8 Tips to Take Better Pictures on Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas to you all!

I am sure everyone is busy buzzing around getting prepped for Christmas! With all the presents, decorating, singing, jingle-belling, and generally festive festivities, we are all whirring full-speed into another wonderful holiday! Amidst the merriment, I feel blessed to have been invited to share some great Christmas morning photo strategies with you! For me, one of the most important parts of taking photos this day is capturing beautiful memories without distracting from the wonderment that is “Christmas Morning” for a child. Christmas morning is about slowing down, enjoying family, and remembering why we are celebrating in the first place. This is also a moment of magic, awe, and ultimate joy for our children. Most of taking “great” photos on Christmas morning comes down to preparation. There are a lot of things you can do with your home and camera to get prepared, but getting your heart prepared is even more important!

Do you remember that song from the movie, “Lion King?” “BE PREPARED!” This is my hum-to-myself-pre-photo-mantra when I’m getting ready for any photo session. Preparation makes a world of difference! A few simple things can go a long way when you’re preparing for any occasion for which you will be taking photos. Here are my tips on being prepared for taking photos on Christmas morning:

TIDY UP! Okay, Mamas, truth time… I am not a tidy lady! I do a mad dash to pick up toddler debris and straighten clutter about five minutes before anyone arrives at my house (often resulting in awkward heavy breathing while I try to look relaxed as I breezily open the door like I forgot you were coming). I get it! However, I’m including this in my advice for good reason. If you can remove as much unneeded “stuff” (remotes, stacks of magazines, stray shoes, random toys, the packaging from all the Amazon Prime parcels you received while doing your last-minute Christmas shopping, etc.) out of the room, not only will you feel more “together,” but you will also create a more focused space to open gifts. You will also be able to capture photos without distracting things in the background. An added bonus is that you won’t be distracted by the clutter! I always think more clearly with a tidy house (which is probably why I seldom think clearly). Straighten up your throw pillows, blankets, and furniture before you go to bed; it is also helpful to choose a furniture set-up that creates flow for a circle of gift giving and receiving. Know, of course, it’s going to get messy again in the thrill of the morning. When it comes time for gift-giving photos, relax and “let it be!”

DO A TEST RUN! In the days before, check the lighting in your living room (or whatever room you’re opening gifts in). A day or two before Christmas, you should take your camera and do some test shots from different angles (during the same time of day in which you’ll be opening gifts—this is important!). How does the window-light affect your shots? Do you have lots of overhead lighting? Which lights will you turn on for Christmas morning? This is the time to fiddle with manual controls, test different settings, and hone in the look you’re going for! Honestly, I use my most user-friendly DSLR on Christmas morning (Nikon D90), and I generally leave it on “Auto.” I mainly do this because I am not the only one who will be wielding the camera. It’s important that the set-up is user-friendly. I also use a zoom lens (Nikkor 24-72mm f/2.8), though you can use whatever lens came with your camera. The option to zoom is very helpful as you’ll be shooting all over the room. I also use a flash most Christmas mornings, even though I’m traditionally a natural light photographer. Most living rooms in the early morning just don’t have the natural light I need. Most cameras come with a built-in flash (or pop-up flash). I don’t use this because I have an external flash that allows me to bounce the flash from different angles, but if the built-in flash is your only option—go for it! A point-and-shoot can do the trick for Christmas morning! I will go into detail below, but the most important things are the memories you create, not the images! Your images should remind you of the memories, not be the only moment when everyone is smiling because you’re threatening your kids with grounding them from their new toys (just as an example… I’ve certainly never done something like that, or at least I would never admit to it…).

CHRISTMAS JAMMIES! The gift of Christmas Jammies is my favorite method of preparedness! I let the kids (and adults) open their jammies on Christmas Eve. Everyone gets the excitement of opening a gift, and everyone has fresh, coordinating adorableness to wear for the morning! This helps everyone look like they’re an important part of the photo—even if they are sleeping in the background! I get jammies for everyone who is celebrating Christmas at my house. Some might call this excessive, but I LOVE our tradition! Giving jammies on Christmas Eve also allows time for a few posed photos before the threats to cuteness that always ensue: you aren’t trying to stop for photos during the bubbling excitement of kids who want to play with their toys, or open more presents, and you’re not frantically trying to run a load of laundry in the middle of the night when your littles have an accident or have spilled some sort of goo/fluid/sticky substance on their brand new jammies! Our tradition is to open up our Christmas Eve jammies, change into them for photos, and then we follow that with our annual reading of, The Night Before Christmas.

