This year, I wanted to take a family picture to send out as a holiday card. However, our busy schedule did not permit the booking a professional photographer to take our pictures with enough time for editing, printing, and actually getting them sent out before the holidays. And then, I casually mentioned the cost to my husband and he said that we could buy a nice camera for that amount and take our own pictures! And he’s right.
So, I ditched the professional photographer idea and decided to turn my living room into a photo studio that I could reuse year after year instead. And in case you need a little inspiration, I’m going to share how we did at a fraction of the cost.
I’m excited to partner with Olympus to offer you this DIY option for your family’s holiday card photos. The bonus is that you’ll own your photos, print as many as you want, and be able to share them with family and friends!
As someone who takes a lot of food and lifestyle photography, owning the rights to the photos I take is very important. Something I can’t do with professionally taken photos. So, to take today’s photos, I used my new Olympus camera, turned my living room into a photography studio, set up a tripod, and snapped away!
After a few days of stalking Pinterest, I decided I wanted to have a backdrop that was timeless, that we could use year after year regardless of the theme and color scheme we chose to wear. Eventually, all the idea searching gave me the perfect vision of what I wanted for this year.
So here is how we did it. I went to the fabric shop and asked for the most affordable, non-see-through, white material that would drape nicely. Then, I purchased strands of white holiday lights to hang over the white backdrop.
To create a “studio” in my living room, I moved all the furniture out of the way and hung the backdrop over a very large mirror that already hangs to the wall. Otherwise, I would have draped it over our bookcase. We secured the lights to the fabric with office clips and plugged them into a power strip. The lights over the white material provided the perfect glow I was after.
The biggest struggle was figuring out how to squeeze six people into a frame, with our teenager being over six feet tall and the little one barely three feet. Our dining room bench came to the rescue, and we squeezed ourselves into the frame. I also held the sides of the material with pushpins onto the wall and blurred the sides with free editing software.
If you are wondering how exactly did we manage to take our pictures on our own without someone else snapping them for us; I’ll tell you that the secret is “in” the camera. The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV has a built-in WIFI. So, I downloaded the OI Share app to my phone and synced the camera to it. This way, all I had to do is push the button on my phone (hidden behind one of my kids), and the camera would instantly snap the picture. This feature is much better than the 3-second auto-timer built into most cameras, eliminating the infamous “run” back.
The built-in app also allows me to sync my photos with my phone to either edit them in one of my apps or share them with my friends and family on social media.
Using my Olympus camera, I was able to get all the shots I needed and a few very candid ones that have already become favorites.
The best part of the shoot was our family laughing together as we took extra silly photos and dancing to holiday jingles. I had a great time talking pictures with my family, at home, and I get to keep some incredible pictures for many years to come.
Happy Holidays!
Tara Kidd says
My favorite holiday card moments involve taking pictures in the living room too! We’ve got some funny ones from when I was a kid
Kristen McCrae says
We have such a hard time doing family photos. We either can’t get the whole family together for an appointment, or somethingunexpected goes wrong. I love the idea of making my own studio at home, it would fix a lot of our issues with having them taken. Thank you for the great suggestion. It never occurred to me that my camera was outdated! Apparently I need to upgrade. Thank you for the inspiration.
Katie says
It’s been a while since we have had a family photo taken for Christmas, mostly because our camera is broken. 🙁
Amy says
I love this years family picture card my boys are giving bunny ears to their 9 month old niece…. love it!
Ruth says
Some of my favorite memories are my father running back to get in the picture! We had an unpredictable timer, and many times we got a blur of him running back to join the rest of us!
Melissa MC says
My first (and current) camera is an Olympus camera. I love it! It’s the first type of digital cameras ever put out. I don’t even know the specs but it’s ready for an upgrade for sure. I’d love another Olympus camera to replace it, to be able to take photos of my life adventures and share them with my family who lives nearly 3,000 miles away. I’m close to my mom and I share photos with her all the time and having the ability to connect my phone to the camera is a big plus to send them instantly!
Karrie Shields says
our christmas cards always include the family photo that was taken back in the fall. I love fall pictures
Jess says
Your pictures turned out beautifully!!! You always have such great ideas! Thank you for sharing them!
We don’t ever really take professional family photos as they are always so costly so your solution is perfect!
I usually take random candid from different things we’ve done over the year to form our Christmas card. On occasion I’ll find a friend to snap one of us just to have one picture on the card not be candid. Getting easier now that my boys are older (7 & 8)
Before, I’d be lucky if they weren’t wrestling around in the picture let alone both looking at the camera at the same time smiling. The funniest one we did was a couple years ago when we were invited to an ugly Christmas sweater party. They took pictures of everyone that came. It looked like a tacky 70s picture on our Christmas card that year. Lots of laughs though! Thanks again for all your ideas!
Thank agin for sharing!
Lindsay says
Great family picture! I have a four yr old son that is very active so trying to get a picture of him that isn’t blurry or of him wiggling all around is quite a task. I take lots of photos, whether we are at home playing or out having fun & dressed up & use those on my Christmas cards.
Erica says
We haven’t done family photos yet but it is something I would like to start doing. In the past I have just used a picture of our son to use on the cards – if I can get him to sit still long enough to get a get one that’s not blurry – it was a lot easier when he was a baby!
Anna says
Great idea! I love the backdrop! We have taken a self family portrait for every Christmas card since my first son was born! It’s a tradition now, but we don’t have the best camera so winning this one would be AWESOME!!!
Amy says
I love having family photos! We do not always have a family photo card for Christmas, but if we had a camera like that we sure would! Having an app where you can snap your own photos using you phone would be great! So much easier than the mad dash method! Love your photos!
Cathy says
I would love to have a camera to start this tradition of taking our own! Your photos are precious.
Carla says
We are beginning a new career and this would be such a help. This year we are planning a family photo for our cards and are not able to hire a photographer either. Thanks for the opportunity! Have a blessed day.
Rebecca says
Hi, my mom was telling me about your contest. This year I’ve been taking photography at school. I would love to take our families Christmas pictures this year and use some of the skills I’ve learned. Recently we have been going over filters and I want to practice that. I don’t own my own camera so have been using the schools when I can. Over the summer my dad had surgery for thyriod cancer and has a large 6+ inch scar across and up the side of his neck. I’ve been practicing using the filters to help with things like that. Your camera would get lots of use if I won for this Christmas photos and probably many more! Thanks
Ruby M. says
I love receiving family photo cards, but I have noticed a disturbing trend in recent years. My cards are being delivered with everything pre-printed and nothing of a personal nature about them. I am one who mourns society’s gradual loss of handwritten letters or even notes. Remember when certain cards made your heart race because you recogonized the handwriting? This year I am going to make the time to handwrite a short note with each special card, hoping that the message ‘I made time for you because you are special’ will come through loud and clear!
Erika says
This is our first Christmas in our new house Looking forward to a great picture to do thanks for the idea!
Kay Lechner says
My family loves using pictures from during the year, such as from small family trips or other memorable moments. A few years, we’ve been unable to find a good one that everyone likes, so we have taken holiday photos. How nice it would be to have the camera to use throughout the whole year, not just at the holidays! Thanks for this wonderful offer!
Kristin says
We usually use a picture that we’ve taken during the year, but I love the idea of a simple in-home studio for a photo like the one you did. What a great camera!
Ava Ernst says
Your family photo looks great. We like to use a photo from the year (often outdoors) when we have a nice one or take a photo in a decorative spot
Bonnie N says
We have been spoiled to have my sister as a professional photographer! But now she’s switched to Real Estate photography, so getting portraits done is not very easy! I love to get my kids dressed up for pics with Mr and Mrs Clause every year at my local furniture store!
Trish Nolen-Parkhouse says
favorite holiday card moments: the more natural/spontaneous the better; remember a very staged setting that ended with everyone grumpy
capturing best photos: take LOTS of photos for a large data base of possibilities
Havent taken family photos especially for your holiday cards yet but might try with a really good camera.
Laurie says
My favorite all time family Christmas photo was taken when the boys were little. They were both in red footie pajamas with santa hats in front of the Christmas tree. So cute!
dawne says
Love your pictures! In our last Christmas photo we wrapped the kids in christmas lights! It was the cutest picture! I usually only part the kids in the picture since I am the one having to take the shot! Blessings to your family this season!
LisaT. says
My camera is so old and takes the fuzziest photos, no matter what setting I put it on. It doesn’t zoom well either. I’d love to have a new camera! Taking a photo with a professional photographer is usually a hassle, especially around the holidays when we are extra busy. I love the way you did it, Laura!
Alicia says
Favorite holiday photos are usually the candid ones but my husband and I now have our two year old grandson living with us so we get to start new traditions with him. I’m looking forward to taking some great annual holiday photos to share and a wi-fi camera would be a great way to share those with family and friends (and social media) easily. Love your family photos!
Chayne says
What a fantastic idea! We’ve never done it because of the cost involved, but it would be amazing to have one of those cameras and do it ourselves. Thank you for the opportunity.
Madeline says
We don’t normally think to make a Christmas card. I tried one time a very long time ago and the colors were totally off, but yours looks great. Love your site, thank you for the information it has.
Marie says
We have not done holiday photos, but I do need some family photos done. I like your idea of doing it at home. I hate to take a 1 & 3 year old to a studio that’s a 45 minute drive (I’m in suburbia, but no studios around) and the hope they behave and then also hope that the photographer is decent. And then have to go through the pressure sales of packages…
Joy says
We don’t take pictures especially for Christmas cards and never seem to have a good one at the right time. In fact, I think we’ve only managed to send our a family picture card once!
Sarah says
We avoid holiday card photos and admire others, so my favorite card trick is from a friend, whose holiday card a group of us were admiring. He then admitted that they hadn’t actually gotten all 7 of them to smile at the same time — the middle son’s face was photoshopped on from a different shot!
Taryn says
So I’ve already commented for my contest entry but reading all of these comments made me think of one of our ‘best’ Christmas cards … I was late sending them (waiting for a great fam photo to present itself) so once we had one I created the cards in a pretty big hurry & ordered them. I’m not sure if the card company had a mix-up or if I just never changed the default name in the card online but either way our cards came in signed “Love, the Millers” … And our last name is Crigler! LoL we sent them anyway and we still laugh about it & everyone asks how the “Millers” are doing lol!
