Years from now when you think about all the Christmases you’ve ever celebrated over the years, there’s only one way you can recollect those memories and that is through photographs. Whether they’re in your old Facebook albums, blog archives or polaroid pictures on your fridge, pictures last forever so we thought we’d give you a quick crash course on how to not screw up your party pictures this year.
Camera, memory cards & batteries
If you forget to bring your camera along, no pictures, nada. Your phone’s camera isn’t build for low light images so make sure to pop your camera in the bag! Also on’t forget to charge your batteries and leave the charger in the car just in case your battery starts to die out.
White balance
Christmas pictures always seem to have that orange glow but too much of it and your images start to look like you’re caught in the middle of a fire. Reduce the orangey tones by setting your white balance to incandescent or tungsten mode in your camera to get a more balanced color for your images. Otherwise shoot in RAW and set it right again during editing.
DIY photo booth
Photo booths bring out the crazy in all of us and add some champagne and wine to the equation and you’ll get some mindblowing outta this world shots that will be the talk of the town for weeks. For a simple backdrop, get a piece of cloth from Kamdar and hang it up with your Christmas tree by the side. Prepare Christmassy props like a Santa’s hat or reindeer hairband for your guests to pose with. Set the camera on a tripod and watch your guests camwhore the night away!
Storytelling
Like all good photo albums, capture every stage of the party from the preparation of food down to gift wrapping to your final guest’s departure. That way your guests will have a glimpse of all the effort that went into your great party. You could also shoot before and after shots of your place along with tiny details and close ups of the food and gifts.
Using your flash
If you don’t plan to use your flash, try to boost up the ISO if your camera has good noise control. Otherwise switch on the Rear Sync flash instead of using the Fill Flash on your camera for some awesome party shots.
Continuous/Burst mode
Everything happens quickly in a party, if you miss it, you miss it. Turn on the Burst mode, also known as the Continuous Shooting Mode so that your camera works to take multiple shots quickly. For those who own Sony cameras, use the Smile Shutter or Face Detection mode for guaranteed smiley pictures.
Group shots
Cheesy as this may sound, group shots help reflect the mood and atmosphere of the party! Plus it’ll be fun pinpointing how people have changed years from now, just like we do when browsing through out year books.
Remember to filter out the embarrassing shots and only post the decent ones online, you don’t want to get your friends into trouble the next day! If you’re attending a party, make sure that you keep your camera close to you at all times because you don’t want to lose your camera and all your shots!
