How to capture Christmas

The perils of being the designated photographer in the family

“Can you photoshop me skinnier?”

“Wait, I wasn’t ready - take it again”

“Can you just do candid shots? (Meanwhile everyone stares straight into the camera, posing)”

“Now take one with my phone too”

Any of these sound familiar? If so, it’s you. You are the designated photographer in your family and will more than likely be landed with capturing the festivities.

So I thought a checklist of how to take on this task with a little bit of flair, so that the outcome is not just a set of dimly lit, hurriedly taken snaps that don’t do the day, or the company, any justice might be just the ticket for this last Substack before Christmas.

PLANNING

OK, I know it’s obvious, but it’s ¹worth saying. Charge your camera (or phone) and make sure you have space on your memory cards (or phone memory) on Christmas Eve.

Plan ahead - this is presumbly not your first Christmas, so play the movie of last year in your head and flag up some moments that really sum up your Christmas Day (minus any disagreements. Or overdoing the Sherry). Be it the early morning slice of Pannettone with coffee before the madness decends, or the sight of a sea of bobble hats as you head out on a Christmas walk. It can help to write them down (and dare I say, even stage them on the day if you have a family that’s keen on that type of shenanigan.)

LIGHTING

So many good options for gorgeous lighting. Tree lights, candles, firelight will all give your images a magical cosyness if you persuade people to move towards, and face towards, the nearest glow!

If you want to take it a step further, have a set of battery operated Christmas lights up your sleeve (not literally, the fire service need their Christmas Day too) that you place either side of your camera so that you’re shooting through the gap in their glow, or place them behind the person you are shooting for some festive Christmas bokeh. You could also bundle them into a jar that you then move around to use as your key light. It all depends how quick vs creative you want your shots to be.

If you are using your camera rather than a phone, as a rough guide, I would be aiming to shoot any portraits lit like this at around F1.4, 1/100th, 400 ISO

I would definitely recommend staying away from flash, and increase your ISO as much as you dare it gets darker. I would take a little bit of graininess in an image over the harshness of hurried on-camera flash any day.

GET CREATIVE,

And tell the full story of your Christmas.

Capture some of the details - the unlovable toffee coins left in the Quality Street tin, the last tiny piece of cheese that everyone’s too polite to finish.

Have a play with the angle and height that you take shots from. Having a few from a toddler (or dogs)-perspective can work well (the illusion of massive gifts under a towering tree.) Or a high angle shot of the gift-opening frenzy (²just don’t try standing on a chair in heels or after your first glass of fizz, or both)

Include the food - but definitely don’t make everyone wait while you style it. A shot of the 4th attempt to set fire to the Xmas pud, or the dog sitting hopefully near the Turkey is more what I mean here.

If you want to take it that step further, you could play with motion blur - put your camera on a tripod and set a long exposure to capture the kids running around. For something like this, a slow shutter speed of between 1/10 and 1 second depending on how much motion you want to capture. The longer the exposure the more dramatic the trail of motion will be. Then a medium Aperture of around F5.6 with the focus locked on somthing stationary, like the tree. ISO will depend on the available light - the lower the ISO (ie 100 - 400 ISO) the cleaner the image. But if there is less available light raise it to 800 - 1600, but just be aware that there may be some digital “noise” in the final image, depending on your camera.

©KirstieYoung

Alternatively, feel free to choose to do none of the above, and simply enjoy the day as it comes! I’m somewhere in between the two - I love to have a few moments captured from the day that make me feel warm and fuzzy to look back at, but I’m always going to choose an extra glass of wine and a handful of crisps over framing up the next Christmas shot.

I plan to fully hunker down with friends and family and enjoy every tinsel bedecked, cheese indulging minute of the festivities ahead, and I hope you all have the opportunity to do the same. I’ll be back with masterclasses, quick tips, troubleshooting, behind the scenes videos and deep dives into all things photography in a couple of weeks.

Thank you so much for supporting my Substack this year, it really is so appreciated. Wishing you all the most magical Christmas, however you chose to spend it.

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1. This has been my downfall, more than once.

2. This has also been my downfall, more than once.