Every Photograph You Should Snap On Christmas Day
The days following Christmas are always a little strange. After the chaos and excitement of Christmas Day, no one seems to know what to do with themselves. Either you’re watching a repeat of Elmo Saves Christmas or you’re wandering zombie-like to the fridge for more turkey leftovers. But there is one thing that you should be doing: Curating all of your Christmas day photographs and creating a photo book in 2 clicks, straight from your Instagram or Facebook page.
If you’re an avid photographer, Christmas is the perfect time to capture some heart-warming, seasonal photos, complete with excited kids, presents, and a slightly tipsy uncle. But capturing those photographs can be notoriously difficult. As we mentioned before, Christmas is fairly chaotic. In the morning, you're abruptly awoken by calls of ‘SANTA’S BEEN!’, and that mayhem doesn’t really stop until you’re falling asleep to Rocky III twelve hours later.
This makes it hard to take a moment, step back, and photograph all the things that really need to be photographed. That’s why you’ll find so many Instagram portfolios full of Christmas photographs that weren’t taken on the day itself. People don’t have the chance! But in 2023, we think you should break that mold. Below, you’ll find seven things that you should make sure to snap on Christmas day, ensuring all the memories stay close to your heart forever.
The Stocking Opening
If you’re lucky enough to have kids in the family, you’ll be all too familiar with waking up at 5:00 AM on Christmas morning. You’ll also be familiar with going to the kitchen, making a coffee, and then walking into the lounge to find all the presents already opened. You need to remember that kids grow 200% more giddy on Christmas. It’s like they’ve downed a dozen lemonades before they’ve even got out of bed. So make sure you don’t miss the gift unwrapping, and take as many pictures as you can to capture those excited faces.
Peaceful Christmassy Scenes
If you want to have some professional pizazz when you upload your pictures to our photo book maker, then try to capture a moment alone with the Christmas tree. You may have already taken a few pictures of this scene, but the authenticity of Christmas Day will make it even more special. Make sure your white balance is set to high, and the lighting is casting bright, textured tones in the room to reveal all the details. Also, make sure you take this picture before all the kids' new toys are strewn around the living room!
The Christmas Spread – Before It’s Been Ransacked!
Everyone has their own little jobs when it comes to Christmas dinner. Either you’ve drawn the short straw and you have to procure the turkey, or you get away with having to bring the sprouts or parsnips. Either way, everyone has their part to play in creating a wonderful Christmas spread, so make sure you take a picture of the table laid and complete with food before people get tucked in.
A Communal Christmas
At no other time of the year do families look at each other and say: let’s go for a bitterly cold walk outside. On Christmas, however, it’s almost become a tradition. Happily for you, going for a walk provides some great opportunities to capture the community Christmas spirit. Around the neighborhood, several other families will be doing the same thing, and if the scene is crisp and snowy, this will provide some wonderful, heart-warming photographs for your collection.
Festive Family Portraits
We know what you’re thinking: Getting the family together for a lovely festive photo? Impossible! But actually, it’s not impossible. All you need is a bit of bribery. You’ll find that the most difficult members of the family to organize are the kids, but they can easily be bribed with a premature Christmas present. If the kids typically open their main gifts after Christmas lunch, keep one aside to serve as a teaser. Tell the kids that, if they behave and join everyone for a nice family photo, then they get to open a present early! Believe us, it works like a charm. Unless your kids open all of their presents first thing in the morning. In that case, we can't help you.
All Your Christmas Traditions
We mentioned before that the Christmas Day walk has become a popular tradition for a lot of families, but actually, every family has their own unique traditions. Maybe yours is a game of Scrabble, or Monopoly. Maybe you carry out a leftover sandwich competition, or you all sit down for an evening showing of Die Hard – it is a Christmas movie, darn it! Whatever the tradition is, make sure you take as many pictures as you can to instill some personality into your Christmas photo book before it's all finished.
The Magic Of The Night
Just as you took some beautiful, crisp Christmas scenes earlier in the day, make sure to take some more at night. When the sun goes down, the internal lights grow warm, giving you a great chance to capture some orange-tinted, peaceful Christmas scenes. These will contrast beautifully with your brighter scenes, and serve as a wonderful book-end to your Christmas photo book. Oh, and don’t forget to take a picture of whichever family member has fallen asleep on the couch. It's always good to have a permanent record of these things, just in case you ever need to bribe them for a photograph!