Q: “With the holiday season coming up, what are some tips to take better indoor photos of my family and friends?”
A: Although you may be tempted to try to fit every last family member in one elaborate photo, you’ll end up with better images, if you simply take several close-ups of individual friends and smaller groupings of family members instead. Here are some of my top tips for capturing these kinds of photos:
- First, when you think you’re close, get closer! A good rule to follow is to fill the frame with the top one-third of your family member’s body.
- If you’re shooting in the daytime, position yourself with your back to a large, open window, and place the subjects you’re photographing, so that they are facing the window. The window should afford great natural light to help showcase your subjects’ faces.
- Don’t forget to take close-ups of holiday décor, place settings, or other details to help provide context and set the scene.
- If you have an iPhone (or other types of phone with a similar feature), use the “panorama” mode to take a photo of the dinner table. Have one person take the start of the panoramic scene from one direction and have another person finish taking the photo from the other direction. (Did you know you can take a panoramic image in both horizontal and vertical directions? You can!)
- Finally, have fun and take some “selfies” with your loved ones, too. These are great “up-close” moments you’ll all cherish.
Here are a few examples of fun close-ups of holiday celebrations
