Each year I struggle to get my kids to cooperate and take great photos for our Christmas card. I love candid photos with a slight blur. To me those seem magical, but I can hear my mom bitching when she gets the card that the photos are blurry! 🙂 So there must be a little of both and some fun thrown in. Collage or multi-photo cards are great for that or if you lucked out and got the best picture ever go with the single stunning photo card option. Here are a few tips to get you on your way and a few of ours that were captured this year..
1. Location, location, location – If you have a nearby stream, park or forest even the Christmas Tree farm use that as your backdrop.
2. Get in close, especially if you don’t have a great background. Close ups, especially of young kids are adorable.
3. Take action pictures, like jumping, kicking through leaves, swinging one child between parents.
4. Sharing a moment like reading, hugging or kissing makes a sweet image.
5. Use non-standard posing – take a shot of everyone laying head to head on the ground or a photo from below with your kids looking down at you.
6. Be Spirited – Are you the family with all the sports nuts? Dress everyone in sports gear. Love pets? Make sure the photo reflects your furry friends.
7. Take individual and group shots. That way at least you have something to use no matter what. And take lots of pictures, you can always toss later but getting everyone back together is nearly impossible.
8. Try something new. Do you always do a color family photo? Try black and white or sepia tone, maybe even a color like red or blue. Blur or soften the background of your image.
9. Pick your card first. Find the holiday card design you plan to use, often the photo used in the card can help you with ideas.
10. Last but not least, Have Fun! Last year my kids grumbled and groaned because they wanted to do a mustache picture. I told them if they took nice ones first then they could do as many funny ones they wanted, it worked out great and I used both photos on our holiday cards. If you are having trouble and nothing looks good, try taking pictures of their bare feet or holding hands or them walking from behind.
For the perfect Holiday Card, check out our selection on SimplyToImpress.com or Frecklebox.com for our totally unique metallic cards. The metallic card below is perfect for your family photo. I love the photo that we used in the sample. Hurry up though, time is running out! You can also send a New Year’s card if you run out of time.
