25 Christmas Photo Ideas

Have you found all 25 Christmas photo ideas?

I'm still looking for a hippopotamus! You?

A Fun Way To Photograph Your Christmas Tree

Kelly (aka Mugsbigsis) is such a talented photographer with a beautiful home! I loved having her in Capturing Your Holidays. Don't you love how she made her tree come alive?

Want to know how?

A tripod is helpful to get a smooth zoom. A wide lens is helpful for this technique.

1. Set your camera to Aperture Priority(AV or A).*
2. Set your Aperture to f/20.
3. Set your ISO to 100
4. Secure your camera to a tripod.
5. Place your hand on the zoom ring of your lens.
6. Press the shutter button.
7. Slowly turn your zoom ring.
8. Check your results, try zooming faster and slower. In to out and out to in.

*You can also use Program Mode (P) or Manual Mode (M) for this technique.

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Have you joined the new flickr group? Just for those of you I've had the privilege to help in your photography journey! Fun conversation, prompts and more to come! Share your photos there if you try out this technique!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Adding The Every Day To December Daily

We have a lot of water in our Northern California rivers with more rain expected. Seeing the park flooded has occupied a certain 5 year old's brain, so I included it in our December book. We were able to take some time while it was not raining to go see the park, show him all of the water, and see the fabulous clouds with blue sky peeking through!

Everyday life goes on in December, so I thought it was important to add it in. I struggled a bit with the title of the page. The template said, Merry and Bright, which just didn't seem appropriate. A quick erase and a little addition and I think I've summed it up better. Do you struggle with including the everyday in your December Daily book?

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Have you joined the new flickr group? Just for those of you I've had the privilege to help in your photography journey! Fun conversation, prompts and more to come!

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Check out my post today at TheDailyDigi! Lot's of fun with holiday lights AND a give away!

How To Capture Christmas Light Bokeh

The talent in Capture Your Holidays was stunning! I've asked several class participants to share their photos so you can see what wonderful images created in the last two weeks. TerryD photographed Santa with bokeh in such a beautiful way! I just love this image.

So how did she do it?

The key to great bokeh is:

• a wide aperture
• distance between your subject and the lights
• a longer focal length.

Here you are, step by step. This photo can be taken in the daylight so you get enough light on Santa.

1. In Manual Mode (M), select your widest aperture (the smallest f/number).
2. Select Spot Metering.
3. Meter on your subject for a correct exposure.
4. Looking through your viewfinder, adjust your shutter speed until it indicates a correct exposure (the middle line on your light meter). Adjust your ISO and shutter speed, leaving your aperture at its widest number.
5. Shoot.
6. Review your results.

Have fun shooting!

By popular request I've created a Flickr Group for everyone who has been in one of my classes, benefitted from my tutorials or ebook, walked with me, or followed instructions on my blog! A fun place to share photos and stay connected. I hope you'll join us!

Be sure to leave TerryD some love!

Catching Up With December Daily

I knew as soon as I took this photo it was going on December 14th's page. I'm playing a little catch up this week. How about you?

Pretty Pictures of Christmas

Christmas time surrounds us with photo opportunities. I love the lights and decorations and the holiday spirit. Throughout this week I'm going to share some of my favorite photos from my own December collection as well as those from people in my Capture Your Holidays class at Debbie Hodge's GetItScrapped.  I may even throw in a how to or two!

My ornament shots were taken in natural light (front lit for the top, side lit for the bottom) using card stock paper as a backdrop. I absolutely have a weakness for the classic, solid color, glass ornament.

Few of them are on my tree, most reside in dishes or platters around my house.

What is your ornament weakness?

Go Back Later To Find Photos You Love

I discovered this one today from just about a week ago. I'm not sure how I missed it the first time. Love the expression(click on it to see it larger). I think it's bad case of red eye made me skip over it for my December Daily book. I'm rethinking that now. I may just go back and tuck it in there somewhere!

Am I the only one who skips photos, only to go back later and find ones you love?

Looking for Cooperation For Christmas Photos?

Do you have difficulty getting cooperation for photos at Christmas? Want to know my trick?

Offer to adorn him in lights so he can be a Christmas tree.* It helps if he is five years old and determined to dress up in "every costume in the world." I'll need to add this to my list of methods to capture active kids.

The trick to low light photos? Spot meter and expose for his face.

How do you get cooperation?




*promptly bathe him after.

How I Speed Up My December Daily Pages On Busy Days

This week is PACKED with activities in our house. I love this time of year, but it can get crazy and a bit hard to keep up with December Daily.

I've given myself permission to have some December Daily Do Over Days! I grab a page I've already completed, swap out photo and journaling. Change an element or two (or none). I am then able to breathe easier and carry on to the next day! I want to complete my album AND enjoy the holidays. I've got to strike that balance!

