Your Holiday Photos
Images & Text by Anastasia Casey, Portrait Photographer
The holidays are coming and of course, you want to capture the best moments as well as beautiful holiday decorations and feasts! Here are my tips to have lovely photos in darker rooms with holiday lights.
Light matters
The holiday season comes at the darkest time of the year. Although your mobile camera is good enough, it’s not great when it comes to shooting in low light conditions. Open the curtains, turn on the lights in the room if necessary – the more light you have, the better! Keep in mind that the lights’ colour can be different, and if you get a dirty yellowish or greyish colour in the pictures, try to switch off one lamp after another and see which of them gives you that colour mess. Also, when you photograph people or take a selfie, switch off that light from above, remembering that the sidelight source will make the faces look nicer.
If you want to get those twinkling holiday lights, you will need some extra tips. When outdoors, choose the time at early sunset, when the street lights are already on but it’s still not too dark to see what’s around.
When you photograph people or animals, don’t place them facing the holiday lights. Keep the lights in the background, moving your subject a minimum of one metre away to make your holiday lights beautifully blurred. Don’t forget to add some extra light on your subject’s face by using a standing lamp, for example, or a torch. I do not recommend using the camera flash – it will make the faces bright and the background completely dark.
No to cropping and zooming
Shooting in darker environments makes your camera select specific settings, compromising the quality. When you zoom in or crop the photo, the quality will be even worse. Instead of zooming or cropping, move closer to your subject.
No posing
Candid holiday shots are much more fun! You want to capture that holiday mood and emotions, don’t you? Hugs, laughter, kisses, even tears are so valuable in your holiday photos. So walk around the room and take candid shots!
Shooting fireworks
It is possible to capture the fireworks, and here’s how: make as many shots as possible (use the burst mode if your camera has it). Your camera will try to adjust the settings quickly and out of many shots, you will find one you like. Another variant is to shoot the slow-motion video and then screenshot the moment you like the most.
How to hold your mobile
I recommend taking horizontal photos and videos. You will be happy with the results! The exception is only shooting for stories – in this case, vertical orientation will do better.
Making a selection
Do not postpone selecting the best holiday shots! You will have too many of them and not all will be great. Scroll them right after the celebration and delete all those which you don’t really like. It’s a good tip for all digital photos – instead of adding more terabytes to your cloud storage, keep only the best shots, making a selection immediately after you take them.
You can contact Anastasia Casey at [email protected]