Life at Cloverhill

Christmas Holidays Photography

Making the Most of your Holiday Photos

This past weekend, I was a photographer for a kids’ Christmas party, and took some photos of the kids with Santa.
It was so much fun seeing the kids all excited about Santa and whispering their Christmas wishes to him.
I loved getting the tripod out, playing around with settings and lighting, and it got me thinking about some great tutorials I’ve seen on Pinterest about how to make the most of your photos this holiday season. For those of you who have kids, these are especially helpful, and may even give you ideas for any last minute Christmas cards too!
Lizvette has a great tutorial on how to create this adorable Christmas baby photo, using a bed, tripod, Christmas balls and twinkle lights.
Ashley Ann from Under the Sycamore gives an easy step-by-step tutorial on how to get a great picture of your kid in front of the tree, using natural light, rather than washing them out with a flash. How cute are those chubby baby cheeks in plaid and denim!
If you still want to get a picture at night, when the twinkle lights are at their finest, Ashley from Lil Blue Boo has great tips on how to take a photo at night without a flash. She breaks down every setting you need to change manually, which helps for those who are fearful of going manual, like me!
 Heather has a great tutorial on how to create heart shape bokeh. You can try this with any shape!
Another great effect you can create using the manual mode, is it to make your Christmas tree glow! Beth at Unskinny Bobby has a great post on this.
Christmas time is a great opportunity to get some adorable photos of your Kids, and they are many different scenes you can capture – like stealing a sip from Santa’s milk and cookies….
… or having a campout by the tree…
 …or waiting patiently for Old St. Nick to arrive…
…or even catching a Christmas nap.

But it doesn’t always turn out as idyllic as you pictured. Kids cry, bicker and lose interest. Soon that cute photo you had in mind, isn’t so cute after all. Tiffany from Peanut Blossom does a great annual post about “How Not to Take a Christmas Card Photo”. Her posts crack me up! She is so candid about what works and what doesn’t, so if you’re looking for some great tips, check out her posts: Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four.

One of my personal favourite Kids Christmas photo setups, is of a kid tangled up in the lights. (Reminds me of when I used to have to manually put up the lights before the wonderful invention of pre-lit trees).

 

You can have a cute baby in awe of them…

 

…or of a pair of trouble makers all tangled up.

And just because you don’t have kids, doesn’t mean you can’t get in on the Christmas photos with your pooches too!

I wouldn’t mind finding this in my stocking on Christmas morning!
Whatever you decided to do for photos this year, make sure you start taking them right now. Look for great opportunities all around you for some festive snapshots! Good luck!


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