6 Holiday Photography Tips to Capture Memories This Holiday Season

This week we are talk­ing all things Christ­mas! Christ­mas is my favorite hol­i­day! I love the way my house twin­kles with the lights and can­dles, the mem­o­ries being made, and the tra­di­tions of the dec­o­ra­tions that I put up. Today I was tak­ing some fun fes­tive pho­tos and thought, why not share these hol­i­day pho­tog­ra­phy tips with all of you.

So here you go~some fan­tas­tic tips to help you cap­ture the hol­i­day season.

Find the Bokeh

Christ­mas lights lend them­selves to cre­at­ing bokeh. Remem­ber you have 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

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

Of course, 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.

Document the Days

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.

Don’t Forget the Food

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.

Christmas Morning

There is noth­ing like the crazi­ness of Christ­mas morn­ing. Some­times, it can be chal­leng­ing to cap­ture the moments, but you can do it with a lit­tle 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!

Remem­ber, don’t wait until Christ­mas day to start cap­tur­ing those mem­o­ries. Start now! I’ve put togeth­er a print­able Christ­mas Pho­to Prompts check­list for you to put these hol­i­day pho­tog­ra­phy tips to use. Check it out, and have fun cap­tur­ing your fam­i­ly mem­o­ries this month!

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