Christmas Hacks for the Photographer

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE Christmas! I always have and I think I always will. I love the baking, the decorations, the sentimentality, the togetherness, the tradition, the spirit, the nostalgia; I love it all! (Well, not shopping….) Sometimes all that love can lead to a little bit of overwhelm to do it all and capture it all this time of year. To make things easier on myself, I’ve discovered a pack of Christmas hacks for the photographer! These hacks make my “photographer” part of the holidays much easier to manage.

Want to know the smartest tricks I’ve discovered for taking Christmas photos all season long? Keep reading to find out!

1. Tree Lights

Use big outdoor patio lights on your tree to get a bright tree and for great bokeh.  In my experience, the brighter the tree, the better for holiday photos. I love the big orbs of light I can get when I fill my tree with those big glass patio lights as well as standard Christmas tree lights.

2. Make Your Own Overlays

No need to buy light overlays – when you are photographing your tree, make a point to take a photo of it out of focus and with your exposure stopped down too, and layer that on top of your image to add on some dreamy bokeh that is the right shape and colours when you edit. When I photograph my “custom tree bokeh,” I stop down my exposure until the scene is dark save for the lights and pick a focus point away from the tree so the lights are all bokeh and out of focus. When editing, after adding the tree bokeh to the image you are working on, change the blending mode of your homemade overlay to “screen,” and you’ll be golden!

3. Tree in a Basket

Tree in a basket means = moveable tree! One of my biggest annoyances is where to put my tree every year. I want it somewhere that is functional for my home but also somewhere ideal for taking pictures. Unfortunately, the spot that works best for photos is in the middle of my dinning room (which doesn’t work at all in terms of functionality). So, after battling with this conundrum for a couple of days this year, I decided that if I put my tree in a basket (which is trendy anyways!), I could easily move the tree around for photos and it worked! Every couple of days, when the whim strikes, I slide my tree around to satisfy my photography desires then I slide it back to regain proper use of my dinning room. Win!

4. Did I Mention Overlays?

Overlays are your best friend! Christmas magic means bring on all the overlays! I know I said above that you don’t need to buy light overlays to enhance the bokeh of your tree and you definitely don’t. But you can get lots of other fun overlays instead! Light trails, lanterns glows, window scenes, Santa hints, snow etc. There is lots of magic available at your fingertips! My go to place to get overlays is Etsy.

Get 10 Free Photography Overlays with the Holiday Collab!

5. Keep a Bin of Props for Styling

Keep a bin of flat lay treasures on hand for easy styling. I love to create flat lays with our holiday baking and some special moments (like letters to Santa, making clay ornaments, gift wrapping etc) but I detest disassembling decor for the flat lays. Keeping a bin of things I use often in my holiday flat lays has been a huge time saver for me. Mine has: twinkling lights, bits of greenery, a pack of ornaments, some snowflakes, old recipes, old books, holiday tea towels, wrapping paper, ribbons, and twine in it.

6. OCF

OCF to combat poor winter light or too much window light. In the cold, dark months of the year, I pull out my strobe a lot. I use my strobe to create a window where I wish there was a window for soft light with direction when the ambient light is a little lacking, flat, or kind of muddy. Winter brings along another problem for me too. The sun is low in the sky so I often get too much winter light in through my big bay windows too. To combat this, I stop down my exposure and use my strobe which has the capacity to overpower the bright, hazy, hotspot-ridden ambient light. OCF can help you have more pronounced directional light when needed, or can help turn a bright room into a darker scene if desired.

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There you have it! I hope these Christmas Hacks for the Photographer help to ease any of the photography-related Holiday stress you might be facing.

For more inspiration, follow Sarah on Instagram and check out her amazing and inspiring courses below!

Nostalgic Childhood

Fine Art Environmental Portraiture