7 Creative Ideas For Memorable Christmas Photography

Christmas is getting closer and that means Christmas photography!! It’s time to come up with fun and creative ideas for your festive photoshoots! The following 7 ideas are quite versatile and they can work perfectly if you’re planning to photograph anyone or anything from couples and families, to products or various Christmas events – of course, this primarily includes wrangling your own family in on the photography fun!

Feel free to draw inspiration from these Christmas photography ideas, customize them and then put them into action!

1. Celebrate The Classic Combination – White & Red & Green

While this may sound like a rather boring idea for your Christmas photography, you can turn it into an unexpectedly creative image if you know how to frame the scene in an engaging way (just like in the example below!).

Play with the classic festive colors (white, red and green) but don't forget to introduce an element of surprise – a large amount of negative space, motion blur, gorgeous bokeh and so on.

2. Embrace The Vintage Style For Your Christmas Photography

This is the perfect choice for photographing family or Christmasy elements! You can use red, brown, beige or dark green tones to achieve the vintage vibe. The details matter a lot – the ideal decor for this kind of session would be antique Christmas toys, vintage postcards, pillows with embroidery and similar romantic or handmade pieces.

3. Stick To Scandinavian Simplicity

Your Christmas photography doesn’t have to be colorful and full of details. If you’re more into minimalist photography, you can stick to this style in your Christmas photos as well. The dominant color in such photographs should be white but you can introduce just a little bit of beige, red, or blue. People should wear simple discreet clothes made from natural fabrics and the composition should be clean, without any distracting background elements.

4. Photograph Outdoors

Christmas photographs shouldn’t take place only in warm cozy rooms. If your family is comfortable with posing outdoors, you should photograph them on the street (or in the park or forest) and ask them to wear pretty scarves, hats, and boots. They can also take their pets with them! This will result in a dynamic and fun winter session.

5. The Crazier, The Better

Don’t forget to take a couple of funny photos as well – they make beautiful memories and they usually get framed! Photograph kids playing in the snow or ask your family to pose in an unusual way, for instance, they can lay on the floor and hold their hands while you photograph them from above. Don’t be afraid to experiment and always ask your subjects if they have some creative suggestions for you.

6. Emphasize Beautiful Details

Christmas decorations can be truly gorgeous, especially those handmade ones! In case you spot some exceptionally pretty figurines, toys, or perfectly decorated Christmas trees, you can do artistic close-ups or even abstract images. Such photos can convey a festive atmosphere in a beautiful way.

7. Be Creative With Low Light Photos

If you’re up for something more challenging, you can shoot low light Christmas portraits and use only tealights, sparklers, or LED lights. Such portraits can look either mysterious or romantic – it’s up to you and the camera settings you selected. You might need to use a tripod for this kind of photoshoot.