Laura Fuentes says
that’s too funny!
Dana delaney says
Very creative! My friend Renee Baude tagged me on IG. Loving your blog. We do take Christmas card photos. Generally snag another family member to snap the shutter, or just include the kids if no one is around. I like the custom backdrop idea.
Laura Fuentes says
Welcome to the blog! 🙂 good luck!
Jasie says
We meet our sister and brother-in-law at a special location and take turns taking pictures of each others families.
Kristy Mead says
Wow, your pictures are amazing and the backdrop really sets it off.
My favourite photos are the ones that I capture when my child is doing something funny, bonding with his dad or real life moments. Looking back on those photos always brings a smile and it helps to bring out a bit of character in each shot.
Sandra D says
I like to take pictures of our family doing things, special and every day stuff. Time we spend together is priceless and I like to capture just a little bit of it.
Elaine X. says
Usually I get another family member to take my family photos or we use the tripod timer. I have always wanted a nicer camera to take pictures instead of just my smartphone. Thanks for this giveaway. Happy holidays!
Maria says
We have been going to the same old mansion/museum to take Christmas pictures since my boys were born. It’s great to compare the pictures and see how much they’ve grown. I love taking pictures of everything family. This comes at the perfect time because the lense broke on mine and I have to buy a new one but money is tight. Would love this camera!
Kyna says
I have three very active boys. I uasally take lots of pictures and like to take pictures that that don’t pose for. Those make the best pictures. 🙂
Cathleen Crobons says
My favorite family photo was us on the beach! My mother in law took it…the kids all cooperated! Which is a small feat in itself 🙂
Getting those natural shots are great to remember those moments that go by so quickly. Helps us remember where we were and what we felt in that moment!
Elaine says
Family of 6- we plan a full family pic every other year and the four kids together alternate years. The kids shoot is so much less stress for me! The more playful the better!
Kathryn @ Mamacado says
One of my favorite Christmas cards ever was my 8 month old (now 5) on his back holding his toes and smiling at the camera. SO cute.
This is the first year we haven’t taken professional family photos for our Christmas cards! Not sure if I’m going to regret it yet, but I wanted to try to use some of the wonderful photos we’ve taken of our children and family this year instead!
Lucinda says
WOW! Awesome photos! My three year old has been begging us to take a family photo, I hope ours turn out as great as yours did.
Melissa Kling says
I would love to win a new camera! I was so good at taking photos of my kids in the beginning, but after multiple kids…. Not so much! I used to take such cute Christmas card photos! My favorite was all of the family sitting in a sled all dressed up. It was a great photo! Thanks so much for a great giveaway / contest (and of course all of the other fantastic blog/recipe/life stuff!
Curie says
I try to take my camera with me everywhere to capture moments. I swear once you have kids time flies twice as fast!
Leah S. says
We like to do family photos for our Christmas cards. We usually hire a photographer to do an outdoor session. In Florida, it’s usually pretty warm in late November or early December, so we are often sweating in our turtlenecks, sweaters and long pants! But, it’s fun. This year, we are changing things up and having just our son do a pro session with Santa Claus! Should be interesting!
Faith says
Every few years will be get pics done for holiday cards. It’s hard to get my 2 active small boys to sit still. But sometimes it’s the silly moments you catch that are the best!
Sabrina says
I love this! We’ve done similar things before, but I do need a new camera….. 😉 I’ll go and check out this camera’s features, thanks!
Lisa Marz says
Love your photo op ideas. And the camera is great. With 4 boys ranging from to 8, family photos over the years have been difficult. It is just hard to have everyone together at the same time! Let alone, the crazy antics and anti-picture taking from some of them. 😉 Love the way this camera lets you get a whole family picture when synced with your phone.
Geri says
I usually take our holiday photos outside where my kids can have space to move around before, and sometimes during the photos. The combination of movement and natural light usually ends up with at least one keeper!
Kelli says
When my daughter was smaller and I could dress her up in anything I wanted for any Holiday I wanted I would. She was everything from cupid to a leprechaun. Those were such great days before the teenage stage hit and now I’m so not allowed to take pictures like that. My two year old has no objections though. This story that Laura shared is very inspiring, and I really think I want to do a Holiday photoshoot now!
Kari Hughes says
I think it would be so nice to be able to take family photos at home where everyone is relaxed and you can easily fix a stray hair andkids can easily zip out to the bathroom, etc.
Tiki says
We do take special photos for our holiday card. We’ve had some funny ones in the past where our perfect set up didn’t work out quite as planned – especially outside ones with a toddler and a 4 year old!
Sabina Manzo says
I love taking family photos and making Christmas cards. Our favorite is when we went to Disneyland when it was all decorated for Christmas they came out amazing.
Jessica says
I love when we have extended family for our holiday pictures, but that is a lot of people to get all organized and smiling at the same time. I am the infamous “wait, don’t move, let me check it” photographer of our family. We usually take about 300 pictures per session. :-0
I would love to try out this amazing “remote” feature on the Olympus this year.
Linda says
One of my favorite memories is the year we tried to do a Christmas card photo of our four dogs (Labrador Retrievers and Border Collies). Let’s just say we are definitely not professional photographers and our dogs were not as strong in their obedience training as we wanted to believe. A great time was had by all!
Jan says
I have always tried to include my fur babies in our cards. This year was an absolute adventure. Our scene was between 2 pastures (one cow and one goat) with gorgeous arch of oak trees. My chocolate lab decided she needed to be one with the animals. After rolling through 2 pastures she was no longer allowed to come within 10 feet of us and did not make it is the picture. After a nice bath she got a solo shot on the card this year
Felicity says
With a big family, it is challenging to capture everyone’s best smile in 1 picture. I take dozens of shots hoping for 1 good take. My favorite family picture was everyone squeezing together to fit their faces in a huge Christmas wreath. 🙂
Kelly says
This will be my son’s first Christmas. I can’t wait to take a family photo in front of our tree!
PreK Teacher says
Your family is gorgeous! Thanks for the chance to win.
Susanne says
Great pictures! I don’t even own a camera right now. Every other year we have an amateur photographer do photos and she does a great job.
Kim says
Great idea to use your living room! We usuallyjust all our toddlers to pose as they like. We try yo capture petsonslities at this age since no one will sit still long enough. Being able to conteol the camera with my phone would be amazing.
Tara says
Instead of doing cards, I do a Family Newsletter with pictures and a little bit about what each person in the family has done that year. I then email it, which saves money (almost $0.50 a letter is ridiculous!).
Stacie Englin says
We do outdoor family pictures every year. I always get the enjoyable part of standing behind the camera, hitting the timer, and running to join the family before the camera goes off! This camera would be awesome for our family with 4 young kids!!!
Jenny says
My second daughter was born Dec. 11th. One of my favorite Christmas cards was from that year when she was just a week old. Her big sister was holding her in a Santa hat and another picture of them with her dressed in a reindeer bunting! 🙂
Ruby says
We have had great success with photos done in profile. It seems that when we look into each other’s eyes, we relax and get a much more natural look. We try to have a different background each time. My favorite was done in front of some beautiful Christmas decorations at our church.
Susan says
I have done pictures before with my 5 kids but I usually cut and paste, what a great idea to have wifi with instant transfer! Would love to try it out!!
Sarah says
One of the ways I get me kids to sit still and smile is I have them sing one of our favorite silly songs-like Down by the Bay or the Chicken Dance. With two boys, 3 and 7, it usually doesn’t take long before they are both giggling and making sweet faces!
Tricia says
As soon as our tree goes up, we get our annual family picture in front of it with all the ornaments we’ve made or collected over the years. Usually with a timer since the remote I bought got “lost.” If we send our holiday cards, we take our own pictures. I used to make backdrops for my boys all the time, but haven’t in ages. Thanks for the reminder, I need to do this again.
Caroline Allison says
The fall I got pregnant with my son was also the first holiday season in a new area, so none of our friends or family were around to notice I was acting different (you know, turning down my favorite glass of wine, sleeping more, a massive increase in my desire to eat pizza…which was my massive pregnancy craving). That year we signed all of our cards from “Caroline, Robbie, and Baby Allison” but otherwise didn’t tell anyone other than VERY close friends and family that we were pregnant. Then we just waited for all of the surprised phone calls/emails/Facebook posts…it was so much fun! We haven’t taken holiday pictures yet…I just can’t get my stuff together in time to take them (honestly, I have to start cards in October to hope to get them mailed by MLK day). But when we do take pictures as a family (mind you, not of our family…again, I can’t get myself together enough for professional photos!) we just hand the camera/phone to our little guy and let him snap away. He’s taken some of our favorite candid shots, and he has a blast…he gets so excited!
Shannon Steffler says
We need a family photo after our first boy arrives in Decemeber! 5 big sisters are so excited.
TIna Tuamoheloa says
We have just moved to Alexandra New Zealand and love receiving your great ideas and recipes in your posts. We would love professional photos of my beautiful family but have to rely on my old scratched lens camera. This coming Christmas I will definitely try your living room photo shoot.
Heather Bee says
I have 4 boys: 2 who think funny faces or playing dead is a must for all photos and two who stop smiling once the camera (cell phone) comes out. The best way to get a good shot for us is to do something unusual like lay on the floor or climb a tree. Thank you for your blog! I love
Becky says
My third baby was colicky, and when she was a month old I asked a friend who’s a photographer to take our Christmas photos after church one Sunday, when we were all already dressed. The babe was ready for her nap, and while the other four of us smiled and posed, she just screamed! We took the photos and sent them out! That’s real life 🙂
Kathy says
Love this! We’ve never done a family photo for a Christmas card before. I think I could do this and drap something over my window! I didn’t know they made an app for that! Way cool!