I only took a few photos yesterday, this was a favorite. Sums up this time of year so well.

How are you balancing December Daily and enjoying the holidays?

How I Photograph Holiday Cookie Baking

I do not dress my child up in costumes for photos, I really don't. I do, however, set up our cookie baking for the best results!

Making Gingerbread Vegans is a favorite tradition, both to make and eat. Once we prep all of the ingredients in the kitchen, I move the entire process to the dining room table. I position the rolling mat so Ian's side is to the window or so the window is directly in front of him. You can tell in these photos where I positioned him in relation to the light.  Since I never ask him to move, I get more cooperation.

Once he gets cutting it's easy to wander around to get the best angle and light for a shot or two. The elf costume is just a bonus!

Click on the photos for product credits.

Do you have any favorite holiday photo taking tricks?

December Daily Day 5 - The Story Of The Elf

Class starts tomorrow. I always get a little nervous excitement brewing the night before class, hoping I've not missed anything, anticipating the chatter in class, and looking forward to seeing everyone's photos.

Preparing for class has me scrambling a bit to keep up with December Daily, but I'm determined. I've learned from past experience to keep taking photos and jot down what I can. I'm going to allow myself a skipped day here or there if I need to.  For yesterday, I'm leaving it big and black and white. I loved it the moment I saw him on the tracks. Do you have those moments you just know you're going to love the photo?

This year's book is turning into documentation of everywhere Ian wears his elf costume. Since he's worn it EVERY DAY since he received it, expect to see a lot of it! I'm certain he'll appreciate this book on the coffee table when he's fifteen.

Are you seeing any themes develop in your December Daily Project?

Narrowing Down the Photos For December Daily

I've selected my six photos to compliment my one photo layout of December 4th! Thank you for all of the great ideas and for gently pushing me toward my decision.

I loved all of the ideas you shared:

• Put them all in a grid, similar to my post.
• Make a flip page with the stories behind them.
• Include a baseball card style page.
• Use an index print of all pages.
• Create an elf minibook.

Loved them!

So why did I pick only six?

I know this book will be printed 8x8 at Shutterfly. With my books from 2009 and 2008, I've found I like my photos a bit larger so I can really see them. I'll include pages with fewer photos, but those are typically non-people photos.

I loved the suggestions to include my mom and the cup. It becomes so easy to make every page an Ian page, he's filled with the magic of Christmas this year! I like that I'm left with a good overview of a special day.

I am still mulling the elf minibook idea! What ideas are you considering for your December Daily book?

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Capture Your Holidays Through The Lens starts tomorrow! I'm so excited to help you capture special moments! The first lesson includes the technique for the light photo in the bottom corner above.

Thank you to everyone who has registered and spread the word. You are an amazing community of friends.

Selecting Photos For A December Daily Page

December Daily is filled with choices about paper, embellishments, journaling, AND photos. Today is a difficult photo day for me.

Not because the day was too busy to take any, but because it was too filled to narrow it down to a few. You know those days. Family visiting. Birthday party to attend. Santa to visit. Lights to see. All in one day.  Exhausting holiday fun.

Everyone is sleeping all snug in their bed except for me. I'm sitting in front of Lightroom. Sorting. I could create a 20 page book with today's photos. And I would really like the book.

What makes it even more difficult? A costume. A stinkin' cute elf costume my mom made for Ian. He's been wearing it since she arrived yesterday. I'm not THAT mom that dresses up her kiddo for photos, but HE is THAT kid that dresses up and asks to be photographed.

Here is Page 1 for today. The story and the costume must be in this year's December Daily book. I've decided to include 6 more for the day on another page. The choice is made more difficult knowing each photo contains a story.

So here are a few of my choices.  Which would you include?

25 December Daily Photo Ideas

December! It's here!

If you are taking part in Ali Edwards' December Daily project or just documenting your month one day at a time, finding inspiration for a photo everyday can have its challenges. There are days you are just too tired to mess with your camera. Days you forget to take a photo until the last minute and there might even be days where you just feel stuck for an idea. The tree? Again?

Here is my 25 December Daily Photo Ideas downloadable pdf for a little inspiration! I am going to use it as a scavenger hunt through the month and maybe even a page title or two!

Enjoy! I'd love to hear which you find and which inspire you the most!

When The Boys Go To Sleep Early

Mom is left at her computer to play! Tonight I decided to play with my tripod and take some photos of our tree. I just love our mantle at Christmas and all of the memories each item has. My intent was to just take a few tree photos and maybe some of the ornaments. And then I started to play. This is the winter I master the low light in our living room. And, well, then I had a little too much fun!

Any idea how I captured this? Guesses? I'll share later!

