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Home » Blog » Celebrate » Christmas Photo Tips » Keeping it personal! Christmas cards that tell your story

Keeping it personal! Christmas cards that tell your story

Nov 17, 2014 by Tiffany Dahle

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Tips for taking better holiday card photos

affiliate-linksHoliday card photo time! Does this annual tradition stress you out? For many families, this is the time of year to turn to a professional photographer for a whole-family portrait session. It's fantastic that moms are making a point to get in the photos too, but if your holiday budget doesn't include room for a pro, there is tons of fun to be had in DIY-ing your own images.

I've always felt that our family's Christmas greeting is a spot to inject a little playfulness and personality to the holiday card pile. I want our offering to share a tiny story of what our home is like at this time of year so that the recipient feels like they are sharing our fun.

Here are a few tricks to capturing the joy of the season on your own children's faces:

1. Prepare an engaging activity: What are your favorite things to do together this time of year? Schedule a photo session around an activity that will get your kids interacting with one another:

  • Cookie baking
  • Gingerbread house decorating
  • Hot cocoa & story time
  • Decorating your home

Tips for taking better holiday card photos

2. Use your personal decor as backdrop: Tree decorating day has been a prime card photo session time for me for several years running. I love capturing my girls playing with the garland like I did with my sister at that age. Added bonus: you can't beat the sparkle once the lights are on and the sun goes down.

Which decorations are meaningful to your family? Feel free to move them to a spot where you'll get good light and use them as props or background.

Tips for taking better holiday card photos

3. Embrace the "outtakes": Several of our recent holiday cards ended up featuring a hysterical outtake from our photo session and those cards ALWAYS get the highest number of compliments. I love the comparison between the girls giving each other a flash of stink eye to the adorable devoted smiles that truly came just a moment later. That is what real sibling love is all about and it is a tiny slice of reality for our loved ones to enjoy and laugh over.

So many of the card templates available today allow for more than one photo so I love sneaking in that unexpected surprise in one of the slots! If you shop at Tiny Prints, they even allow you to sort your template options by the number of photos! Check it out here.

Tips for taking better holiday card photos

4. "Together we stand" doesn't hold true for portraits: As much as I enjoy images that have our whole family in them together, that can add an extra amount of stress on the photo session. Give yourself permission to take advantage of collages and multiple image templates for cards. One year I just simply could not get a good shot of both girls together, so I took their most personality rich images of each girls separately and included them on the same card. This also works great for including pictures of mom who is usually behind the camera for most shots.

Tips for taking better holiday card photos

6. Take a deep breath and remember that these images are for YOU: Your card will be enjoyed by the recipient for a while, but you will have the images for a lifetime. While working on these tips, I pulled out our Christmas images for the last 4 years and my heart strings were pulled as I see my girls growing over time. Even though they aren't all "Pinterest Perfect" they trigger so many memories and oodles of smiles.

Remember to relax and have fun with your photo session. If you don't get what you want, you have an excuse to play again which will only mean more holiday fun with the kids! And you'll be much more forgiving of today's outtakes in just another 4 years. Trust me, they'll be good for some excellent reminiscing down the road. . .

Tips for taking better holiday card photos

 

 

 

 

PS: Looking for additional inspiration? I am proud to be sharing holiday card ideas with the blogs Lasso The Moon, The Artful Parent and Simple As That this month. Click below to see some of their photography tips and creative ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up



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Comments

  1. Rebecca Cooper

    November 20, 2014 at 10:20 am

    I just love how festive all your photos are! Great ideas to make the holiday photo taking fun and exciting for kids!! 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Lasso the Moon - How to Take Holiday Card Photos: Tips for Moms says:
    November 19, 2014 at 7:58 am

    […] Looking for additional inspiration? I am proud to be sharing holiday card ideas with the blogs Peanut Blossom, The Artful Parent and Simple As That this month. Click below to see some of their photography tips […]

    Reply
  2. Most-Loved Holiday Photo Cards ♥ - Lasso the Moon says:
    November 27, 2015 at 11:45 am

    […] Looking for additional inspiration? I am proud to be sharing holiday card ideas with the blogs Peanut Blossom, The Artful Parent and Simple As That this month. Click below to see some of their photography tips […]

    Reply
  3. 5 Holiday Photography Tips for Beginners - Lasso the Moon says:
    December 11, 2015 at 9:02 am

    […] Looking for additional inspiration? I am proud to be sharing holiday card ideas with the blogs Peanut Blossom, The Artful Parent and Simple As That this month. Click below to see some of their photography tips […]

    Reply
  4. Photo Blog says:
    September 22, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    Sweet Memories Christmas Card Greeting

    [...] elf permission to take advantage of collages and multiple image templates for ca [...]

    Reply
  5. Holiday Blog says:
    December 21, 2016 at 10:25 am

    Sweet Memories Christmas Card Greeting

    [...] ly could not get a good shot of both girls together, so I took their most person [...]

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Hi, I'm Tiffany! I believe parents are too busy to waste energy cooking tasteless recipes just to appease their kids. Everyone at the table deserves to be happy. I'm the author of two bestselling cookbooks for kids that are chock full of recipes everyone in your family will love. I'm also the hostess of the best online book club for moms.

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