Angela Hansen says
I gave up on writing the traditional Christmas letter soon after my first child was born. I opted instead to create a collage of “the year in pictures”. Not only is this a quick cut and paste on the computer for me, but it’s more enjoyable for those recipients who are also too swamped with their own Christmas rush to sit and read even a one-page letter. I print them on normal copy paper so that folks don’t feel obligated to keep our family history. For closer relatives, I’ll provide them with a higher quality copy. A feature holiday photo is always a must-have for the central focal point of the collage! Since my favorite photography studio closed a few years ago and two terrible experiences with new studios (not gonna name any names), I’ve opted to do our family holiday photo at home. This has turned out to be a waaaaay better experience. After all, the girls’ hair stays curled, their dresses don’t suffer the seatbelt wrinkles, there’s food & restrooms at our fingertips and best of all we don’t have to wait our turn for an hour! In the past we’ve used our Christmas tree as our back ground, but that doesn’t work every year for various reasons. This backdrop idea is very elegant and simple. It seems like it’s no-fuss to set up. We may have a new holiday photo tradition! Thanks for the great tips!
molly says
I try to take a holiday picture outside in the fall or earlier in Dec. It can be really hard trying to manage running back and forth seeing if there are closed eyes, someone else in the background, etc. Then I have it ready for shutterfly when they offer a special on photos so I can have lots printed out for holiday cards!
Thanks for the indoor ideas!
Julia says
What a great idea! We née to do holiday photos but we usually don’t. And if we do I’m always to one behind the camera.
Alicia M. says
My favorite time of year is here! Looking back, my favorite holiday card moments include some great candids of our family chasing each other around our neighborhood park (since it’s always sunny in SoCal! 🙂 ). I typically capture my “best” photos using my iPhone…because being a working mom with 3 kids ages 5 and under (including one that is an infant) often means just snapping photos on the go, singlehandedly. In recent years we haven’t been able to take family photos specifically for the holidays because someone is either always sick, or we had been dealing with deaths in our extended families (this holiday season is no exception, unfortunately). This post of yours though is extremely inspiring and urging me to take the time to get some photos done, especially with this being our youngest baby’s first Christmas!
Kori says
I have used fabric backdrops at home but never attempted one large enough to fit the whole family. And I love the addition of the lights – and already own lights! We usually go somewhere nearby (a university) and use their lobby Christmas tree, stairs and decorations for pictures of the kids. It’s been a few years since it included dad and me because it’s hard enough to run to your place – but when that place is between/behind six kids it means injuries! I LOVE the phone app idea! We cold actually have all of us!
Ivy says
My son is 6 and we have only 2 good family photos. Sad, I know. I’d love to have a camera besides my phone to take professional looking pictures.
Katherine S. says
I have used the sheet draped on the wall before, but it didn’t turn out nearly as nice as this! I really needed a white sheet (mine was off-white), and I didn’t have any decorations to use. Mostly, I was using my old digital point-and-shoot camera that just can’t capture the picture as well as a quality camera. I’m totally steeling this set-up! Also, I could really use that camera!
Rachel Ann Clark says
I wish I could say I know the trick for the best photo, but I don’t. Our best photo was last year when we asked a friend to come over to help take a photo and she could only stay ten minutes, so we plopped down on the floor in front of the tree with our dog and she took two photos and left. After we looked at them, we realized they were great cause we were laughing so hard and had no time to worry about fat rolls when sitting or proper angle of chin to minimize double chins. It really was a candid snapshot of our life, the only thing I would have changed would be my son’s socks, I didn’t realize the bottoms were filthy! But everyone said that photo was “so us”! I would love to use this camera to try again.
Amy J. says
The last few years we’ve blessed to have a great photographer take our family pictures at an affordable price. Last year she came to the university my husband worked out and we took the pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree they had set up, which was really fun. However, this year we’ve moved to the other end of the state, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen. We did take pic for the Christmas card last year – then never sent the card :P.
lisa franklin says
yes, we take pix especially for holiday cards. the one in front of our fireplace was a family favorite.
Magda says
Your session turned out great! I love the backdrop and will do something like this next year.
I checked out ideas on pinterest for our photo session too.
Comments on how to manage multi children photos are worth to try…
Karen Blowe says
Great pictures! We did family pictures when the kids were younger. A new camera would make it easy to try again for some fond family memories.
Janette Root says
Love your family photo and would be great to do my own!
Thank you
Jeni says
I think our best was the year we all read the books we were currently reading for our Christmas photo. It was a lot of fun, and great to look back and see what we were reading.
Stephanie says
Since we always go to the beach over the summer I always take our Xmas pictures then :).
It always seems we don’t have any time to sit for pictures so this is a good alternative.
Dawn Walbeck says
My favorite picture moments are the ones you catch on an instant-that are not posed. I take A LOT of picture,but all from my phone, or old school camera from 15 years ago. Editing software online allows me to adjust and crop as need, BUT I am never in the picture because I am behind the camera. Of course unless we try to take a selfie. That is a riot of fun. I always send out holiday cards, but they are of my boys, not the whole family. We haven’t had a whole family picture taken in 3 years and we had to pay a pretty penny to have them done. Your ideas are great, thanks for sharing. Someday I will get a “fancy” camera.
Dana Russell says
My family usually does not take photos specifically for holiday cards. Instead, I try using candid shots from throughout the year, but as if often the case, the kids don’t usually like taking pictures even at these “fun” times, so it means usually having one kid (the uncooperative one!) standing off in the background with a frown on her face. But hey, even if those are included in the year’s Christmas card, it accurately represents how they were feeling at the time!
Priya says
We try to take a family picture for our holiday card. In the past, I’ve used our Halloween costume family pic, a vacation family pic, or ones of just the kids. My favorite was kids playing in the leaves…since we live in Los Angeles, it isn’t until late November I can get that pic! But I just love the playfulness that comes out in those pictures with my girls.
Melanie Hawk says
My favorite holiday card moments, interestingly enough, are of growing up and my parents struggling to get all of us kids to arrive without stains or torn clothing and to smile all at the same time (say cheese!). To capture my best photos and photos of my own two boys, I remind them to try to smile adoringly basically by pretending that you are in love with the person holding the camera and are star struck. Not sure why, but that trick even works for me and I have the best photos of myself when I follow that trick. Absolutely I am a firm believer in family photos. Not necessarily for for the holidays, but because the experiences will always be a memory for my two boys and I. Family photos and individual photos are important tactile snapshots of us. We get to see how we have each grown, changed, been funny and goofy or not happy to have a picture taken in that moment.
Becky says
Great ideas! What a lovely family you have! I have three sons that would rather not sit for a photo shoot, so I usually use one or two favorite snapshots that either my husband or I take during the year.
Gayle says
Dont have many favorite holiday memories since our family is a just starting off, my daughter is 2 and our son is 5 months. It was hard finding someone to photograph us last year. The military instalation where we are currently overseas in germany offered pictures with Santa and that’s what we had to use for our cards. My daughter was terrified of Santa and was crying in all the pictures. We tried again this year and she was still afraid but were able to get my sons first pictures with Santa. That was priceless!
Emily says
Looks like a great camera to capture photos for Christmas cards. Even with the annual bribing of the kids to get a good card photo it is always a chore to get one, but having a great camera would help! The phone app sounds especially helpful.
Susan says
I have recently started doing this with my children. With two grown and on their on and two still at home, it is hard to get a family photo of them all. I also love to see how they have changed from year to year. I love the idea of doing a different theme each year.
Lindsay says
I hate posed photos. I like the more natural style, so we just take a bunch of photos and hope for the best 🙂
Vera says
Last year’s pics were taken from our church’s studio session, which was a very sweet memory of the 2 girls cuddling. Usually, I pick candid photos from over the course of the year. My children are young enough that they look a bit different every few months from growing. I only use the camera on my phone, and since we live on opposite coasts from both families, it would be just lovely to win a good camera.
MaryAnne says
Hi Laura! First, a great big “THANKS” to you for your incredible efforts to help myself and other busy moms make wholesome and delicious foods. We loved your Skillet Lasagna recipe! I am the photo taker in my family of 4. I love taking pictures all year long…always with the thought “Is this Christmas card worthy?” My two children (ages 12 and 10) are camera shy as is my husband. After a particularly difficult photo session one Christmas, I implored my husband to do this one thing for me. He did! He rallied the troops and our picture was the best ever. That was my favorite memory, certainly not the picture, but our family working together. I keep photo sessions simple with clear instructions. One year we dressed up in our finest, one year we all wore a hat, one year year we all wore a college sweatshirt. Keep It Simple Silly! Anyway, my first digital camera was an Olympus and has since been replaced with a Kodak that is now near retirement. New this year is my iPhone, so I have tried to use it only. It is fine for snapshots, but I really like a camera for more important pictures. I am putting the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II on my Christmas wish list! Have a wonderful holiday! BTW: Are your husbands shoelaces red?!! Awesome! 🙂
Laura Fuentes says
Thanks MaryAnne! I am glad you like the skillet lasagna! I made it last week and added a bunch of diced carrots and zucchini to give it more “veggie” substance. I love that you think year-round if something is “Christmas card worthy” LOL. I don’t think about it much until other people’s cards begin to show up!! 🙂 And yes, his shoelaces are red. He has a thing about matching shoelaces with his socks… ties. sigh.
Lisa says
Love this! We try to do our family pictures throughout the year so we have a few from which to choose. Every time we’re somewhere together, and somewhere we love being, we grab the chance for a picture. My youngest is not yet 3, so he’s changing a bunch throughout the year still, and sometimes we include a picture from January…not too close to Christmas! But then we include individual shots from much closer to December, with the kids doing something fun. Love it!
kristi says
my favorite card was when my son was 7 and my daughter was 2 and he leaned over and kissed her cheek and the surprised reaction smile captured was one to never forget it was a sweet moment that now at 13 and 8 they would never replicate
Gwen @ ButtercupsBabies.com says
This sounds like an awesome camera. Love that you can use your phone to “take” the picture, but with real camera quality!
We try to take pictures each year, but with 3 littles (8, 5, & 3 now), it can be very challenging to get everyone smiling. Probably the best luck we had is the time we decided just to stack everyone up: Dad laying on the ground on his stomach, then me, then each of the kids, with the then-1-year old on top. We were even in our nice Christmas clothes. The kids thought it was so funny, that at EVERYONE was laughing or smiling. We just had to take the pictures fast before everyone toppled over…. 😉
Krystal says
We normally just choose favorite pics to make a photo collage to share with family and friends on our holiday cards. My favorites to use are normally pics we have taken on outdoor adventures while hiking. My camera I have right now doesn’t take the best pics and it can be hard to get a good photo. This yr I want to get a small (about 3ft) tree and load it into the back of my 4 yr olds little tikes truck and get pics with him in it. My kids also want to dress the pup as an elf (we already got the outfit), so we’ll find somewhere nice outside to snap a pic of the three kiddos and elf pup.
