Tis the season! I love the holidays and I especially love the holiday card. This year I’m so excited to share our card. We did something totally different, took some photos of scenic Jacksonville! The downtown bridges make such a beautiful backdrop for photos.
Each year we order our cards through Minted. I love the quality and the service. If you still have not ordered your cards, like me, no worries, you can use code SHIPNOW to get FREE rush shipping and have your cards delivered by 12/21!! There are so many great choices from Minted, you’ll find plenty to choose from!
And now for our Christmas card reveal…….
Five Simple Tips for Taking Family Photos
Tip #1. The outdoors is your friend. Natural light is great for photos. But do avoid direct sunlight, aim for sunset if you can. We found that 4:45 is just the right for us. In the picture to the left of our card, the sun was on our face but, I decided to use it anyway because it was a cute, impromptu pic. Notice how the sun on our faces created shadows and a yellowish tone.
Tip #2: Consider your background. Aim for three different points of interests behind you to create a beautiful backdrop and helps the blurred effect of the images behind you. (You will want to have your camera on the right setting as well.) You’ll note in the picture below, we have the flowers, the palm trees, a fence, then the bridge to give us a great blurred background affect.
Tip 3#- Use the outtakes. Not every photo should be a pose. Get the family in between takes doing fun stuff. I love this picture below of their big brother trying to get some of their ice cream.
Tip #4: Color coordinate. Your outfits do not have to be green, white, and red. Just find colors that go together. This year we chose reds and navy. Last year we did gray and purple. Keep in mind that shades of the same color work just fine, especially in photos.
Tip #5: Have fun! Pictures once stressed me out because I wanted to get the right photo. Well, I’ve learned all I need is a few great photos, not 20. So what I do is take several different shots of the same pose and just instruct the kids to vary their faces and body slightly with each click, a trick we learned in modeling. Usually one of those pictures will come out perfect!
In the picture below, it started raining but we had fun anyway!
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