MAKE A PLAN! Make sure the kids know what’s allowed. Do they get to run down and start thrashing through paper and gifts, until the living room is an explosion of red-tinsel-frenzy? Do they have to wait for a certain time and then come to your room? Do they get to open their stockings as soon as they wake up, but then wait for everyone for presents? Do presents happen after breakfast? Do you open all your gifts on Christmas Eve? Are cell phones allowed (especially for teens!)? {IDEA: allow cellphones on Airplane mode if your kids want to help take photos with their phones.} If you don’t have one already, create a tradition of “how we do things every Christmas!” One tradition my family has is waiting for everyone to get up, then we take turns opening our gifts. There is one person who plays “Santa.” Obviously, that person wears a Santa hat (so there’s no confusion). That person is in charge of reading tags and delivering gifts. This is a great job for new readers, as they get a chance to practice their new skill, and their older siblings or other adults can help out when needed (working as a team!). The whole family watches as each person opens their one gift. The receiver can say thank you, and everyone can enjoy the thought and joy of the gift. Then, we move on to the next gift. This practice also helps us take a breath and enjoy the morning by setting the pace. Savor these moments, Mamas! A new tradition can be tricky to instate if you have older kids, but once everyone gets on board, Christmas mornings can be “smooth sailing,” and everyone can take comfort in the ritual!

GET REST! Make sure you’re rested and that you have time to get in the Christmas spirit with your children. Your kids aren’t the only ones making memories. These are your few Christmases with your babies, with your children, with your teens. It goes by so fast! Enjoy the early pitter-patter of eager babes sneaking to see if Santa has visited. Be rested enough to laugh as your teenage boy scarfs the entire pie you intended for dessert (he’s growing, right?). Lots of things will not go according to plan… when your cat knocks down your tree, when your daughter barfs all over her Christmas dress, when your child picks their nose in the nativity play—and eats it!!—and when you can’t find the gift cards you bought for stocking stuffers… when your husband buys you a garbage disposal as a gift, or your oldest tells your youngest Santa isn’t real, and when your dog eats your neighbor’s annoying inflatable snow-globe-thing… When these things happen (and they will happen), you will have prepared yourself to react with discernment, grace, and love for your family.Remember, all these things that don’t go to plan are just part of our wonderfully messy family memories! Don’t force yourself to over-commit to baking, planning, or stressing about every detail. Your kids will remember your attitude (good or bad) regardless of your perfect pictures!

GET IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA! This is so hard for most of us, myself included. Think about this, though: have you ever looked back at your high school photos and thought, “Wow, I looked so good back then! Why was I so self-conscious?” Nostalgia takes over, and the photos are so much more than a simple representation of what we looked like at the time. Well, my dear fellow Mom-tographers, the same remains true for the photos you’ll be in this Christmas. In forty years you will look back at your messy hair, your fuzzy robe, and your tired, mama-of-small-children eyes, and you will long to have those moments back. Your babies will be grown, but you will always have that image of you holding them on their first Christmas! You’ll be there, getting hugs of gratitude for the heartfelt presents. You’ll be snuggling there on the couch as you and your child watch someone else open their gift. No more excuses for not being in photos! No one looks perfect in the morning, and most of us don’t always enjoy getting our picture taken. Take a deep breath, remember that you are an important part of the memories, and do your best to relax. Look at your babies and let the love you have for them wash over you. A photo of you—relaxed—looking lovingly at your kiddos will be a beautiful image, and so much more “real-life-beautiful” than a photo of you turned to the side with your tummy sucked in, worried about what it looks like. Focus on kids and the moment, not the camera! {Practical side note: this also means you will need another willing adult or teenager who likes to help with photos.}

PERFECTION IS OVERRATED! The photos are not the memories. The photos are a reminder of beautiful moments you shared with your family. You aren’t going to frame every photo you take on Christmas morning, but you will flip through your album and be reminded of the beautiful moments you had with your children over the years. Don’t worry about posing each child, and resist the, “say cheese!” over and over again! Be present for the moment. Your memories are more important than getting the perfect photo. Release yourself from the stress of “capturing it all,” and know that the photos you do take will have been prepared for, and they will be perfect remembrances of your family’s Christmas traditions.

CAMERA SETTING SUGGESTIONS

In order to help you get your camera set up, I would love to share some setting ideas; however, since everyone’s space looks so different, and gift-opening happens in a variety of different lighting, let’s keep it simple. If you decide to shoot on “Manual,” or use one of your camera’s other pre-programmed settings to give you the look you want, pay attention to your shutter speed. Oftentimes with low light, which is what most of us are shooting in on Christmas morning (my family calls this, “o’dark-thirty”), your automated settings (especially the nighttime settings) will make your shutter speed slower in order to let more light in. This can be your worst enemy when shooting quick-moving kiddos. This is why we often end up with entire “rolls” of blurry kids (boo!). As a general rule, your shutter speed should never go below 1/60s (though, 1/100s or faster is optimal for catching moving kids). {HINT: the higher the number, the faster the shutter speed: 1/100s is faster than 1/60s}. If you’re more advanced, also watch your ISO setting. To get pictures in low lighting, one option is to bump up your ISO. Different cameras have different capacities for this setting, but in general the higher the ISO, the higher the potential for a grainy photo. The best thing you can do is prepare a few days before Christmas and make sure you know what your camera can do! Have your kids run around (make a game of it!) and try to capture them playing. Get comfortable with your camera so it does “what you tell it to.” You shouldn’t even have to think about settings on Christmas morning!