Holiday Photos...

With the business and craziness of the holiday it's difficult to remember all the moments we may want to capture during this time of year so here's a quick list of holiday photos you don't want to miss and a few tips on how to capture them.

Document traditions.
From baking Christmas cookies, to drinking hot cocoa, to decorating your Christmas Tree, make sure to document those traditions and celebrations that are meaningful to you this time of year. Don't forget to take close ups of the mug of cocoa or the decorated cookies. When taking close ups turn on the macro setting (the little flower.)


Santa hats are perfect props!
I take photos of my kids in Santa hats every year. We send out a photo Christmas card every year, so I printed the photos we've used for the past few years for our cards and plan to create a mini album to display every year during the holidays, adding a new photo each year. You could use them as ornaments or other decorations each year.


Take pictures of your favorite decorations.
We all have those special decorations, whether it was handed down from your granparents or it is the sweet ornaments your children made, take a picture and preserve them forever. The snowman belonged to my grandmother and is one of my most cherished decorations.


Photograph the gift-wrapping process, you could take pictures of your gifts piled up with your rolls of wrapping paper and ribbon to document this task.

Capture the glow of the Christmas tree or the candle-lit menorah.
Use your tripod (or place your camera on something steady) and turn off the flash, too! I've found when shooting indoors, with little light (mostly dark), setting my ISO to 400, shutter speed to 8, and aperture to 8 I get the pretty star glow from the Christmas lights. (If you're trying to take a photograph with your children and the tree make sure they stand very still or you will get a blurry mess.)


Everyone's together...get group photos.
Usually, for group shots you need to set your aperture around f/5.6 or f/8 so everyone is in focus. Take group shots at the begining of the day before everyone gets busy or tired out from all the fun and excitement, tired little ones make for difficult photo shoots.

Take photos that show the mood.
I love looking over at the tree with the presents set out underneath. Take the time to photograph this quiet moment before the gifts are opened and the chaos begins. Capture the excitement in your children or grandchildren's faces as they look over the presents. Take a picture of dinner and table settings/ decorations laid out on the table before everyone gathers to eat.

Remember to use a higher shutter speed during gift opening time, there will be lots of action in those photos.
With slower shutter speeds you will need more light so set your ISO higher as well.
When using camera flash have the subjects step a few feet away from the wall behind them to help cut out those harsh shadows flash can create and you should step back a few feet and zoom in so the light the flash creates doesn't white out the subjects.
Also, see if you can set your own white balance, it can really make a difference, especially indoors.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed holiday!