How many of the holiday pictures you've seen are kept and looked at after the holidays simply because they were taken at Christmas, not because they are inherently fantastic photographs?
Have you ever heard anyone exclaim: "This is a really great
Christmas photo!" Probably not. And yet every single year, families
are getting together and taking Christmas pictures. You would think that "practice makes perfect," but in this case... you'd be wrong-oh. There are several reasons for the general lack of quality in holiday pictures today:
- People don't tend to place the same "level of importance" on taking Christmas pictures as say, anniversary parties, graduations, and of course... weddings.
- For Christmas, most of the energy seems to go toward coordinating family travel, gifts, food and menu plans, not in taking terrific photos.
- The people who generally take the pictures are the busiest multitasking people at the event, and therefore feel fortunate to have even remembered to bring the camera, let alone be prepared to take wonderful photographs.
- There are unique challenges for taking holiday pictures that most people are not aware of; hence, the resulting photos come out not as good as they could.
- Very little photographic planning goes into taking Christmas pictures.
The Secret?
Preparation!Equipment: Have fully-charged batteries (rechargeable preferred), memory cards, chargers, external flash, lens accessories, and tripod ready.
The Christmas Pictures List: Jot down the Must Have pictures, as well as the ones you would like to capture, if possible.
Look At The List: As you get swept up in the excitement of the holiday, you won't remember all the great shots you wanted to take during the celebration, unless you refer to your list.
Before the Chaos: Take as many of the "non-people" shots (such as ornaments) before anyone arrives and chaos is at a minimum.
To sum up Christmas pictures with this primary tip: As long as you convey family closeness, love, and joy... YOU HAVE A WINNER!