Tips for Capturing Great Holiday Photos

Holiday Photo Tips for Beginners

1) Have a basic understanding of your camera
If you don’t understand the basics of your camera, there is a lot that can go wrong. Making a few minor changes to your camera’s settings can make a big difference in your holiday photos. Here is a great outline of the most important digital camera settings for beginners.
2) Turn off the flash
For example:
- Use other light sources (lamps, Christmas lights, candles, firelight, etc.)
- Stabilize your camera with a tripod or by resting it on a table
- Increase your camera’s ISO settings
- Use slower shutter speeds
- Shoot with a wide aperture

3) Use the Rule of Thirds
- If you’re photographing landscapes, you want to line up your view along a horizontal grid line.
- If you’re photographing people, you want to line up your subject along a vertical grid line.

4) Shoot from different angles

5) Look for fun and candid moments

- Shoot in burst mode. People are unpredictable and moments pass quickly. If you shoot in burst mode, you’re more likely to capture the moment you’re after, because you’ll be able to capture 10 frames per second!
- Ask questions and engage with your subjects. In certain situations, you may need to be ready to engage with people to keep them loose and not focused on the camera. If your subject feels nervous about having the camera on them, you may have a hard time snapping the photo you’re after.
6) Understand the depth of field
- If you want to create a shallow depth of field, position your subject as far as possible away from background objects. When your subject is closer to the camera than the background objects are, your camera will automatically focus on the subject and blur the background, giving you a shallow depth of field. You can also adjust your camera setting to Portrait Mode for a similar result.
- If you want to draw attention to everything in the photo, you want to capture a large depth of field, where both the foreground and background are in focus. To do this, you should position yourself away from the subject and background so your camera can focus on the entire scene, or you can also try to play with your camera settings. For example, you could switch your camera setting to Landscape Mode.

7) Invest in equipment
- Tripod
- Remote shutter release
- Different lenses
- SD memory cards
- Camera-cleaning kit