Mind the Gap!
If you are like me, then your Christmas card at this point is more in the nebulous planning than the execution phase. To my fellow procrastinators, let me offer an idea. Save yourself some grief and stop scrolling through pinterest for the perfect Christmas card pose - complete with props, hours of shopping for matching outfits, and unhappy campers all around. You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak. The solution? It’s this simple: Mind the Gap.
Gather your family into a huddle. (I’m not kidding. On top of each other is the goal). Make them wear a top half that you approve of. If they can wear basketball shorts on the bottom, they will feel they have won the battle, and will be ever so pliable in this endeavor. Small victories here, people. Zoom in on the faces, and snap that shutter. It’s fast. It’s easy. It’s painless. We have been in and out of Christmas card pictures in less than five minutes on multiple occasions.
The key to making a photo really engaging isn’t the props. It isn’t even the outfits. It is the connection. So, PHYSICALLY connect your people to one another. If you glance over Christmas cards past (yours or your friends’), you’ll see how true it is. Remember the addage that “The camera adds ten pounds?” Somehow, it adds the same weight to space. Space between people in a photo puts on “extra weight,” and your subjects look more disconnected than you feel like they should. So squeeze them in tight. And then make them go tighter. Closer than they think they have to go. Tell them to “pretend like you like each other just for ONE SECOND!” The upside is that someone is bound to squeeze the gas out of little brother, and then the laugh fest has begun. From there, you’re golden.
If your clan isn’t the touchy-feely type, not to worry! There is a plan B! You can create that same connection by having the family look at each other instead of the camera. Looking at the youngest, or at dad, are both really great options. Everybody likes to be the hero who makes the baby smiles. If you look at dad, you can allow him to tell his best dad joke, and then everybody wins. (Dads are often a little uncomfortable in front of the camera, and so a little stiff in family pictures. But none of them can resist the opportunity to tell a great “bad dad joke.)” And then the connection magic happens. Just time that click for right when he finishes, and VOILA! Your best Christmas card picture EVER!
You can get a really cheap remote control for your DSLR on amazon like this one if mom and dad are joining in the photo. You’ll still be ahead after saving money on the props or the pro photographer!