Aubrey says
Candy helps get the kids to cooperate! Our last Christmas card my daughter is looking down at the candy in her hands, but we photoshopped the candy out and put in a Christmas book! =)
Julie says
We’ve found that having the music going and not getting too serious helps everyone to take a better picture. I love the idea of being able to snap the photos without the “run back” so much easier!
Veronica says
We used to take pictures at a studio every year but it just got too difficult to schedule. We still occasionally take pictures at home. One year my husband took a photo of our kids with the lit Christmas tree in the back round he then photoshopped the lights all around them. The picture was beautiful and is on of my favorites. We have photo cards made up at our local Sam’s Club for a really good price. I love the idea for the lighted back drop and may try that. Thanks!
Stephanie Harter says
I LOVE family photos, but with my kids now 15, 13, 12, and 10 it can be really challenging to even get them in the same room together! I have to say one of my favorite and funniest cards was of my oldest’s first Christmas. She was six months old and I had found the outfit of my dreams – a red velvet dress with a sweet peter pan color shirt underneath, a matching head band, socks, and even matching shoes! Unbeknownst to me, as I was dressing her right before the picture, I discovered that the shoes were two different sizes 🙁 Try as may, the left one was just not going to go on all the way. But thanks to lots of sparkling lights and a puppy, we managed to hold her attention long enough to snap the picture with the shoe on most of her foot with the dress covering the rest – right before she flung it across the room!
Stephanie s says
Getting 5 children to all comply for photos is always a challenge. I always take our Christmas photos. I love to get the glow from the tree on their faces.
I love this article.
Amy says
I love taking photos of my family, especially for Christmas cards! My favorite shots are using the natural beauty of the outdoors where we live in Oregon. I haven’t sent cards the last few years because of cost, but plan to email a family letter.
Beth says
With a tough travel schedule, we have not taken a family photo in probably almost a decade! I think it would be fun and easy with this new camera, so there is hope for us yet!
Debora says
We take family photos but uploading and printing them is another thing. The wifi feature sounds awesome! Maybe with that I would have a greater chance of doing a card.
Love your blog!!
Denise Pollard says
Family is scattered. Would love to take family pictures with two beautiful granddaughters and his family.
Denise Pollard says
My family is scattered now, but I have two beautiful granddaughters nearby to photograph.
Amanda says
We usually do photo shoots outside. We have a five year old so we end up chasing him around and get the best candid shots. Those are my favorite!
Maia says
We usually take our holiday photos in the fall before the holidays that way I have time to take advantage of all the holiday card deals that roll around the Thanksgiving holidays. Our family goes to a botanical park or a park that has a lovely backdrop of nature and mountains and we take a picnic lunch. After lunch we start taking lots of pictures – with 2 small children, it is a daunting task to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. We take lots of candids and lots of photos. Thank goodness for the digital cameras.
Jennifer says
Love your pictures! My favorite family Christmas card photo was of one of my daughters dressed as Mary holding my baby boy and my other two daughters dressed as angels.
Wendy K says
Most years we cut down our own Christmas tree and I try to get fun pics of the kids. I can usually find 1 or 2 that make great Christmas cards to send. Thank you for the great idea of making a fun photo shoot at home!
kelliinkc says
I don’t typically take photos and do photo cards although we try to do an annual family photo in front of the fireplace or tree. Last year, however, we were in Medellin for the holidays and along a main avenue they had Feliz Navidad spelled out in very large letters which were lit up at night. I managed to squeeze in the time to walk down from our hotel and had the kids stand interspersed along the letters. To make everyone fit into the frame, I had to cross the busy street to the median. A bit time consuming to time photos with no one walking past on the sidewalk and no cars driving through! In the end we did get a couple of good pictures but I am sure they would have been much better using a real camera instead of our cell phone cameras. I would really love to have a nice camera again and this one sounds like a good one. Thanks for the opportunity and Feliz Navidad to you and your family!
Betsy L says
I make photo gifts from pics I have snapped throughout the year. I’m itching for a new, high-quality camera so that I can get shots that can be printed much larger than what I usually do. This prize is FABULOUS!
Olga K says
i invite a friend to help me take holiday photos. I am a photographer in our family. So the majority of photos are of my hubby and son 🙂
Morgan says
I love candid shots best for xmas card photos- loved your background too!
Debbie Hausher says
I always want to do a family holiday photo but never seem to have the time. We have 3 year granddaughter so hoping this can become a tradition starting with this year. The camera would be a great assistance.
Happy Holidays
Amy says
This camera is the perfect solution for taking family photos. Every time I attempt to set the auto timer by the time I run back to the picture both of the kids are just too busy staring at me to look at the camera. Maybe this would help us send a full family photo instead of just the kids…although they are pretty darn cute!
Susan M. says
Well, photo sessions with dad can get crazy with two boys, but we do it every year for our Christmas card!
I like your backdrop!
Jenn says
My favorite holiday pictures happen outside. I am a Pinterest junkie and I’ve used it for inspiration and photography tutorials. My very favorite photos are ones where my son and daughter are genuinely laughing and interacting with each other. It’s a great way to share their personalities in a picture. I have never had our holiday pictures done professionally. Either I take them myself or have a family member snap some for me. I have learned, that if I want everyone to have the top of their heads and be in focus, I can’t give the camera to my mom. (Sorry mom.) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the timer and run to get in the shot. At least now with the digital, I can see how bad it is before it gets printed. I love the WiFi feature on this camera and think that would be fantastic!
Gair Brooks says
Although I only have one child, I try to get candid pictures throughout the year to save money at the end of the year, because I use those as a collage for family members and personal use. I used to get holday cards done for everyone, but the time and money was more of a hassle than anything else. I use both my camera as well as my phone for pictures, but trying to get an 8 year old to sit still is virtually impossible! I now have a niece and nephew to photograph throughout the year as well..the three combined definitely never stop moving!!
Karrie Shields says
I love to take family photos in the fall and use them for our christmas cards. that way they are bright and merry.
Sheryl says
I’ve set up photo shoots before with my kids. When they were little it was always a scene from a comedy show. One would sit down and the other would get up. They would fight over who was sitting on the bench and who was standing up. By the time we were done I was always so exhausted. We’ve also done shoots for my two oldest children’s senior announcements. These were all done with my little digital camera. I took lots of pics so I would have a good variety to choose from. My little digital is pretty old so it would definitely be nice to win this camera, especially now for the holidays!
Michele B says
What wonderful pictures. I would love to do a Christmas photo card, unfortunately our camera stopped working about 4 years ago and I just have not replaced it. I tend to use my phone, which takes horrible pictures! You have definitely inspired me to try it though!
Susannah says
My favorite holiday pictures are the ones showing our little ones exploring the tree. I love their expressions!
Jamie says
A few years ago, I was single. Just me and my 105 pound Rottweiler, Zoe. As the family photo Christmas cards started pouring in, I went to my favorite photographer and got a “family” photo of me and Zoe and sent it out to all of our friends and family! It’s now one of my favorite photos and still hangs on my wall! 🙂
Yvonne says
I try to do a family picture every year, but sometimes it gets away from me. This year I was determined. I had my photographer friend take the pictures and our Christmas card is going to be epic! Me and my two kids in ugly Christmas sweaters having an awkward family photo. Can’t wait to see it! 🙂
Cara says
My favorite holiday card moment was during our photo shoot last year. My daughter, 3 at the time, saw a rabbit and started to tip-toe towards it. The pictures of this act captured her essence so well.
We get our best photos with a professional photographer because are kids are too little to really sit still for a photo shoot! But, I would love to be able to take them myself once our kids are a little older.
We don’t necessarily take photos just for holiday cards but we try to do a family session in October / November to take care of the few weeks of wonderful weather we get in Houston.
Barbara says
Great idea with the backdrop! I’ll have to try that this year.
A few years ago my husband and I each had hurt one shoulder enough to require we wear a sling. So for our Christmas Cards that year we wore our lovely blue slings which conveniently were on opposite arms so we also held hands. We got a lot of laughs from family members and friends that year.
Paul says
My wife and I love to get funny pictures to send to our parents who are always asking for more pictures. The cameras would be a nice gift to get better pictures
Miki says
The holiday season is so hectic– and deadlines to get photos completed often fly by before we’re ready– so we started sending out Valentines day family photos instead. We can take the pictures at Christmas or soon after and have them ready to send for Valentines day. I know that’s not the best solution for getting Christmas greetings out– but for us, it takes a little pressure off the season and spreads the holiday joy just a little longer!
Krista says
Those pictures are great, love the mistletoe one 🙂 I haven’t started the holiday photo tradition with my little one but this would be a great reason to start. Thanks for the great idea of a backdrop, looks lovely and timeless.
Naomi says
Some of our favorite family photos have been taken by friends and family. One of my favorites was on the back of a train downtown. Both children were smiling cute. Yes, we do holiday photos but this is a great idea and our camera is almost dead. Having 3 children under the age of 4 makes it challenging to get them all to smile at once.
Melanie says
One year we designed a card and we were all caricatures…got lots of comments. Love the wi-fi feature and the hidden phone. Thanks for sharing.
Emily says
We do collage photos for our holiday cards. It’s fun to look back at the year and remember the good things that have happened, and choose which photos to put on the card!
Sarah P says
We always try to get a special photo for our holiday card. It usually ends up looking like it belongs on a blooper reel. The best was when we all tried to wear matching pajamas – including the dog and newborn- and not one photo (out of 25) ended up with all of us looking at the camera. But we got a great shot of the dog and the baby and used it. Getting our best shots usually happen spur of the moment when we are visiting someplace fun. Having a remote control for a camera might change that!
Michelle says
The WI-FI function is genius! My family loves to be silly and it seems we can never get everyones best each time, so being able to get lots of shots without resetting the timer on the camera would be wonderful. It is also great because we can catch those silly moments that might not make the Christmas card, but dad loves to share on his desk at work. Thanks for the post!
