by Jennifer Blanchard

Created on: June 22, 2008   Last Updated: November 05, 2010

It's Christmas morning. You run down stairs and find that Santa left you a new digital camera. But how do you make sure that the pictures you take all day don't end up looking like a bad holiday card?

Think About Lighting

At the holidays, people use a lot of holiday lights to decorate their trees, but that isn't the most flattering light to take your pictures by. To shine some more light and take better pictures, try opening the blinds and allowing natural light in, or for darker days or evening photos, turn on overhead lights in the room.

If you want to take a mood photo, have your friends and family gather around the Christmas tree and take the picture in the dark using tree lights and your camera's flash.

Cut Out The Background

Most pictures come out bad because they have too much going on in them-too much background, too much showing of Aunt Ethel's Rudolph sweater. Try using your camera's zoom feature to zoom in on people's faces. Don't get too close, just close enough to get a head-shot (which means from the shoulder's up). It's nice to see all the beautiful holiday decorations and the Christmas tree, but it's also nice to have beautiful photos of our friends and family we can use throughout the year without the holiday decoration distractions getting in the way.

Photo Subjects

At the holidays, you often end up with a lot of posed "everyone stand here and look this way" photos. So be sure and also take pictures of people in the moment, which means capturing your kids' excitement as they open their gifts and clicking the camera just as mom and dad sneak that kiss under the mistletoe.

When you are posing people for pictures, remember this very important thing-be careful what is behind them. I've had numerous pictures ruined because I didn't pay attention to that mirror hanging above someone's head. When the photo comes out, it looks like the mirror is growing out of the person's head.

Using Photos to Make Gifts

Once you've taken many good holiday photos, you can turn them into awesome projects to keep or give away as gifts:

-Scrapbooks: People love to replay memories, that's a given. So creating a scrapbook of a certain occasion or an entire lifetime is a great way to remember these happy events. Scrapbook supplies are available at any local craft store or even your local Walmart, and range in prices. You can use photos, paper frames, stickers, words and more to create beautiful memories of your life.

Be sure and use acid-free scrapbook paper otherwise

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