Grab your camera, grab your mobile - it doesn’t matter which and it doesn’t matter how good a photographer you are (or aren’t)… these are the moments you can’t capture again. 

Here's some hints and tips for your Christmas day photos, plus I’ve made a Pinterest board full of fun ideas of photos you might want to recreate on the day. Have fun. And remember, whatever you do, do it safely.   

1. Capture the before and after: the tree before the presents are opened (perhaps tonight) and the aftermath; the food preparation and the table laid ready to serve…

2. Create a time lapse film of the day… got a camera or phone that can do time lapse photos? Prepared to set it up in a corner of the room for a few hours tomorrow? Then you could create the most magical mini film of the day. Set it to go off every 5 mins for a fantastic record of the day. 

3. Capture the Christmas lights all blurry and out of focus. If you’ve got a camera with some manual settings, set it to aperture priority mode and choose an “f number” as small as possible, this helps get your background out of focus. This excellent article gives more info on how to get this look.

4. Use continuous shooting / burst mode for action moments - like gift opening - you’ll capture a series of emotions & expressions such as the grimace before pulling a cracker open to the scurry looking for the content; or the excitement of ripping a gift open through to the joy of seeing what it is. 

5. If you’re capturing images of the kids opening their gifts on Christmas morning, it will likely be in dark lighting… consider fixing your camera settings the night before, so you’re ready to snap first thing.

6. Consider standing next to the tree, before the kids get to it, so you capture their expressions as they come in on Christmas morning, not the backs of the heads as you come in behind them.

7. For kids's photos, get down low, to their level.

8. Record the gift giver’s reactions as well as the recipient’s expressions.

9. Go for the middle of the day for family portraits - the light is still good and no one is feeling lethargic and stuffed after their Christmas dinner.

10. Charge your battery the night before!

Have fun. Happy Christmas 2016.

Sara
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