at
Christmastime, flash can be a tricky thing to use. Too much flash and you’ll
overpower any lights from your tree, and without a flash your portraits may
wind up looking too dark. If you are shooting with a flash unit, aim it up
towards the ceiling or facing a wall at a low power, and use the bounced light
instead of directly flashing your subjects. You can also try using rear-curtain
sync mode to capture some ambient light from the room. If you are shooting with
a point-n-shoot camera, try using the “indoor” or “night mode” presets to work
the flash while still grabbing some of the ambient room lighting. If the flash
is too harsh, you can hold a small piece of tissue in front of it to diffuse
the light further.
In many cases, simply increasing the
ISO to around 800 will be enough to shoot without a flash. Flash is good for
any posed family shots, while you’ll want to stay flash-less for those candid
photos as it is less distracting, and produces more natural looking images.
Again, in both cases (flash or no-flash), remember to set your white balance!
Creative
Apertures
This is one of the coolest little
tricks I’ve learned over the years. Craft stores sell hole-punchers in different
shapes (such as hearts, stars, etc…). Get a thick piece of black construction
paper, and punch out a shaped hole. Next, open your camera’s aperture as wide
as it can go (shoot in Aperture Priority mode for this), while holding your
punched out card over your lens. This allows light to enter through the shape
you cut out, and the resulting bokeh takes on that shape. It’s a cool effect
that can add some kick to those light-filled backgrounds.
On the subject of apertures…
Shooting in Aperture Priority mode is a good bet on Christmas Day, so that you
can keep adjusting as necessary. Wide apertures (such as f/2.8) are good for
single subjects and even those up-close, detail shots. When shooting images
with depth, such as a dinner table shot with family seated, you can close down
the aperture to f/8 or even f/11 to widen the depth of field and keep
everyone’s face (and all that delicious food) nice and sharp.
It’s
All About the Details
There are plenty of great photo
opportunities to be found in the details of Christmas Day. Get up close and
personal with decorations, wrapping paper, and let’s not forget – food! Our
loved-ones (and ourselves) work hard to put up decorations, strategically place
ornaments, and cook that amazing food. It’s all about the details, so look for
things like patterns, repetition, and textures. A few detail shots will add
interest and life to your Christmas photo collection this year.
Beware
the Background
When shooting indoors on Christmas
Day, it’s important to be aware of the background whether you are shooting posed
or candid shots. Backgrounds can be especially busy at this time of year,
especially with all of the lights, decorations, wrapping paper, or even people
(if there are many around). Great photos are ones that draw the eyes of your
viewer to a particular subject (or point-of-interest). You can minimize
distracting backgrounds and isolate your subjects by shooting with a wide
aperture to play with the depth of field.
I hope you find these tips helpful to your
Christmas Day shooting. As always, Happy Photographing. I wish you all a very
Merry Christmas. 
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