Here are some Christmas Photography tips to help you capture this day to your satisfaction.
Everyone loves Christmas! Religious or not, Christmas is a festive day of fun and presents, and adults and kids alike love it!
As it only happens once a year, and the next time it happens, everyone will be one year older, you will want to capture Christmas to memorable perfection! In this article I will divulge some tips on how to do just that…
- Pack Spare, and empty memory card
- Pack fully charged batteries
- As you may have someone on dinner, someone on this, someone on that, etc, have someone on photography!
Check the lighting out, and ensure you are on the right white balance! Shoot in RAW if possible, so you can correct it later with out quality loss, but it is still worth tweaking the white balance and getting it right in camera, as this is quicker, easier and usually produces better results.
Photograph Everything!
Photograph…
- Tree decorating
- Food preparation
- Gift wrapping
- Table setting
Find a point of interest for every shot
Every image should have a point of interest as this is the bit the viewer wants to see!
Gift unwrapping
Shoot in continuous mode during the gift unwrapping, especially for the kids, a the little expressions of delight or disgust as they unwrap the presents are priceless!
Slow Sync Flash
Shoot in slow sync flash for interesting effects, either chose slow sync flash from your flash menu, or go to shutter speed priority, set flash to on, and choose a shutter speed of 0.3 seconds or longer.
The camera will flash, then close the shutter, and very interesting effects can be generated in the time in between.
Use External Flash
It is very easy to get your shots overexposed if the flash is too bright. An easy way to combat this is to bounce the flash off a wall, or ceiling, or use a reflector.
If external flash is not an option, use exposure compensation, or flash compensation, and set a negative compensation to avoid over-exposure.
Macro
Try macro. I know it sounds a little unorthodox for Christmas, but you will notice little things, such as the icing on the cake, a Christmas decoration, the skin of the turkey, etc, that are just begging to be photographed in macro.
Aperture
If you are photographing Christmas decorations, choose a wide apeture such as f2.8 (a small value) to blur the background and if you are photographing people sitting at a table, you want to choose a narrower aperture (larger value) to get the image sharp. Try choosing between f8 and f11 as this is the lens’s zone of maximum sharpness.
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