3 Tips for Christmas Pictures

Dec 15

This may surprise you, but Ava and I have never had a family photoshoot. Seriously. Oh, she’s had them by herself. As a newborn, for birthdays, for school. But we’ve never taken taken pictures as a family. I’ve been meaning to for the past few years, especially since its just us now.

With me designing photo holiday cards this holiday season, it seemed like the perfect time and occasion to take Christmas pictures. And let me tell you, they turned out beautifully. I couldn’t be happier.

So I want to share what worked for me.

Choose a family photographer you know and trust. Our photographer is a friend of mine and actually took the photo of me I currently use as my profile photo on all my social networks. And he got that amazing picture during a test shot for someone else’s photoshoot! Seriously. He just wanted to use me to test the light as the main subject was getting her makeup done. So, of course, I went with him as my photographer.
Plan ahead. I planned out everything - what hairstyles we’d have, how I’d do my makeup, what we’d wear, who would come with me, everything. I tend to run 10-15 minutes late to everything. And every single time, running late makes me anxious and grumpy. I didn’t want to be anxious and grumpy during our photoshoot. I needed not to be late. So I planned it all out in advance.
Schedule it early. I scheduled our photoshoot weeks before we actually took the photo. And I scheduled it for the morning. I didn’t want the photographer to run out of time slots. And then I didn’t want extra time during the day to procrastinate or for Ava to get dirty. So we woke up, got dressed, and headed to our photoshoot. There was nothing to stop or deter us. We were women on a mission.

I hope that helps! What have you found works for your Christmas or Holiday pictures?