Pilar says
We don’t take special photos for our holiday card. Rather, we use a compilation of fun photos that were taken throughout the year. Love your photos!
Yvonne says
Your pictures look great!!! Taking family pictures are always so much fun, however trying to get everyone looking at the same time or without funny faces can be a challenge. I came to enjoy the funny faces and expression that my boys/family have as I realized those always made the best photos, instead of me always trying to get a perfect/proper photo, perfection came from the fun everyone was having. 🙂
Kristine says
We take pictures while we are out picking our Christmas tree and one them is usually our Christmas card pic.
Shea says
I live in the Midwest so I love taking family pictures in the fall. Love capturing all the changing colors. We try to keep it somewhat simple with pictures and capture nature also I’m really only good with using my camera outdoors that’s why I need a new one 😉
Cheryl says
I *LOVE* this idea! We’re headed to a professional photographer this weekend because I *didn’t* come up with such an awesome idea. It will literally take a half day between driving (we live in a small town) plus dress up, photos, picking out the poses that worked and catching lunch afterwards. And then I still have to go back to get the prints. Uggg! My husband would love it if we could do it in 30 minutes instead. Bonus points for being able to work around the little one’s nap schedule. As for my favorite holiday photo memory, it’s really all of them. My two kids are still small and it’s amazing to look at all of the photos and see how much they’ve changed each year. It goes too fast! Must take more photos!!!
Kristy Krehnovi says
My favorite memory is 2 years ago. We had just brought home our second daughter from the hospital the week prior,
Katie says
We typically get pictures of the family during our town’s holiday walk. Plenty of Christmas lights up, Santa, etc. Then we round out the card with events throughout the year. Love the idea of creating a backdrop for a family photo. However not sure if mentally I can add one more thing to the holiday list.
Mary says
What a cute idea. Sine everyone wants Christmas pictures, I will have to set up something similar at home. Can’t wait to get some great shots!
kim krueger says
I love family photos but never seem to get them taken! I also would love a new camera to be able to take my own photos not just for cards but for creating memory books for my kids. My best memory of family photos was taken years ago in the fall with my daughter throwing leaves at our dog and throwing her head back laughing as the dog was jumping up trying to catch the leaves with her mouth.
Kelley Brandle says
I will definitely be trying this! It’s always hard to try to get small children to cooperate when taking pictures, so we just take a lot and hope to get one to work. I have photo shopped one year, but hope to not have to do that.
Daniel says
As a father of 5 I still own and remember purchasing my first camera when my son was born 8 years ago. My favorite holiday card moment are just letting the kids wander around the Christmas tree. When they were little it was great as they crawled around looking in amazement. Now it still remains the same the only difference is we let them help setup the Christmas tree and I capture natural photos of them laughing and singing Christmas songs. The biggest kid is my wife she loves the holidays and here birthday being a week before Christmas probably doesn’t hurt either.
Gwen B says
When my daughter was little, we would dress her up and take her picture for the Christmas card. One year she was an angle holding baby Jesus. (she was 3 so it was extra cute for a small angle) One year when she was in elementary school, we bought some of that fake snow, hung a white sheet and she was sitting on a sled. Made for some fun clean-up. Of course those weren’t the best pics as some were still done on film cameras. This camera sounds like a great addition to taking family pictures!
Tessa says
Holiday photos are tricky to get – I love this idea and I think my kids would, too. My favorite holiday card memory is from when I was a kid. My mom would always have a theme for our photo, and one year we all (including the dog) dressed up as elves with a prop from our current favorite handmade craft activity (baking, woodworking, crochet, etc.). We did it, even though we were more than slightly embarrassed teenagers at the time!
carin says
We don’t do holiday cards, but after this amazing post, maybe we will try it!
Dawn says
I love your ideas, thanks for sharing!
Mary says
We take several posed shots, then several “goofy” shots. Usually it’s the goofy ones that make it to our holiday cards! If we’ve gone on vacation somewhere that year we’ll use photos from the trip. I’m pretty skilled with the camera and love photography so we do our own photos. I don’t remember the last time we hired a photographer for portraits
christine says
Great idea! This is going to be the first year we do a Christmas Card in probably 6 years!
Karen says
I take a lot of photos throughout the year, and every year we make a Christmas card using a photo of the kids. As the kids are getting older it is getting easier to get a good holiday photo. However, when they were younger, it was hard to get three giggly and wiggly children to sit still long enough, to all look at the camera at the same time and then to smile before snapping the picture. My criteria for a “good photo” at that time was one where I could capture all three in the photo, sitting upright instead of laying down or doing somersaults, and somewhat facing me. Sometimes after a lengthy session of taking photos, I would get a really good photo, but then it would turn out blurry, most likely due to arm fatigue after holding up the camera for so long :). I’d love to get a holiday photo where the whole family is included which sounds very possible with that wonderful Olympus camera. It would be fabulous to win it!
Esmeralda says
I don’t get wrapped in the “it has to be just perfect” moment, because our family isn’t a perfect still shot in everyday living. The point of pictures is to capture moments that remind us of real life. So I absolutely love it when my son’s photos include him with messy hair, a wrinkled shirt and smudges on his glasses, because that’s the real him! Not the pressed down, posed, combed hair idea many of us think of when taking photos. So, I like to take action photos of us actually living, those to me, ARE THE BEST!!!
Rachel W says
I love taking photos of my son for Christmas cards but as he gets older, he is much more resistant to have his picture taken. This year, we will be using the photos we had taken during the summer. I have set up a similar background in the past and it worked well but I just don’t have the time for it this year! (Off to follow you and Olympus on IG 🙂 )
Kristina says
We usually try to take a holiday card in front of the tree, but it is hard to get 3 young kids to stay still and look! Once when the youngest was a baby I actually lay on teh floor and had them sit on my like a bench so I could hold the baby in place, and then my husband just aimed a lttle higher! But often we end up making a collage of good indiviudual and family pictures throughout the year. My husband enjoys photography even with only a point and shoot, so we always have penty to choose from!
Lauren says
We Iove taking holiday pictures to send out to the family, especially to those who live far away that we don’t get to see very often! We Iove making an afternoon of it full of Christmas music and special holiday treats ( the one time I break the rules of allowing Christmas related festivities before celebrating and enjoying thanksgiving!) having a new camera like this would make it much easier to capture the young kids and dog too without running back and forth to the camera to set a timer!
Melissa Meck says
I have never taken a family photo for a Christmas card. With 7 children it was too exhausting to even think about it. I do love having photos of all of my children together, but it is very rare that we can get everyone together now that some are adults and married. We may have to try once again this year to get a family photo. I’m sure it would be easier with several grown children and no grandbabies yet.
Nikki says
My MIL always wants a family picture with her kids, spouses and grandkids. That makes the total up to 35 now. We would always coordinate outfits based on colors or pant style. One Christmas, she asked everyone to dress in red tops and khaki pants. No one realized until the photos were printed and distributed that we all looked like Target employees, even the kids! It is one memory we all look back on and laugh.
Sarah W. says
We do family pictures wish my side of the family reach year. This means that cousins are loudly running around nearby while we’re taking out family picture. I don’t have a specific memory to share, but aunts and uncles say some interesting things to get my (younger than 6) kids to smile natural while looking at the camera!
Thank you for the opportunity to win this amazing camera! I would love to start taking pictures at home like the one you shared.
Kathy C says
I love your photos! For most of my years, I have not sent Christmas cards because I just didn’t want to! But the past couple years, I have been getting free promotion codes to Shutterfly and Snapfish for holiday cards. So the last two years, I got whatever cards I could for free and sent those out, whether it’s 5 or ten. My husband and I don’t like to have our picture taken, so I look back through the pics I have taken that year and pick something out for the card. We have a lot of wildlife around our house, so I usually have pics of birds, bugs, deer, etc. This year it’s a picture of a bright red cardinal sitting in a bare tree in the snow.
Colleen says
I love your home photo shoot, it came out so lovely. My favorite memories are when my kids were little and all enjoyed having their pictures taken. As they have grown, we stopped taking a holiday picture and decided to just use our favorite pictures taken throughout the year and put them into a collage on a holiday card template.
Thanks for the new ideas!
kelia says
I’m a family of 6 also so I know how expensive pro pictures can be. Add in team pictures and school pictures my head spins! Little secret my family is known for crashing the local holiday tree displays and grabbing a perfectly good stranger to snap a few pictures on the cell phone for us which we then turn into holiday cards. This would totally take the awkwardness out of trying to find the perfect unsuspecting victim!
KRISTA says
OMG What a great idea. We did this last year for our family picture for our cards. Yet they would be so much better with an awesome camera. What an inspiration. Hopefully I will win bc capturing family time is definitely meaningful. Thank you!
Annie says
I love the backdrop idea! We always try to take pictures with our tree but sometimes my 3 excited boys will run around it which makes it difficult to take a good picture… And some years I’m so busy that I put up the tree at the last minute with no time for card pictures. Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea!
Kari S says
I love making photo cards and with three toddlers I think I end up with more cuttingroom floor pics than anything because they always move before I can get photo taken. Having this camera would help a lot. Capturing family memories is so important.
Jennifer McDonald says
Let’s see – family photo shoots…is me wrangling the husband and kids, attempting to find some clothing that will somewhat match and hoping no one gets dirty between the house, car and location. I usually have my sister take our photos and we then my husband will take her family photos. Locations vary depending on what we are trying to achieve…
Laura B says
We usually head to a portrait studio, and although we have fun doing it, sometimes it’s just not very personal. We always make it a point to make a family day of it though, getting pictures taking, having lunch, maybe do some shopping. I love the idea of trying to take more relaxing, candid pictures at home!
Kelli says
I’m terrible at taking pictures but I would love to improve and take my family pics. My husband is much better at it.
Shannon says
One year I was determined to get the shadow picture by the tree. I spent an hour with my daughter and a friend trying to get it. I finally got the picture and we had a great time doing it!
Melinda Travis says
I love sharing Christmas pictures with all my college friends across the country. We are all so busy, but this gives us a small, but meaningful way to stay connected!
