Home for the Holidays - Creative Christmas Photoshoot Ideas at Home
The holiday season is a time of joy, togetherness, and warmth. Consider taking photos inside the home and capturing home decorations for your next photoshoots. Whether you are by yourself or with your family, this article will help you out with decorating, posing, and getting the best photos for the Holiday Season.
The Perfect Setting: Transforming Your Home
The second thing you will see when doing a photoshoot after the subject is the background and backdrop. What you decide to have in the background of your photos is important for getting great photos. Consider decorating different parts of your home like the fireplace, Christmas tree, staircase, and dinner table.
Photo by Stéphane Juban on Unsplash
Fireplaces may be a great place to start, consider having your fireplace on or taking photos near the fire. Make sure to be careful with this and use lighting in the front to avoid fully backlit photographs. Additionally, you can use decorations and incorporate DIY elements to enhance the festive atmosphere.
Festive Wardrobe: Dressing for the Occasion
Fashion and the Christmas season can go together. Depending on how much you want to go, there are plenty of options. You can choose to wear something cozy and warm like sweaters and cardigans. Or you can wear robes and heavier clothing.
Additionally, you can wear formal clothing such as dresses or suits too. It is important that you keep any logos to a minimum (generally) and coordinate the colors if you are with a group.
Photo by Yuliya Strizhkina (Cartier) 🇺🇦 on Unsplash
Creative Posing and Composition
Posing and composition is one of the final touches in each photo that you take. You can try different poses like sitting, standing. Remember to show depth when you are moving. You can get candid moments or staged moments and interactions. You can become a kind of actor during this time and have fun with it.
Photo by Mediamodifier on Unsplash
Keeping the subject lit will reduce any odd shadows that occur in the portrait. Composition techniques for indoor photoshoots include the rule of thirds, leading lines, and 4:3 ratio shows. Some of these guides are built into the camera and can help you decide where to put the subject.
Themed Ideas for Christmas Photoshoots
The following are some ideas for themes during a Christmas photoshoot. Feel free to use these or create your own variations of them.
- Winter Wonderland – create a theme involving white decorations and snow. Match the wardrobe with the white with either contrasting or similar colors. Also, try to recreate similar-looking snow.
- Pajama Paradise – get together your pajamas and take photos. Bring in props like cups of hot cocoa or frosty treats.
- Gift Wrapping – Take photos of the process of gift wrapping. You can get plenty of candid shots like this.
- Baking and Decorating – Show candid moments of baking and decorating for the Christmas season.
Photo by Diliara Garifullina on Unsplash
Photo by Mediamodifier on Unsplash
DIY Backdrops and Props
If you aren't finding what you like for props or decorations, consider making them yourself for a photoshoot. Crafted with love and creativity, these elements add a personalized touch to your holiday snapshots. Construct a charming winter wonderland backdrop using white sheets, fairy lights, and scattered faux snow for a dreamy snowy scene. For a cozy and intimate ambiance, fashion a backdrop of twinkling lights and draped plaid blankets to mimic the warmth of a holiday cabin.
Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash
Craft homemade banners with seasonal messages or opt for oversized ornaments to infuse your photos with an extra dose of holiday cheer. These DIY backdrops and props not only enhance the visual appeal of your pictures but also carry the sentimentality of your own hands contributing to the festive magic. You may also create DIY Photo frames that you can share. Add festive touches, glitter, and ribbons to the photos.
Editing The Photoshoot
A couple of essential tools for editing Christmas photoshoots include using the White Balance, Exposure, and color correction tools.
The white balance will help find the white part of the image and change the color temperature of the photograph. The exposure is another important tool for indoor home Christmas photoshoots. You can use the exposure to brighten and darken photos. Color correction may also be needed for matching the colors with what they need to look like.
Photo by Diliara Garifullina on Unsplash
Saving Your Memories and Sharing Them
How should you share your photos? You can do it physically and digitally with ease today. Physically you can get your images printed through different sizes. Common sizes include 4 x 6”, 8.5 x 10”, 13 x 19” or larger photograph sizes. You can get them printed through Photo stores like Saal Digital, Adorama, Walgreens, or CVS 
Photo by Diliara Garifullina on Unsplash
Additionally, you can share the full quality images digitally through iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox. From there you can download them on your phone, computer, hard drives, and share them with Social media.
Can I send photos by email? Generally used, however professional images may be larger in size and may need cloud services that can be downloaded at any time. Emails usually have a 20mb or less threshold.
Conclusion
This article went over the importance of a Christmas photoshoot at home. I encourage you to try one or more of these ideas for your next photoshoot. Make sure to add your own creativity to your photoshoot. Remember also to have fun during your next photoshoots and work with your photographer for great photos. Happy Holidays!