The Christmas season is a wonderful time of year! People are happy and relaxed, everyone’s spending more time together, and the wonder of the season tends to bring out the best.

It’s also a photographer’s dream with so many signs of the season, from decked out trees to glistening lights, new-fallen snow and more, there’s no shortage of festive elements to incorporate into your images.

But when the camera comes out, people tend to pull their most contrived, artificial smiles ever! This can be tremendously frustrating for photographers since genuine smiles and happiness is where it’s at. It’s these genuine smiles that will light up your images, allowing you to create images that are truly meaningful.

Whether you’re looking to create professional portraits this season, or simply hoping to capture some great shots around the tree at Christmas – the secret is being prepared and looking to create a relaxing atmosphere, capturing your people when they’re at their most happy, and best.

With this in mind, here are a few tips that will help you to capture some great portraits this season.

Keep It Simple

In some cases, you might be best to go with a simple shot. Sure, there might be plenty of details you want to include, and you’ll still want to get a group shot but it’s also good to remember that simpler is often better.

Capturing just one person at a time, for example, is a lot easier than the challenge of trying to get everyone looking natural and in the direction of the camera at the same time! You’ll also want to consider simplifying the background in some of those portraits. Use a wide aperture (smaller f-number) to throw the background out of focus and direct attention to the subject. You might also consider taking some macros or close-ups along with your portraits – focusing in on the small, often forgotten details that make the season so special.

Focus on the Eyes

In most portraits you’ll want to focus on the eyes! As long as your subjects are looking in your general direction, ensuring that the eyes are clear and in-focus will help you to capture some winning portraits. If you’re outside or indoors with overhead lighting, consider encouraging your subjects to look up! This will help you to ensure that their eyes are fully open (no squinting!) and will also allow you to capture some beautiful catchlights, making their eyes appear to sparkle.

Rethink Your Staging

Often when it comes to Christmas portraits, there can be some awkward staging that takes place. Instead of the standard “line up and smile” pose, try helping your subjects to relax a bit. If you’re photographing one or two people, try giving them something to do, place ornaments on the tree, play with handfuls of snow, or even thumbing through a book while sitting by a fire! When they’re involved in the task it’ll make their entire stance a lot more natural, making for some better photos. Consider saying something like “Get closer – pretend like you like each other!” This can help to break the ice and make people relax a bit.

In some cases, you could also try your subjects get even closer into a shoulder hug or embrace. If you have an especially large group, try having everyone wave and cheer near the end of your shoot. This helps to encourage smiles all around, putting people in a more festive mood and helping you to capture some genuine smiles.

Look to Incorporate Some Bokeh

Wider apertures have another benefit as well. They’ll give you the chance to capture some amazing background bokeh. Bokeh – those out-of-focus areas of light in the background or foreground of images – can add a beautiful artistic flair to your portraits. To capture bokeh, just make sure your subject is positioned in front of, but not blocking, a light source, like Christmas lights. Then use a wide aperture to create your images.

Diffuse or Reflect Your Flash

When it comes to Christmas portraits, the lighting is crucial. And in some cases, a flash can be useful for helping to add some extra light to a scene. Consider bouncing the flash off the ceiling or wall, or using a flash diffuser to help dampen some of the light. Or try dialling your flash’s power down, so it’s less blinding! Finally, you may want to consider using a reflector instead of a flash. A reflector is a more subtle way to bounce some light back onto your subjects; eliminating those unwanted shadows around their eyes.

Don’t Forget to Adjust Your Settings

Your ideal camera settings for Christmas portraits vary depending on your location, time of day, and available light, but for those classic portraits in front of the Christmas tree or anywhere else where there’s adequate ambient lighting, you’ll usually want to choose a wider aperture to throw your background out of focus, and a shutter speed of around 1/30 to 1/90.

Try setting your aperture, and then adjust your shutter speed until you’re happy with the lighting. Don’t forget, if you’re shooting in RAW, that will give you the most flexibility in post-processing later on, while you can salvage those images that may be compositionally great but lacking a bit in terms of white balance or exposure.

Don’t Stress

Finally, and perhaps most importantly – try not to stress! While it’s easy to do when you’re capturing portraits – especially if young children are involved – staying calm is always your best bet. Kids can go into melt-down mode fairly quickly, especially the younger ones, so try to keep your sessions short and fun. Bringing along a few fun toys that can double as props in the photos is always a great idea. Something especially festive like reindeer or snowmen stuffed animals or even a mini Christmas tree or a few (non-glass) ornaments would work well.

You may even want to consider bringing along some treats or snacks to help keep everyone’s spirits up. You’ll also want to try chatting to everyone first, to help ease their nerves a bit and encourage them to relax. Try asking children what they’re looking forward to this Christmas! Try talking with adults about their favorite Christmas traditions! Look to bring the best out in people, and they’ll reward you with relaxed postures. Remember, not every picture will be perfect, and that’s okay.

Christmas is the season of joy so look to capture that in your portraits. Bringing out genuine smiles and capturing those special interactions is always the best option. Enjoy creating real memories – ones that will last!

Do you enjoy capturing portraits at Christmas? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!