Susan Miller says
I try to do photos on our semi-annual beach trip at Thanksgiving but this doesn’t always work out. Would love to win this Olympus for many reasons but that wi-fi remote is really cool! I’m usually the one behind the camera and this feature would help me join in the fun.
Tara says
What a great giveaway! My favorite card moments are taking our family picture in front of our Christmas tree for that year before we cut it down. Its become a tradition to go the weekend after Thanksgiving to this little tree farm not farm from where we live. The kids get hot apple cider and there’s even a special candy cane tree that they get to search for each year. The pictures aren’t always the best, but the memories are what make it special! I’ve found the key to our best family photos are doing “silly” pictures first. It lets the kids loosen up and actually enjoy smiling for the photo I want to take. So yes, we take photos especially for our Christmas card, but it’s really more of a memory keeper!
Jennifer Lejeune says
Family Christmas Photos…. sounds so simple. I am always that mom that says “Let’s Make a Family Christmas Card the year” only to be “surprised” when I receive my first one in the mail from my (clearly) more organized friends and family. I love the holidays and with children it can be a very busy time… this year, I am more determined than ever to make that Christmas card a reality…maybe even surprise someone else :o)
Tia says
One of my favorite holiday card moments are when someone had the idea for the ladies of the family (3 in total) to sit on a teeter totter sideways and the men stand behind. We have some really funny action shots of the men standing just looking at us like we are crazy while one person is flying in the air because the other one sat down way to fast. Fun times on film. Love it!
Thanks for the opportunity to win an awesome camera.
Linda C. says
I am also always late at planning the Christmas picture and would LOVE to be able to do my own with this amazing camera. Thank you for sharing the opportunity!!
Athena R says
Following both on Instagram @curlygirl_73.
Athena R says
We typically just send out generic cards, but this year, I definitely want to send out photo holiday cards. We have family photos next Saturday with my entire family. So, while we are dressed up, I’m going to have one of my siblings snap a few photos of us to use for our cards.
Ginny Banks says
Love your photos. Two years ago I did this with my camera, kept setting a timer and running back and of course my hubby wouldn’t stop making hilarious faces, which led my son to start. We had xmas light strung around us and we had a great ol time, but I ran back and forth many times 🙂 My camera was just a canon handheld thing, and now that i think about it that was probably the last time I used it. I rely way too much on my iphone for pictures, and that is something I need to get away from. I would love to win this camera so I could have great shots to preserve my memories. Thanks for all you do!!! You are very inspiring.
Angel Benfer says
We always take pictures every year so we try for something different to keep things interesting. My girls have snuck into holiday displays at the mall and Griswold-esque yards and been turned into Elves on Shelves and sugarplum fairies.
This year we are making photo booth props to capture the girls and the dogs for our card. I usually use my phone to take photos but but your little set up looks easier. 😉
heather says
would love to have this camera so i could send pictures to my dad taht i have not seen in almost 3 years he lives in froida and we live in michigan .
Shana says
For my daughter’s first Christmas we did the professional pictures with the professional price but they were so good. However we could only afford to purchase a few of the shots. For her second Christmas we didn’t even try because of the cost and the fact that she was afraid of Santa and everything else. This year would be a great year to try again now that she’s over being afraid of everything and she’s looking forward to see Santa this year. If we had this camera, we could not only take our own family photos but we could help out other families like ourselves that may not necessarily be able to afford professional photos. Oh what a gift that would be!
Tiffany says
It’s always 2 out of 3! Two kids look great and the third is looking away!
Tiffany Campbell says
I use a Nikon D80 and take my own pictures through the year and use them for Christmas cards.
Zeynep says
This year instead of making cards I designed magnets. I took some picture of us and purchased photo magnets from shutterfly.com.
Sara says
Inspired by new ideas for Christmas photos – thank you!!
Jennifer L. says
I haven’t done holiday cards since my daughter was a baby..as a single mom up till a couple years ago I just couldn’t afford it or didn’t have the time..wish I could start now though! The do it yourself at home pictures you took look awesome by the way!
Heather says
When we do holiday cards we usually include a family portrait. Generally these are done in a studio and we have a great one by our house that we always go to. I am a picture fanatic so it tends to get quite expensive. 🙂 The staff at the studio are great at getting the children to smile!
Abby says
Every year we have taken our own family photos and like to bring laughter and fun to the end product. The year before last, we got all dressed up and had a photo shoot outside, that was color coordinated and looked fabulous, but it hit me when I was inserting pics into the card of how of funny the actual photo shoot was and the pictures I took of that process. Our card ended up being mostly photos of all kinds of facial expressions while trying to come up with poses, such as the “are we done yet” faces, climbing up rocks, pointing and the silly pose before the actual shot. We only included one perfect pose. Last year I was out of ideas and at the last minute it hit me!!!! Have your “Selfie” a Merry Little Christmas. We did a collage of as many selfies as we could fit on a card of us as a family through out the year and called it beautiful!!!
Jayne says
We take our outside! No cards for us though
Karen B says
We don’t do a posed Xmas picture. We prefer more of a compilation of the whole year…sorda a best of the best photos we took during the year. We are always trying to capture unique moments throughout the year. Now that we have 3 kids under 3 it’s a little harder but we do what we can!
Jessica says
One year I did pictures on our own and half the pictures were pictures of our dogs rear end. He kept sneaking out of the bedroom and ending up in the shot. Needless to say they were memorable photos.
Britt says
We have never done holiday cards – a shiny new camera would be a fabulous incentive. 😉
We have a beloved photographer that takes family photos every year and we build photo calendars for the grandparents instead of cards.
Jamie says
My favorite Christmas photo was when my oldest was 3 and my twins were 1. We propped a white sheet in front of the fireplace and sat them down, I crawled on top of the dining room table while my husband tried to get everyone to look at him and smile. We had a crazy time trying to capture the perfect moment but it was great and our holiday cards looked great!
Ginger Stanley says
Absolutely LOVE this camera. We always family photos for our holiday cards and the goofy ones are the best! With three kids its hard to snap a photo where everyone is smiling or looking straight so we just go with it and take lots of silly ones. And outdoors is our go to photo prop. Would love to win!!!!!
Maureen says
Great Pictures! I usually have pictures taken at studio, I love your ideas.
Thanks for sharing.
Sandra says
We always use the summer beach pictures, it’s where the family loves to be best!
Virginia N says
my favorite memories are taking my sons christmas pictues, we have done them different every year but my favorite is when he was about 1 and was in a box wrapped like a present
Christina says
I’ve always wanted an awesome camera like this one! For now I just take as many fun shots of my kids while I can with my phone and add them to cards! But I would love to take more professional quality shots!
Moira Ballard says
My family usually takes a family picture at the beginning of December at a holiday event, church, or home. Whatever pictures come out best are what we end up using 🙂
Melissa says
I love this idea! I have always wanted to have photo christmas cards but never got around to doing it because of money and time. I would love love love to have such an awesome camera to just do it ourselves. I think I would like to do family pictures in the middle of a Christmas tree farm, and hopefully it would be snowing a little to make it just right.
Melinda says
One of my favorite family Christmas photos was taken last year. I set up a tripod in the front yard and started wrangling my 3 kids, husband and dog. We finally got our youngest to cooperate by bringing out the Oreos. If you look closely you can see one in her hand. My parents usually take our Christmas photo for us in early December and we do send out photo cards. I would love this camera. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us and ,for the chance to win!
Karina says
The one thing I give myself ea year is a family photoshoot, I am usually behind the camera so, I have to hire a photographer to actually be in the pictures! but looks like this camera.can solve that! I always book around this time to use my pics for my Xmas cards, of course my fav moments is when I see my kids being photographed 🙂
Kristin C. says
For my oldest daughter’s first Christmas card I was able to have a photo taken with the Grinch! “And our heart grew three times this year”. (Or something similar to that) happy holidays!
H. McKean says
This is AWESOME! Who has time to go to a studio these days? Bring the studio to you! I want one too!!
Wendy says
It’s always a challenge capturing a great outdoor family photo when you don’t have an ‘extra’ person on hand to actually take the darn thing! For years we used a stepladder, and then one fine day I purchased a tripod…game changer!
Szkent says
We make sure to take our family photo when we are in full costume at our town’s Halloween festival. We have never done a formal sitting. We also like taking photos of our girls picking out a Christmas tree. Last year I was too disorganized and stressed and failed to order Christmas cards. So we sent out Valentine’s Day cards instead and it was great! Our friends and family loved them. They were a nice surprise. As a result we received many texts, emails and phone calls; something that does not happen when we send out Christmas cards. Also, our card wasn’t lost in the deluge of Holiday mail, so recipients seemed to take more time reading our notes and looking at the collage. This may be a new tradition.
Mary says
I always put off holiday photos too long to have a ‘real’ photo shoot. I end up shooting my own sometimes even with my mobile phone. I have ended up with some cute pics though…pj pics are a crowd pleaser
Alex says
I always use a picture of the kids hamming it up and just being themselves on our Christmas cards.
Nicole says
Your pictures are awesome!!!
Its hard to get a picture with all of us and ive been wanting to do holiday pictures for some time but with all of us im always the one behind the camera so of course its like im not in it ever!! And the “selfie” of everyone doesnt exactly work out all the time!! Not to mention i just have to snap and snap and hope for the best that one will come out!!! This would be amazing to be able to have an actual family photo without the added expense of professional that we just cant do!!
Laura G. says
When my kids were about 7, my babysitter was playing around taking pictures of the kids in the yard. She had them put their heads together, and it was AMAZING. We printed it in black and white. I can practically still smell the fall leaves, and I just love that picture!
Haylee says
We usually have family or friends take our photo or hire an inexpensive photographer. Love this idea!
Julie says
we’ve never really done Christmas cards. I thought about it last year when we are picking out a tree at the tree farm. My 11-year-old was given the camera scowl and the nine-year-old made the cheesiest smile you’ve ever seen.
Catherine Lutz says
I’ve avoided holiday cards for years, because I usually find the set-up photos so dull. But I do pick out one family photo each year, usually on a trip or adventure close to home, that best represents us and that I can use in a number of ways, to communicate to loved ones or otherwise. The secret recipe to great photos is in spontaneity, composition, thinking differently about viewpoint, and taking photos outside of the usual circumstances (events, holidays, accomplishments). Think outside the box!
