Title: 5 Tips For Photographing Holiday Parties
The holiday season is nearly upon us, and for photographers that may mean a number of Christmas events and similar holiday parties coming up. People love to have professional quality photos of these special events, and indeed it’s a great time of year to create some lasting memories. That said, however, there are certain steps a photographer can take to make sure holiday party photos come out as nicely as possible!
Here are 5 tips for photographing a holiday party.
1. Shoot Groups From An Angle
This is a wonderful tip from Design Instruct online, and provides a great way to add some depth to a group party photo. The fact is, most of us – even professionals – tend to photograph groups in perfect poses, often long horizontal lines of party guests photographed from dead center ahead. Photographing from an angle can better capture the depth and atmosphere of a party, and provides a bit more context in the background.
2. If There’s A Dance Floor, Use It!
Candid photos can be tricky to capture in a party atmosphere, simply because people tend to be aware of cameras. But the dance floor can be an exception, and offers you a great opportunity to capture party guests when they’re unaware, but still laughing, smiling and inadvertently posing. It’s often the best chance during a holiday party – or any party for that matter – to capture great candid shots.
3. Bring A Few Holiday Props
You don’t want to be too blatant about this, or it can quickly become “cheesy.” But a few props to add holiday atmosphere to ordinary shots can be a nice idea. M&S is currently offering some seasonal flower bouquets that can be great accents to Christmas parties, providing fresh flowers in just the right colours for the season. Again, don’t go overboard – but a portable light display, wreathe, or bouquet of flowers may be worth having on hand.
4. Consider RAW Formant
Shooting holiday party photos in RAW image format can be a good way to avoid some of the issues that can come about as a result of lighting. Any party can have tricky lighting, but during the holidays, with decorations and twinkly lights all over the place, lighting can be a nightmare for a photographer. Of course, for some photographers these lights and decorations offer as much in the way of opportunity as difficulty. But shooting RAW photos can sometimes leave you more opportunity to play around with colour and light editing later on.
5. Take Part In The Party
Finally, remember to participate. Viewing a party as a job can reflect in the photos, whereas enjoying yourself allows you to notice and participate in important images and moments. This is a valuable tip for photographing any party.