Our Plan For Holiday Magic Making

I love the holidays! I love getting out of the house and joining our community in celebrating the season. I wanted to keep all of our events and plans together and saved forever. So here are the things we are planning to include!

11/27-11/29 The Santa Train - A new family tradition! Free for Train Museum members too! Ride the train with Santa the weekend after Thanksgiving. Live music, decorated train and just pure holiday goodness! The best part? Santa really stops and talks to each child!

12/5 6PM Festival of Lights Parade This is a new parade in the newly coined "Handle District." It says they hope for 20 floats. So this might be quaint and fun or completely cheesy. Either way we are going to give it a try. It's a good reason to be out and then stop by Rubicon after!

12/5 7PM Sacramento Boat Parade - We had a bad experience attempting to see this last year. So this year I'm going to give it another try, time permitting. If the Festival of Lights Parade is HUGE we may not make it.

12/10 Governor's Christmas Tree Lighting - A family tradition. (two years in a row counts right?!) We only go for part of the ceremony because it is usually super crowded and cold!

State Capitol Museum Music - Throughout December the Capitol Rotunda is filled with music. We love to go to the second floor and peer down on the performers. Everything from bagpipes to classical piano. All ages and stages of performers too!

Old Sac Horse Drawn Carriage Rides - Fun for an evening outing. We bundle up and this year plan on taking the ride around the Capitol to see the lights and make people wait behind our carriage.

T Street Lights - Okay, the lights aren't on T Street, but that is how we always remember. Then we drive down T Street slowly until we see the line of cars turning! I love walking down the street to see all of the displays.

Santa's Toy Shop - This is a new to midtown event each weekend of December. Sounds like story time with Santa. We might give this a try.

Old Sac Theatre of Lights - A new to Old Sac event. I love the magic of Old Sac at Christmas so an added event should be fun!

Midtown Ice Skating Rink - It's not Rockefeller Center, but we are so excited to have the rink within easy walking distance of our home! We took our niece and nephew to the old location for many years and this year Ian gets to continue the tradition a bit closer to home!

Carnival of Lights - Another new light event worth investigating. Includes lights and...a carnival. In the old ice rink spot.

We'll throw in some holiday baking. A little home time. Our annual Holiday Party and I think our month is full! Looking forward to a fun one! What are your plans?

December Daily Begins November 26th!

Click here to view this photo book.

I love my Daily December album! It has a prominent home on our coffee table so I can thumb through it and relive last Christmas. Ian loves to see what he did and ask if we can do it "today." If he had his way we would have decorated and bought a tree about three months ago!

This year I'm going to document December again, but I'm starting on Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving photos always get lost in the shuffle of holiday preparation so it seemed like a good place to begin. Plus this year we are celebrating the turkey day with Shea's family and Christmas with mine. Now we'll have photos of both included!

A few things I learned last year that I hope to remind myself of this year.

• Make time to document. I tried to make time each evening to look through photos, document funny things that happened or sweet things Ian said. Having a lot of photos helps to jog the memory.
• Keep to a simple format and stay with it. I'm going to use Ali's December Daily Templates 2 and use the same papers and embellishments I used last year creating a continuation of last year's book. I'll mix in a few of the Original December Daily Templates ! I just love those!

• If you miss a day don't freak out. I missed a couple of days last year both photos and words. I just skipped those days in my book. The sky did not fall. There is no gaping hole in the book. It still makes me smile.

• Use the camera you have! Last year I found myself with Ian at the mall experiencing one of my favorite days of the year. I did NOT have my camera, which is a rare occurrence! I snapped photos of him anyway and created one of my favorite pages of the entire book.

• Enjoy the moments. I believe we experienced more as a family because of the project. I really wanted great photos, great locations, and to see everyone smiling! That meant venturing out on cold nights (ok, California cold, but we are in Northern California so it is a bit cold!)

Did you do Daily December last year? Link us up to your book or your favorite page from your book so we can be inspired!

Here is my favorite page from last year! The story still makes me smile :) Happy Thanksigiving! And yep, bring on December!

The Holidays Begin With Ice Skating!

The outdoor rink is open! Ian is so excited to try it out. We just need to find a size TINY skate first!

3 feet and under

My first SB Peppermint Hot Chocolate of the season! Tis Christmas time!

Spent the entire day putting ornaments back on the tree after Ian removed them! In a few days there will be nothing three feet and under on our tree. Then I really have to worry since today he discovered he can carry his little chair into the kitchen and reach the counter top.

Updated Christmas list for those of you who care (Mom?!)

I finished our Christmas card today, but if I post it the surprise will be gone! You'll just have to wait for the postman to deliver!

Christmas Kennedy Style

A Kennedy Christmas is a little calmer than the previously mentioned one.

More cute cousins!

Presents are opened with a little help from Grandma.

Cousins pose for the camera.

Stairs are climbed

A good time for all!