Christmas and holiday parties mean getting lots of family and friends together. And getting the family together usually means lots and lots of pictures!
Here are a few of my personal tips for better photos at Christmas get togethers and holiday parties:
- Don’t use red-eye reduction, it’s easy to get rid of red eye later, the multiple pre-flashes irritate people and lose the spontaneity of the shot.
- Get down low when shooting kids and pets. Photos taken from above their heads almost always look awful, get on their eye level and you get a much friendlier shot.
- Use distractions, don’t have people stare at the camera, give them a toy or another distraction to focus on while you capture their character and charm.
- If you must have posed shots, have people in pairs or threes at most, if they’re female friends and relatives ask them to put their heads together (It amuses people and gets them smiling as well as producing an affectionate photo effect).
- Ask people to lift their nose up slightly if you have to shoot a posed shot, it reduces shadows under the eyes, nose, and chin, taughtens the skin and makes people giggle a little all at the same time.
And here’s another ten from HTG:
- Take test shots if you can, before the event
- Don’t make people pose
- Think about and use the available light
- Use the camera’s manual settings for more control
- Use burst mode to snap a sequence of action shots and select the best later
- Take photos that help tell a story
- Think carefully but quickly about composition
- Go high ISO and avoid using the flash if it works better
- Use a tripod or monopod for low light conditions
- Get your ISO as low as possible, or use convert to monochrome and use the graininess for dramatic effect