10 Holiday Photo Ideas

I want to talk about Hol­i­day Pho­to Ideas! Christ­mas is my favorite hol­i­day! I love the way my house twin­kles with the lights and can­dles, the mem­o­ries made, and the tra­di­tions of the sea­son. Cap­tur­ing pho­tos at this time of year is mag­i­cal and I am going to share 10-hol­i­day pho­tog­ra­phy tips with all of you.

Holiday Photo Ideas…

Find the Bokeh

Tip num­ber one is all about that blur­ry back­ground. Christ­mas lights lend them­selves to cre­at­ing bokeh. Remem­ber, it helps to shoot on man­u­al mode for this one. Place your sub­ject far enough away from the lights to cre­ate a nice depth of field, shoot wide open, and start tak­ing those pictures!

Detail

Find­ing the detail is my num­ber 2 hol­i­day pho­to idea for you. Just like when you took the Hal­loween Pho­to Chal­lenge and focused on the details, do the same with your Christ­mas pho­tos. The dec­o­ra­tions offer end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties to cap­ture the mem­o­ries of the hol­i­day sea­son. Do you have a col­lec­tion of San­tas? Or snow­men? Cap­ture those mem­o­ries to look back on in years to come.

Capture the Family

Tip num­ber 3 is a must. You will be tak­ing plen­ty of pho­tos of the fam­i­ly this Christ­mas. (So many oppor­tu­ni­ties to try out these hol­i­day pho­tog­ra­phy tips!) Cap­ture both posed and unposed shots of your fam­i­ly. Try to catch your lit­tle one sneak­ing a peek at the presents or writ­ing that let­ter to San­ta. Pose every­one in fun, fes­tive Christ­mas PJ’s or a fam­i­ly shot posed in front of the tree.

Around Town

Don’t for­get to cap­ture the scenes from around your town. Tip num­ber 4 is cap­ture shots around town. I love my vil­lage dur­ing the hol­i­days. The lights, the trees, the vil­lage land­marks bathed in hol­i­day tra­di­tion. I even love to cap­ture the dec­o­ra­tions in the stores and to cap­ture the fes­tive win­dow fronts.

Document the Days

Tip num­ber 5, doc­u­ment the every­day. Do you have fam­i­ly tra­di­tions lead­ing up to the big day? My fam­i­ly bakes cook­ies every year and one of my favorite thing to do every year is look back on the pic­tures that I have tak­en of my boys bak­ing. Do you read Twas the Night Before Christ­mas? Do you watch The Polar Express? Enjoy a warm cup of hot choco­late? Doc­u­ment these mem­o­ries for a more inti­mate look at the season.

Self Portrait

I am not a huge self-por­trait pho­tog­ra­ph­er. Tip num­ber 6 will make you push your­self to get cre­ative. Take your reflec­tion in a shiny Christ­mas orna­ment or any oth­er reflec­tive surface. 

Don’t Forget the Food

Tip num­ber 7 is my favorite. Once those amaz­ing cook­ies are made, use the rules of com­po­si­tion and snap some shots. Don’t for­get Christ­mas din­ner or the sweets from the stock­ing on Christ­mas morning.

A Festival or Parade

Does your town have a tree light­ing cer­e­mo­ny or a local hol­i­day parade? Tip num­ber 8 is to make sure to cap­ture it! Use a jour­nal­is­tic approach and cap­ture the event from a dif­fer­ent point of view.

Get Silly

The hol­i­days are such a fun time. Make sure not to take your pho­tog­ra­phy too seri­ous­ly. Tip num­ber 9 is have fun! The can­did, unplanned pho­tos often give the best mem­o­ries. Keep your cam­era close by and cap­ture as many spon­ta­neous sil­ly moments as you can. 

Christmas Morning

And num­ber 10 on the hol­i­day pho­to ideas list is…capture the crazi­ness of Christ­mas morn­ing. Some­times, it can be chal­leng­ing to cap­ture the moments, but you can do it with a bit of prepa­ra­tion. Be pre­pared. Make sure your set­tings are ready. Cap­ture the details, their lit­tle hands tear­ing into the paper, the smiles on their faces. And don’t for­get to get into the pho­to. Using a timer can help ensure that you are actu­al­ly in your Christ­mas photos!

Now get out there, start snap­ping and have some fun cap­tur­ing all of your hol­i­day memories!

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