Bokeh. Photo by Amber Flowers/Soul Gaze Photography.

Once a year, the season of giving and holiday cheer arrives. Holidays are bursting with festive colors and decorations, bright lights, warm fireplaces and a wide variety of family and religious traditions. With so many photographic opportunities it’s easy to become overwhelmed or capture nothing more than boring snapshots. This holiday season take your images to a new level. Capture the holiday with bright winter portraits and colorful holiday scenes!

Sometimes we forget to capture portraits of our family. Maybe the challenge of indoor lighting or the lack of time gets in the way. Even if everyone else is running around, you can stay behind the scenes and quietly capture the scene from your perspective. Consider ‘journalistic’ shots of your family: portraits capturing emotions and the moments you’ll want to treasure in the future. Don’t just photograph the whole scene; consider close-up portraits where the subject fills the frame. Use a camera with the ability to zoom or add a longer lens to get closer without violating someone’s comfort zone which is more respectful and allows for better capture of candid moments. If using your on camera flash, ensure enough distance from your subject to prevent blinding and overexposure. If you have a DSLR or are using an off camera flash, invest in some flash diffusers or ‘bounce’ your flash off the ceiling for more natural and even lighting. Also be mindful of your white balance settings for proper color or shoot in RAW and adjust in post-processing.

Eventually, go outdoors for winter portraits. Sunny days are great for portraits because the white snow acts like a giant reflector filling the shadows of your subjects with great lighting. Help reduce squinting by placing the sun behind them and using fill-flash to light them from the front. Depending on the time of day, you may have enough light from the reflecting sunlight to avoid using any type of flash and utilizing the sun behind you to light your subject. Just be considerate of your subjects at all times. Bright lights can result in unattractive squinting and the cold can redden skin and trigger runny noses resulting in anxious, less than photogenic subjects. Remember also that it’s winter; don’t capture only formal portraits of your family or client. Play in the snow, make angels and snowmen, laugh and launch snowballs capturing the action with a fast shutter speed. Candid portraits of real life will be treasured more than just a basic portrait. Decorate a group of pine or cedar trees (ensure you have permission from property owner) with lights and holiday ornaments just as you would indoors and boxes wrapped to look like presents. Not only will your family have a great excuse for quality time, decorated outdoor trees look cool and are creative portrait backgrounds. If you prefer to avoid the work, wait until your local town or city puts out their annual holiday decorations and lights. Travel to the perfect location if you must. Holiday portraits are meant to be special and unfortunately, we don’t always have a snowy winter here in Kentucky. Night portraits, using holiday lights as a background, are another great way for your images to stand out. Use a tripod to prevent camera shake and long exposure with still subjects using the glow of the lights to illuminate the scene. For the best images use fill flash to ensure even lighting, but not so bright to blind your subject. Light reflects off snow at night too, so anticipate overexposure and compensate. You can also look online for tutorials for holiday light bokeh. Here is a basic tutorial with many beautiful examples: http://www.designzzz.com/bokeh-photography-howto-capture-tips-shoot/ and another more in depth: http://www.robertsdonovan.com/?p=702. Bokeh techniques blur lights with the popular circular blur such as in the above link, but you’re not limited to just circles. One such tutorial allows you to create your own bokeh lens cap which allows you to change the shape of your bokeh: http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh.

Capture the best winter landscapes after fresh snow has fallen. Monitor the weather via local sources or online via http://www.weather.gov. Wet snows that don’t coat the trees or fall before the ground is cold enough to ensure even snow coverage are less than ideal conditions. Not only will your location be muddy and wet, the snow doesn’t quite have that magical quality. Eventually you’ll know when the time is right. The snow will adhere to all surfaces with no signs of melting except from subtle dripping of icicles clinging to a rooftop. The trees will be coated with white and the air will be crisp and silent. This is the time to rock your camera. Get up before sunrise and prepare everything you’ll need. Bring a tripod if there’s a chance the cold will result in shaking which could be apparent in your photos. Cold quickly drains batteries and can affect the ability of a lens to zoom or focus. Keep your camera in an insulated camera bag until you’re ready to use it. Preferably, your equipment should be slightly acclimated to the cooler temperature you’ll be working in. Temperature changes can result in fogging of the lens and introduce your sensitive electronics to unwanted moisture. During extreme cold, that fog can even freeze on your equipment. If there’s any chance of fresh snow falling onto your camera or dropping from a tree above you, ensure you bring ways to dry and protect your equipment. As for photographers, warm gloves that allow you to use your camera’s settings are a must. You need to dress warmly: wearing rugged warm boots and a hat to protect your face, clothing to trap body heat and sunglasses if you plan to shoot during sunny winter days (to protect your eyes). If you plan to lay or sit in the snow, wear a waterproof layer to protect your skin or bring a small roll of plastic to lie on. If the cold makes you uncomfortable, the distraction will result in photographs that aren’t what you’d intended and can be dangerous considering most photographers are alone on these types of photo excursions. For your own safety, let someone know when and where you’re going and also when you’ll be back.

After you arrive at your location, be mindful of where you step. Once you destroy the snow with footprints, you could ruin your scene. Photoshop can be used in some cases, but shouldn’t be relied upon. Overcast days can prevent harsh shadows, but this doesn’t mean you can’t shoot during sunny days. Times where you prefer a blue sky behind your subject, it’s actually best to choose a sunny day. The warm glow of a sunrise, sunset and even experimenting with sun flares can create magical holiday photography. Harsh shadows can be your enemy or your friend depending on how they’re used in your composition and you may want to be mindful of your own shadow as well. If you have issues with underexposures or overexposures and have the ability on your camera, adjust your exposure compensation. If your camera is capable of shooting in RAW format, definitely do so. Improper white balance can ruin a photo and snowy images tend to have a blue cast that most find unappealing. By shooting in RAW, you can alter your white balance and exposure in post processing using programs such as Adobe Lightroom. If you don’t have the ability to shoot in RAW, read your camera manual and learn how to do the best you can with what you have.

Winter portraits and holiday scenes should always be about what excites you and reminds you of the holidays. This is a once a year time to capture the magic. Use what you’ve learned to be inspired to capture your best holiday images ever. With practice and help from the weather, your images will bring holiday cheer all year!

About the author: Amber Flowers, Owner of Soul Gaze Photography, is a photographer, digital artist and writer most known for her infrared photography and the ‘fine art’ feel to her work. She is Founder of Southern Kentucky Photographer’s Club and a member of The League of Creative Infrared Photographers. Amber resides in Glasgow KY with her Husband, two children and several pets. Learn more, ask questions or purchase fine art photography: www.soulgazephotography.com