Stefanie Irwin says
Your pictures came out great! Most impressed that all your kids were looking at the camera and not making funny faces like mine do 🙂 We make a special effort to do yearly photos just for Christmas. Last year we had fun making cards with our candids…including the ones of the littles bawling on Santas lap;) Happy Holidays!
Heather says
My sister has a nice camera and takes photos for us. Last year I decided kind of last minute to do a photo Christmas card, so we bundled up our three-month-old and drove to her house. We picked her up and drove to a little park near her house, and got a few good pics just before it started to rain! My sister was making crazy turkey noises to get our baby to laugh! The cards were a big hit!
Jodie says
My husband and I used to take a picture of the two of us in fro t of the tree, my mom would take the picture and she’s a terrible photographer!aleays meant well but just couldn’t get a clear/ steady shot of us, always apologized. I’m come to treasure these pictures. With 3 grandkids ( same height difference as your house 5 yr old to a6’1 14 yr old these pictures a mean even more to my mom, my dad has Alzheimer’s and any photos are precious for him but also is to cherish. As a working mom the idea of a wifi camera would be such a time saving feature!
Love the picture and admire you for taking the time to do it!
mari says
we long ago gave up the idea of squeezing a christmas picture in to this busy season. we now send valentines day cards! so much less stress!! i also really relish having pictures that are no-fuss. by that i mean, my kids don’t look matchy or fancy – they just look like they usually look. so we don’t do a photographer. but a nicer camera sure would be really fabulous to help make all that happen!! thanks for this post.
Lisa Suit says
I also follow both of you on instagram, @mythreesuits.
Lisa Suit says
What a fantastic giveaway, thank you for the opportunity to win!! Professional pictures are not in our budget, so I usually take our Christmas pictures myself, but just of our three kids, because I only have a point and shoot camera and hate the running back and forth with the timer. I would absolutely love to win this!
Darren Stokes says
I take pictures in the summer to use for Christmas cards to send to my friends and family living in snow country. lol
Dena says
I love this camera! Thank you so much for sharing.
Our best holiday pictures have always been the ones that let our true personalities shine through. Whether it was my mom and her four sisters cracking up while showing off their matching Christmas robes, or my little boys rolling around under the lit tree like a herd of puppies, the best shots have the power to make us smile long after the attempted poses lose their glamour.
We haven’t had a working camera for about four years. I really miss having the flexibility that a quality camera offers and cell phones still can’t match.
Catherine says
We’ve only had a family photo shoot once and that was 4 years ago :/ maybe this year we can do our own for Christmas cards. You made yours look so professional, gives me hope that maybe I can do it too 🙂
Pauline says
We usually do take photos just for our cards and it’s usually very low key. My favorite memory is when we asked my sister-in-law to take photos of our family at our house and in order to get our son’s attention AND keep him smiling, she played a YouTube clip of his favorite cartoon and somehow attached her phone to her forehead so that her hands were free to hold other things–her right hand had her camera and her left hand was holding our floor lamp at just the right angle for proper lighting. Needless to say, she looked ridiculous, which made us all laugh. It makes me laugh just writing this!
Suzie says
I usually order the photo collage cards because I have a hard time picking one photo from the hundreds we take during the year. However, we don’t sit for an official holiday family portrait. We usually take a family photo at our town’s Halloween festival and use that in addition to whatever we else we like from family trips, etc. Last year, I was too disorganized and stressed out to get my act together and failed to send out holiday cards. So we sent out Valentine’s Day cards instead. It was a great idea! We were able to include Christmas photos and our friends and family loved the surprise of a photo collage Valentine in their mailbox. Another bonus, our card didn’t get lost in the avalanche of Holiday cards. The recipients had time to read the card and really look at the photos. I received emails, texts and calls from delighted people, and I felt like it was money well spent.
Susan Smith says
I love getting my children’s photos! Need to get those scheduled for this year. Love the fun, candid memories that are hard to capture.
Kimberly says
Your article was a light bulb moment for me! With 3 children and my husband’s travel schedule, we have yet to have a professional picture taken of us. I think I will copy your idea of setting up a home photo shoot but using only the camera on my phone. I would love to have a camera like the one mentioned above. We are moving to Greece this summer, and I think that camera would inspire me to take photography classes to capture our amazing adventure. I love your website. Our weekly menus are centered around your recipes.
Stacie says
Honestly we don’t do cards at Christmas. When we do family photos, I hire a photographer to take them. I am wanting a nice camera and a easy to use camera to take pictures with. The one I have is old and horrible to use. I mostly use my I Phone to take our pictures. I like it better than my camera.
Mary Kate O'Connell says
I make an appointment with a professional photographer right around Thanksgiving every year and plan to take lots of family and kids shots in order to have a nice pic for that year and for our Christmas card. If I don’t do it then I know o will forget and time will disappear and I won’t get it done. One of my fav things about Christmas time is receiving and feeing everyone’s creative beautiful cards. I have no secrets to make a good pic other than bribery for the kids 🙂 I would absoluteky be over the moon if I won a camera because I have always wanted one, I just haven’t wanted to spend the $$.
Melissa says
For Christmas cards we usually use a studio for taking pictures of our two boys. When our oldest was 2, I was pregnant and on bed rest, and obviously unable to coordinate photos. Our son was also desperately in need of a haircut, with his curly brown hair all over the place, but again, I couldn’t do anything about it. My husband dressed our son in jeans and a little red plaid shirt, then stood our son in front of our tree. My husband got our son giggling; soon he was laughing and holding his tummy. We now have this lovely photo of adorable, messy-haired, laughing boy. My husband even took it with a disposable camera. Such a beautiful memory.
Dona Perkins says
We haven’t taken family photos in a few years, but the last session we had was great! A friend of mine took our pictures on a local university campus that was lush and green, and the photos were magical. I would LOVE a decent camera to take an updated family portrait with. Thanks! 🙂
Liz says
I usually just put together a bunch of shots of the kids. Try to find any where they are all looking at the camera! We took a cute one on the front porch but it is just the 3 kids always. This would be great!
grace says
Follow Olympus and you on Instagram as well.
T says
My favorite card was last year as we had a new family member, our miracle premie daughter.
Candice says
Some of my fondest memories are of us trying to capture the Christmas holiday photo. More often than not they are far from professional, but they are a snap shot of our love!
Michelle says
I love making Christmas cards! My family always has a professional take photos in the fall right around my girls’ birthdays to capture them at their respective ages. I usually use one of those photos for our Christmas card. Lately I have been inspired to take my own photos, so an amazing camera like the Olympus would be a huge blessing!
Hannah Hopkins says
I never seem to get ALL of my two daughters’ personality in one picture… We have done a small collage the last couple of years. The planned pictures never turn out as great as the ones we just happen to snap of a fun afternoon at the park or of a sweet hug on the sidewalk… I would love to win a new camera–been using the same dslr for about 15 years now!!
grace says
Build in WIFI!! Oh boy, didn’t realized it finally comes down to camera. This is going to help us taking pictures without a photographer. We tried everything from tripod to wireless remote control but they all failed. So we had to take many pictures (and many rolled eyes and sighed) and managed to find that 1 picture to be in the Christmas card. Thank you for the chance. Love your idea of using those lights in the background – we may have to steal your idea 🙂
Susan A. says
Love your pictures and backdrop! I usually take my own, too, but as my son gets older, it’s getting harder to get him to smile!
Molly says
We usually hire a photographer to take our family photos, but my favorite photos are always the ones at the Christmas tree farms that we take ourselves. There are out-takes that make me smile even though they are not Christmas card worthy. I love seeing the goofy smiles and silly moments.
Nora says
I love using candid relaxed photos, letting the kids be them selves always turns out the best but it takes many tries at getting the right shot at the right time, but letting them explore or play with things they don’t see or are allowed to normally play with has always helped me, I also let them direct the photos, my best was my 3 yo asking to pull the baby in a sled, and then later covering him in light like she was decorating the tree, I can’t wait to see what they have in store for me this year
grace says
Built in WIFI! Oh boy, I didn’t realize it finally comes down to camera — this is going to be such an easy way to take pictures without a photographer! We tried tripod or even wireless remote control without any success (remote didn’t work out, tripod got all wonky). But we managed every year to find that 1 picture to be in the Christmas cards after many shots (and rolled eyes and sighed). Thanks for the chance.
Michelle says
One of our favorite holiday photos was using a timer in our backyard. We bought 2 bales of straw and placed our twins on them. Hubby did his best to keep them looking at the camera while I made to dash to make it into the photo. ❤️❤️❤️
Kelly says
I always want to take holiday pictures but we usually try to do then ourselves and they never seem to turn out with our ancient camera and my husband isn’t the most patient or willing when it comes to those kinds of things. I would LOVE to win this camera, especially because we have another little one on the way and I’d love to have some good quality photos of the baby too!
Sarah Salim says
We haven’t had a good digital camera for a long time so our photos are usually the variety taken with a phone and usually I’m not included because I’m taking the photo. I love these ideas for taking a family photo. I’m inspired by your suggestions and photos, Laura. Thanks.
Tasha Grant says
We did the whole “Night before Christmas” gift box idea last year and it turned out beautiful! We caught so many precious pics while they opened their gifts and it was our first year having our new addition, Pax, in the family too. I was on strict bedrest for 5 months while awaiting his arrival so needless to say we had a Blessed Christmas once he arrived safe & sound. All of our family & friends were delighted to receive the holiday cards in the mail & everyone LOVED the Night before Christmas gift box idea! We realized long ago that the best pictures are those that we randomly take as they’re decorating the tree.. Get close to their hands while they’re hanging the balls on the tree! It makes for an excellent photo! Especially since those hands don’t stay small for long! 🙂
Janette says
Love the fairy lights! We don’t usually do holiday photo shoots, but for family shoots, I always try to take several photos in quick succession, and make everyone laugh halfway through – makes for great smiles!
latanya says
I follow you both on instagram @sweetums82
Jessica Dawson says
My favorite holiday card moment is when we decided to take our pictures at a State park. My kids had so much fun running around gathering leaves, sticks and dirt. We had a special time skipping rock/pebbles on the water. The best photos have been when my family is enjoying nature or running around outside(as we love to do). We try to take a family photo every year non especially for holiday cards but with a busy schedule similar to what you wrote about, there is no telling if we get a family photo every year. I try to cherish the photos or moments throughout the year.
latanya says
thankfully, my brother in law is a photographer, so he takes our photos. We just coordinate outfits and time, then show up.
