Top ten tips for taking Christmas photos

PHOTOGRAPHY is not for everyone. Your average person doesn’t know the difference between the aperture and the ISO on their camera – let alone how to set them.

So here’s a basic guide to taking holiday photos – whether it’s with your phone, or with your DSLR set to trusty ol’ auto.

1. Lighting

One of the most important part of getting a good photo is considering the lighting. The best way to get a great photo is to take your subjects and put them in the shade.

However if you’re standing on the beach (half your luck) taking a shot and the midday sun is beating down on you, there’s definitely ways to work with it.

Have your subjects face the sun – they may be a bit squinty, but there won’t be any horrible shadows.
Have them sit down with their backs towards the sun, and you stand and shoot down. This will help with sun flare.

With the sun in their eyes, there's no shadows.

With the sun behind them, there's lots of shadows and a bright foreground.

2. Angle

The angle you take a photo can make the world of difference. One thing to take into consideration – you want the image to look interesting. If you’re standing up, and everyone else is standing up, it can look pretty pedestrian.

Try mixing it up – squat down and have everyone look down at the camera, or have everyone sit and look up at you.

When shooting little kids, always get down on their level
People looking down in an image can grow a few extra chins – keep this in mind when choosing this shot

Shooting from above creates depth in the image.

3. Faces

If you want a stock-standard holiday family photo – definitely keep everyone looking at the photo. But candid shots are rarely that candid after all – spoiler!

I regularly have people look at each other, or, if a couple, have one look at me while the other looks at their spouse. It adds an extra layer to the photo, and conveys a lot more emotion than forced smiles at the camera!

Emotion is in the eyes, not the smiles – try to get everyone to actually laugh instead of just smile on cue
Try getting everyone to look at each other, it will create a beautiful candid family photo

With the kids all looking at each other, it implies more of a fun photo, with mum and dad still looking at the camera.

4. People levels

Having everyone sitting, or kneeling, or standing can get really boring.

Try placing a few people on seats, then have others sitting on the ground and standing around them – this will fill more of the frame and have less blank space.

Have family members crowd around two main people in an image – whether it be parents, grandparents, or young children
Focus on filling out the entire frame with people.

With varying levels, images gain depth and interest.

5. Distance

Choosing where you will take the photo from is important. Is the background gorgeous? Or is it a brick wall?

If you want to show off the background (maybe you’re at the beach, or a rainforest), stand a way back from the people and place them in the landscape.

Otherwise, get in nice and close and focus on their faces more.

Remember to keep your photo balanced – you don’t want it to be all faces, or all background with tiny people.
Exposure can be tricky with landscape shots – make sure the people or the background aren’t too bright or dark.

Shooting from far away puts more emphasis on the surroundings (in this care, they're not great!)

6. Rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is perhaps the most cited photography tip, and it is basic to remember.

You don’t want your subjects smack-bang in the middle of a shot, put them to either side, and give the image some depth.

Rules are made to be broken – but make sure you understand the rule before you break it!
If you have more than three people in the shot, the rule can get hard if you don’t have a pretty backdrop – but try your best!

An example of abiding by the rule of thirds - having the family off-centre.

7. Cutting off limbs

This sounds brutal – but it happens so often! If you’re taking photos of any number of people – chances are you might be chopping off a limb.

The rule of thumb here is to never chop at the joint – don’t chop at an elbow, or a knee. Aim for midway down a limb, and if you have to crop, crop it there!

Be careful when chopping off arms and legs – people can look very unbalanced!
Don’t ever crop to cut out an entire arm or leg!

Here's limbs being cut of in an acceptable fashion, where no one looks like an accidental amputee.

8. Sharing images

Here's a bad example of cutting off limbs - the kids look like they only have shoulders!

Chances are if you’re taking the photos, everyone is going to want a copy.

When sending photos, it’s important to keep them at a decent file size.

Images for printing should be at least 2MB
If taken on your phone – email the photo directly to the person from your camera roll in full size
If taking on a DSLR, considering uploading all the photos in full size to Dropbox or something similar, and sharing the link with family members

9. Filters

Every time you edit a photo and add something like a filter to it, you’re decreasing the quality of the photo itself. It will gradually get smaller and smaller.

If you must use filters – try not to change the basic colours of the image too much – everyone prefers a nice, natural photo rather than one where the trees look great but your skin looks yellow!

Filters are a blessing and a curse – don’t overuse them!
If you’re relying on Instagram filters, remember your photos will all be cropped to squares, and will make it hard to print them!