From Panorist we wish you a Happy Holiday and we hope you enjoy a lot with yours on these dates so marked. But we do not forget about our passion for photography, so we want this Christmas to take out your camera and shoot, because you will be surrounded by special and memorable situations.
Streets decorated and lit, your house full of Christmas ornaments, the expression of the little ones in the house when opening the gifts you see as you see, there are many, but we have to be attentive not to let them escape. In today’s article, we give you a series of tips to manage to make the best photos of this holiday.
1. Prepare the equipment
The first thing you need to do before you go anywhere, as always, is to prepare your equipment. Think about what you’ll need so you don’t forget anything. If you are going to spend the holidays away from home, the best thing is that you apply yourself and make a list like the one we recommended in the travel photography article.
It carries at least one extra memory card, both in case you run out of space and in case what you’re using gives you any trouble.
Charge your battery to the maximum and take the charger just in case. If you have an extra battery, take it too.
Think about what goals you will need for the photos you intend to make.
Take the tripod, it will always be good for group photos, if you do not want to do without going out on them.
Take a suede to always clear your target.
- It carries at least one extra memory card, both in case you run out of space and in case what you’re using gives you any trouble.
- Charge your battery to the maximum and take the charger just in case. If you have an extra battery, take it too.
- Think about what goals you will need for the photos you intend to make.
- Think about what goals you will need for the photos you intend to make.
- Take a suede to always clear your target.
2. Study or environment
Now that you have all your material prepared, another important advice is that you study the environment. Do not shoot the madman and stop to think a little before you do it. Find good sites to take your photos, where elements are seen that remind us that we are at Christmas, but that do not underestimate your point of interest, which we will talk about next.
It is also important that you make sure that there is enough light, to properly expose. It will also be important that you try to configure the parameters of your camera manually, since if there are colored lights flashing around the house, automatic modes may not offer a good result.
3. Procure um centro de interesse
Remember that one of the secrets of composition in photography is simplicity. Try to look for a single center of interest in each photo you make, because if you take a photo with many items, they can distract attention a lot.
This task is complicated on these dates, when we can find so many elements that can distract us from the point of attention, such as lights, colors, Christmas clothes and accessories, etc.focus on what you want to highlight in each photo and make it really the center of interest of it. Once you do it, look at it to analyze where your vision is going, to confirm that there is really nothing that distracts you more from the account. This is an exercise that will teach you to take more care of your photos and with which you will achieve more satisfactory results.
4. Play with the aperture of the diaphragm
Very related to the point of interest, comes this advice to play with the diaphragm. If you want to isolate your point of interest so that attention focuses only on it, you can try shooting with very open diaphragms to reduce the depth of field. Also, if you use the Christmas lights as background, you can get some awesome blurs, with a lovely bokeh.
However, on other occasions, you will have to close the diaphragm more to be able to take clear various elements, such as for example all the dishes on the table, or all the faces in a family photo. Remember that then you will need to compensate for this light by reducing the shutter speed or increasing the ISO.
Although the aperture of the diaphragm directly influences the depth of field, other parameters also influence the depth of field. If you want to learn to control it and fully understand it, I advise you to read our article on depth of Field in depth.
5. Adjust the white balance
Remember that some cameras do not adjust much in the automatic white balance. In addition, with so many colored lights, it is possible that your camera’s Auto will go a little crazy. That’s why it’s best to manually adjust the white balance of your camera.
In addition, I also advise you to shoot RAW if your camera allows, to better adjust your photos later. Thus, you can correct the color distortions that can marry all these Christmas lights. Among the most practical programs to perform these types of adjustments we find Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop.
6. Enjoy to make portraits
At Christmas, the most important thing is family and friends, right? That is why they will be the protagonists of much of our photographs. Take advantage of these dates to take portraits of the people you love the most. Find a fund that accompanies it, that it is noticed that it is Christmas! Lights, the tree, some Christmas ornament sim yes, as I said before, try that all this does not remain protagonism to the real protagonist: the person portrayed.
Children are most fond of Christmas, and this is noticeable in the portraits. Take the opportunity to photograph the little ones in the house enjoying the parties, having fun with their new toys or dressed up with their Christmas clothes and accessories. You can get very cute and very nice photographs.
7. And also take group photos
These dates are family dates and group photos are a must to keep a complete memory. Enjoy taking group photos early in the evening when people are cooler, but also don’t forget to capture the funniest and funniest moments as the party progresses.
In group photos, above all, make sure that everyone is correctly focused. To do this, you will need to use more closed diaphragms to increase the depth of field. You can also increase it by moving away from the group and using more angular targets.
In the group photos, do not forget about something very important: you! Yeah, you’re an important part of the family, too. Does it not happen to you that since you are the friend / family photographer, then you have photos from all over the world except yours? In the group photo you can not miss. To do this, use a tripod or try to support (safely) the camera on some surface. Then set the timer so that it gives you time to stay with the rest of the group before firing, or use a wireless trigger.
8. Skip or Flash
Indoors, despite turning on all the lights, we will often check that some light is missing to expose correctly. We can try to upload the ISO, but there will come a time when noise will ruin our photo. However, if we shoot the flash, we will see that the magic of the moment is lost and, especially in portraits, people do not come out as favored as before (a frontal flash is not the most suitable way to illuminate a portrait). In addition, with a front flash, you will illuminate the first term of the photograph, but its background will turn dark and gloomy, something that is not in demand in a Christmas photograph.
A practical solution is to jump the flash against the wall or ceiling, so that the lighting is softer and more natural. For this, you will need to have a handheld flash anchored to the shoe of your camera, since the built-in camera flash cannot be oriented. Thanks to this, you will be able to gain the missing light, without changing the natural environment of the place.
9. Fill in the frame
One of the main problems in Christmas photos and in general in the photos of these types of meetings or events, is to want to take a lot of information in the photo. Usually we open the plan a lot to cover more elements and leave a lot of empty space in the photo.
Often, less is more. Try to close the planes more, filling the entire frame and removing the free space. Try to capture details of the Christmas decoration, or very close portraits where the eyes or a big smile are the real protagonists. You will be surprised by the results!
10. Enjoy Macro photography
Very related to the previous point, we find this other advice. Christmas is full of interesting little details: A Christmas Ball, A Bethlehem doll, small colored lamps… what better way to capture them than using macro photography. If you have a macro lens or have zoom lenses or tubes, try to capture all these details. There are also some compact cameras that have macro mode, search yours!
If, unfortunately, you don’t have any of these items, don’t worry! Try to get as close as possible, as far as your target has its focus limit. You will not get exactly a macro, but you will also get very beautiful and original photos.
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