:: Photography Tips + Tricks: how to take great holiday card photos ::

Greetings! As we draw closer to the Holiday Season, it is time to start thinking about personalizing holiday greetings with beautiful photos. Taking holiday photos of your family can be a lot of fun. Here are some Tips + Tricks that I use that will hopefully help the process go more smoothly.


Tip #1: Be Organized

Plan ahead by writing a list of what you will need to bring to the shoot -- camera, extra batteries, extra memory cards, props (e.g. cute knitted hats, beautiful holiday togs, special holiday decorations, lovely woolen blankets), healthy snacks and drinks for you and the little ones. After the shoot, you could use the same list to make sure everything you brought is also going home with you.

Tip #2: Know Your Kids

No one knows your kids better than you. Pick a time of the day that is best for everyone -- a time when everyone is well-fed and rested. Also, put your children at ease by engaging them in conversations and activities in which they will be interested. Play with them! Have fun! Genuinely happy kids = genuinely happy photos.

Tip #3: Un-Pose Your Family

Have you noticed that the most genuine and most emotive images are usually those that look unplanned/unposed? Hugging, kissing, tickling, jumping, running, playing...let your kids do the work. Just make sure your shutter speed is set on sonic speed (or at least 1/250 sec) to keep up with all the action.

Tip #4: Compose Your Shots

Remember my Tips + Tricks on composition? The Rule of Thirds? The Camera Tilt? Foreground, Middleground, Background? Apply these tools for visually interesting and compositionally strong group and individual images. In addition, make sure everyone in a group photo is "squished in" as tightly as possible -- try to leave as little spaces as possible between the subjects. When possible, arrange everyone in a triangular composition, with the highest point of the triangle in the middle of the composition. For individual images, try to get in close and Fill the Frame (another handy compositional tool) with the gorgeous faces of your little ones. Lastly, if you plan on inserting your images into a pre-designed card from vendors such as Tiny Prints or Minted, make sure you take photos in both the portrait/vertical orientation as well as the landscape/horizontal orientation, and/or compose your shots such that they could be inserted into vertical or horizontal or square slots in the card design.

Tip #5: Include Yourself in the Photos

Generally when I'm shooting a family, I try to get at least one really good group photo, one really good individual photo of each child, one really good photo of the parents together and one really good photo of each parent with each child. Use the camera self-timer to include yourself in the photos. Or hand the camera over to your spouse so that he/she could capture some photos of you with each of your children.   Your children will appreciate these images immensely later.

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On the other hand, if you'd rather enlist the help of a professional photographer, please email or call me for more info on our Mini Photo Session. The response this year has been wonderful, so I am hoping to add a second day of Mini Photo Sessions for those who are not able to book a slot for Saturday, October 26th. Please contact me ASAP if you'd like to be added to the list.

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My apologies for not posting any Tip or Trick last week. With a household full of school-aged children, I always have to be at the ready to deal with any ailment that may come our way this time of the year :-)