5 Tips for Better Photos at the Holidays

With the holiday season upon us, what better time to capture some great images?

Whether it's friends and loved ones at parties or around the tree, or travels to points beyond, we often find ourselves behind the camera this time of year.

Here are a few tips to make your holiday photos shine.


1.  Get close -- fill the frame

People shots come to life when we feel like we're in the scene, not looking at it from afar.  Instead of being the aloof spectator of Christmas past, become a participant in the scene (even if you're remaining on the wholesale end of the camera).

The closer you can get, the more intimate the feeling evoked.  Establish a connection with your subjects, and the viewer will feel the connection when he or she sees the image.  Rather than zooming in from further away, get as close as you can and zoom out to the widest angle possible (or appropriate for the scene).



2.  Turn off the flash

Not always.  But start without it.  There are various sayings about the flash built into your camera, usually involving language we can't repeat around the tree or table.  Most of the time, the harsh light coming off that thing is far from flattering.  But wait, you might say, 'my scene is too dark.'  Maybe so, maybe not.  Many cameras these days have high ISO capability -- in layman's terms, they can bring in more of the ambient light in the scene without a need for that pop-up flash.  Overriding the flash on a point-and-shoot may also slow down your shutter speed; in order to prevent motion blur or camera shake, be sure to stabilize your camera (more on this later).

Another option, should your scene seem too dark, is to change the scene.  Move to where there is a source of natural or otherwise available light.  Windows are great.  Lots of gray, 'gloomy' winter days?  No problem!  Cloudy skies are like nature's giant softbox, without that harsh light coming from the sun that we usually see in the summer.  



3.  Steady Now

Ever seen images that look like the photographer had one too many caramel mocha egg nog triple lattes at Starbucks, or where the subjects are blurred as if they were part of a bad acid trip?  That motion blur is usually a result of one or both of two things: subjects moving, and/or the photographer shaking.  For the former, you can avoid some of this by making sure you shutter speed stays around 1/60 of a second or above.  Or, contradicting the point above, use 'fill flash' to freeze your subject (but dial down that flash, if you can, or otherwise dim or diffuse it to take away the harshness).

As far as camera shake, 'steady and stable' is your mantra.  Do whatever you need to do to keep that camera stabilized.  Use two hands, ideally with one hand propped underneath the lens or the base of the camera.  And rather than holding it at arm's length in front of you, keep the camera as close in towards your body as you can (elbows in, wrists tight).  You'll find what positions and contortions work for you... don't be afraid of what you look like, 'cause trust me, getting the shot is worth it!



4.  Find your angle

While you're getting into uncomfortable or awkward-looking positions, now's a great time to move from that front-and-center spot to a road less taken.

Get down, get high... angle-wise, of course.  Move around.  Try different positions and locations.  Move your subjects off centre (please).  Standing on a chair and shooting down towards female subjects can produce a particularly flattering look.  On the contrary, shooting males from a lower camera spot works well.  When traveling, get the postcard images out of the way, then find different ways of looking at that subject -- show us something new!



5.  Have fun

What, is Ari too lazy to include a fifth tip?  Nah.  It may sound cliche, but having fun is a vital part of good photography.  If you're having fun, your subjects will have fun -- and vice versa.  If the photographer is tense and anxious, what can we expect the subject to be?  Grip the camera, but let go of everything else.  This goes double when shooting your family, spouse, et al... they'll appreciate it, and the photos will turn out better.

Get out there, get some great images, and please share with us -- I look forward to 'em!



All the best,

a r i

The Unplugged Wedding?

I was shooting a wedding last fall where the officiant asked those in the audience to kindly shut off their smartphones and other noise-making devices (babies notwithstanding). The message was met with some laughter and a smattering of applause. Some folks kept their phones on, apparently smug in the notion that the rules didn't apply to them as they were merely using these devices to snap photos of the bride and groom.

And yet therein lies the problem (from this vantage point).

The bride and groom have hired a professional photographer (in this case, a team of pros) to capture the memories of their special day.

Meanwhile, their guests are shooting away like there's no tomorrow. Smartphones, point-and-shoots, and an increasing number of DSLRs are commonplace not only at the reception but now during the ceremony as well. Oh, for the days of film, when every click came with a cost.

Floating around the Interwebs and other circles as of late is the concept of the "unplugged wedding." Wedding couples are sharing their experiences, having seen friends and family come from near and far, only to be absorbed in the viewfinder or LCD screen, paying more attention to their snaps and Tweets than to the bride and groom. The backlash is finally beginning to mount.

From a photographic point of view, one of our biggest pet peeves is "Uncle Fred." You know the guy: he's got a consumer or pro-sumer DSLR, and he's convinced that he can do just as good a job as a professional. At a wedding I shot recently, there were at least a few Uncle Freds, and one of them felt compelled to follow the bride and groom around (even on the formal portraits) and shoot all day and well into the evening. They get in the way of the hired photographers; their flashes and red auto-focus beams ruin some of our images; and yet we have to handle these people with kid gloves.

Rest assured, there are other options.

Some couples are now having the officiant or members of their bridal party control the crowd. If the bride or groom hasn't explicitly asked, you can have the best man or maid of honour let folks know that they'll have a window of opportunity to shoot the lovely couple, but that otherwise we need to do our jobs so that their photographs come out beautifully.

This is the kind of thing that a photographer can and should go over with the bride and groom. It's not just for the photographs, but for a quality experience overall. Cameras and phones off, please, at least during the ceremony; let the guests relax and unwind, soak in the experience just as the couple is.