Christmas photo ideas to take at home this year
The Christmas photos people keep are the ones that repeat: the same spot, pose or job every year. Take one of those, then candid ones of cooking, wrapping, the table and the walk.
Start with 40 pages free. No card needed.
Posed photos by the tree date quickly. Photos of what your family actually does at Christmas are the ones people go looking for later.
Twelve ideas, with when to take each and a setting that helps.
See also: Christmas scrapbook titles, photo book ideas for the rest of the year, how to organise digital photos, Christmas card ideas to make by hand.
Make your photobook
Arrange your photos on the pages, check the proof and order a printed copy. Make a photo book online.
| Photo | When | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Same spot, every year | Christmas Eve | Mark the spot and the camera height so the years line up |
| Hands wrapping presents | The week before | Shoot from above onto a plain table |
| The cook at work | Christmas morning | Stand by the window; kitchen lights turn skin orange |
| The table before anyone sits | Just before the meal | Stand on a chair and shoot straight down |
| The table after | After pudding | The same angle as before, to make a pair |
| Lights in the window | Twenty minutes after sunset | There is still blue in the sky, so the house shows |
| The tree, lights only | Evening | Room lights off, phone leaning on something still |
| Asleep in new pyjamas | Christmas Eve, late | No flash; let the tree lights do it |
| The walk | Boxing Day | Everyone from behind, walking away down the path |
| Tags before wrapping | While wrapping | Close up on the handwriting before the paper goes on |
| The afternoon nap | After the meal | Ask first, or keep it for the family book |
| Everyone, once | When the most people are there | Phone on a shelf, timer on, photographer in the picture |
Indoor light at Christmas
Turn off the ceiling light and use a lamp or a window. A phone copes with tree lights if you hold still and tap the brightest face to set the exposure.
The yearly repeat
Choose one photo to take every year in the same place: by the front door, on the stairs, at the table. After ten years it is the page everyone turns to first.
Getting them off the phone
Make a phone album for this Christmas and add the keepers on the day. By January the photos for a book are already chosen.
Steps
The run-up
Wrapping, cards arriving and the tree going up, as small photos on one page.
Christmas Eve
The yearly repeat photo large, with the window lights and the pyjamas beside it.
The day
The table before and after as a pair across the spread, with the cook in the middle.
Boxing Day
The walk and the group photo, with a gift tag or cracker crown in a pocket.
Questions
How do I take good Christmas tree photos on a phone?
Turn off the room lights, keep the tree lights on, lean the phone on something and tap the tree to set the exposure.
What are good family Christmas photo ideas?
A yearly photo in the same spot, the table before and after the meal, the Boxing Day walk and one timer photo with everybody in it.
When should I make a Christmas photo book?
In the first weeks of January, while the day is still clear. One spread per day from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day is enough.