Esse says
Our first child is now 8 months old, so this is our first Christmas with a little one. I wanted to have professional Christmas photos/cards made but apparently waited to long to book and they are all full. So I’ll be taking them! Would love a camera like this to do it with!
Your photos are beautiful!!
Jenn Sherron says
This will be our very first year taking Family phot for the holidays. Today we celebrated the first birthday of our wonderful amazing son. I have been looking for a camera to capture all of his amazing moments with, the phone just does not do them justice. What a wonderful opportunity!
Lori Barrett says
I love to send a photo out of my kids each Christmas as we don’t live near family and rarely get to see each other, so it’s a great way to show how much the kids have grown each year!
Ambery says
My favorite pic was when we put our 8 month old in a way too big snowsuit it in a pile of snow under an evergreen.
I take lots of pictures to get a good one! Our have someone with a better eye for pictures hold the camera.
We don’t typically take holiday card pictures, but I love to receive them!
Judith Zuniga says
We normally don’t take “Christmas” pictures. I think we did that only once a few years back. What I do is look through all the year’s pictures and pick one or a few that are good pictures and that describe what we did during that year. We’re not a big family, just my husband, my son and me so there are a lot of pictures a my little boy on our Christmas card! We recently added a dog to our household, and even though she’s camera shy, she makes it to the Christmas card as well.
Saludos,
Judith
rig says
Growing up we never did the formal family Christmas photo. My dad, who is an artist, would draw a scene for our Christmas cards. We had Christmas morning candid shots, some turning out well and some not so well. I would love to win the camera to help create new traditions.
Mmck says
I would love to own that incredible camera and to be able to take photos I would actually frame!
amisha says
My favorite holiday card moment is when we were taking photos for our holiday card and my then 3 year old son decided he had enough pictures and decided to lay down. No amount of cajoling or talking would get him back him. Needless to say, we didn’t use the pics that year and went with something from earlier in the year. However, its one of my favorite memories now!
Callie says
One Christmas couldn’t get the kids to both smile at the same time. My oldest got frustrated with her little brother grabbed his head and yelled smile. So we had a picture of them both with crazy smiles and her hands firmly on his face! Figured anyone who knew us would understand!
Susan says
Holiday pictures I feel are best captured when no one is posing. I love the free spirit no frills pics of families
Angie Belcher says
Thank you for the great idea! Your pictures look beautiful. My favorite memory of shooting a Christmas card photo was of my two year old little girl. I sat her in a chair covered in black fabric and I placed colored lights around her. You can imagine the mess and tangles with a two year old. I Don’t know what I was thinking???
Heather says
Laura, thanks for sharing such beautiful photos of your family! This post was so inspiring. And I love that you and your husband are in the pictures. I often just use random cute pics of the kids because I’m not comfortable on camera anymore. A bit sad but true. I think I need to change my perspective.
Love this post, your site and the fact that you actually email back! A very Happy Holiday to you and your family.
Laura Fuentes says
I too use random pictures Heather. These are the first pictures with my husband in probably two years!! You could say I “dragged” him into them ;)Good luck!
Crystal says
We try to take holiday photos every year with our daughter. Last year we decided to shot at our new studio/ warehouse. She was almost three and just not cooperating. So we grabbed a pallet of boxed product and plopped her on the top. We drove the pallet around like a ride and finally got the smiling photo we wanted. 🙂
Thea says
My favorite trick to get my toddler to smile is to tickle him.
Gina says
We always had a blast with family Christmas photos. My daughter was usually tasked to find the best outfits that color coordinated with all the members of our family. We used our old SLR camera, digital, with a remote control. It was a chore to find the best post, but the hardest part was getting everyone, including our dogs to look good all at the same moment in time.
Amy Hayward says
Thanks for all of the great blogs! I love to take pics outside of my 2 kids along with our dog and cows.
Kerry says
I’ve found that our best photos happen when they’re not posed. I gather the best shots from the year and collage them together. As I am usually the photographer of the household, there are far fewer pictures of me.
Kelly G says
I take pictures every year with my kids with Santa and the Christmas light display at our zoo. They are perfect for photo cards!
Alecia Mayers says
So, my husband has been taking pictures of everything that happens in our lives since my daughter was born in 2006. Literally, we have 1000s of pictures ranging from vacations, birthday parties, and other family functions. For holidays we take general pictures with immediate family and others in our lives. If we decide to take holiday pictures; we contact a lady who owns her own photography business, but she’s usually booked up. Or our schedules coincide and we can’t get the schedules to match. My husband purchase a new camera every other year, so winning the Olympus and being able to take our own pictures using wifi would be AWESOME! Not to mention the holidays coming around!
Leigh says
I have a family that doesn’t like photos, so when I tell them we are having some done there is a huge collective groan! One year I had a friend take photos of us at the Art Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand. It’s one of my favourite places. There were the usual moans and groans and my little girl refused to smile or even leave my lap! My friend just snapped continuous shots and so there were some great candid ones of me negotiating with my kids to co-operate! Overall it was really worth it. The lighting was beautiful that day and we got some great shots in a beautiful place. To make these photos even more poignant, the Art Centre was one of the places that was severely damaged in the Christchurch earthquake the following February. It was our last time there.
Keisha A says
We also take our Holiday photos at home. It can be difficult at times, having two energetic girls running around. But when the moment is right, we end up getting the perfect holiday photo! Our best holiday photo was when our girls were a little younger and we dressed them alike. It came out perfect! Saves on cost when we do them ourselves:)
Cathy says
I love the candid photos, one of my favorite was my son playing with legos. I try to take our own but I agree the running back and forth can be a little crazy with the timer. I think that’s why I’m laughing so much because I often don’t make it back in time. I didn’t realize the new camera’s had that option to use a timer on your phone. How awesome is that? Love your backdrop! I’m going to try something like that this year.
Hopefully my son will sit still!
KC says
I feel like my best holiday photos are the ones that are spontaneous and often capture the moment telling a story.
Trisha says
My fav holiday card moment was when we had a photographer come to our house to photograph my 3yr old, 1yr old and 5yr old niece. We couldn’t get them to relax and sit for 2 secs! The photographer suggested we go up to my bedroom and jump on the bed “to get the wiggles out”! I thought she was crazy! I had nobidea she was going to snap shots the whole time! The kids had a blast and we got the BEST pics of them with REAL smiles and laughs! We always take Christmas pics to send although, occasionally we’ve been late and have sent them to celebrate the New Year
Tracey says
We always go to a studio. Last year my girls were 3&4 and they took gorgeous photos- much to our surprise! Then totally ruined their brand new shoes waiting for mommy to pick out Christmad cards. You win some- you lose some!
Mindy says
We always take a family pic when our new baby is 3 months old. We just had this milestone with our fourth child. This pic will double as our Christmas card this year! Great timing!
Lori says
I like to take a family picture or even one of the kids when the leaves have just fallen off the trees and they are still in their beautiful colors of oranges and reds. The picture is not your typical Christmas staged photo shoot but an outdoors one which our family is all about.
Andrea says
My favorite photo was years ago when my oldest girls were 5 and 1. I put them in front of the tree and gave them ornaments to hold and play with.
RESHMA SHAH says
My favorite holiday card memory was the first one we ever did with my first born. It was truly a blessing watching her be posed and trying to make silly faces to capture that perfect shot! We now yearly take holiday pictures as a family. I now capture our photo memories by my iPhone, but would love to have a more professional camera.
Nicole says
I love to capture my family in the moment. I recently snapped a photo of my family that came out picture perfect. While driving through San Diego on our annual family road trip, we decided to stop at the beach. I was watching my children and my husband, I just snapped the picture, the lighting was perfect and so was the moment and the picture came out perfect. Those are my favorite photos.
Charlotte says
We find the holidays too stressful to do Christmas cards, so we send Valentine cards of our friends instead. It is nice to get a card from a friend on a non-traditional holiday like that! I always take my own pictures and would love to upgrade from my current six-year-old camera!
Amber says
My husband is our family photographer and takes beautiful photos! While he and I don’t always agree on which photo to use for the card, he always lets me choose in the end. 🙂
Cathy says
My favorite holiday cards have both been of my boys nose to nose in profile. SO cute! Thank you for the giveaway!
Laurie says
It’s hard to get one good photo of all four kids. So my husband lets each one pick their favorite photo from the year. Then he imports them and does something fun, like putting their faces inside ornaments or on elf bodies.
Stephanie says
I love the Magic of Christmas…and documenting it…the Photo’s are a reminder of FUN TIMES!
Stephanie says
I love having a family picture on our Christmas card. My daughter is almost 2 and I just love to have a great picture of her to send out. We usually go for candids instead of a portrait since she won’t sit still for long.
Amanda C says
I always intend to take special holiday pics, but I always end up running out of time and just use our favorite photos from throughout the year. I love the idea of setting up a photo studio in your own home. Part of the reason that I always run out of time getting that special holiday pic is that I feel I have to get just the right setting (and always believed that was somewhere outdoors before). Weather or the lack of daylight hours always ruined my best laid plans.
Rhea Hodges says
My favorite holiday pictures we’ve done with our 4 kids have been while out and about, like a few years ago when we went camping for thanksgiving at the beach and last year when we went to Lake Havasu. The pictures of the family in the sunny enjoying the water is always funny sending to our family in northern Idaho and Washington where it snows lots of the year. The camera would be amazing because our oldest daughter is a senior and the picture she wants for her senior announcement will have to be done by me. She wants a picture of her and her favorite things: a stack of books next to her while she is starring into one sitting on the beach and the waves crashing behind her.
FYI thanks for your blog. Very inspiring!
STACY says
I love getting photos just for holiday cards – sometimes we do them at home, usually during tree decorating, and sometimes we have professionals take the photo. A great camera like the Olympus and these at-home ideas would be great to eliminate the need to hire someone! Great giveaway!
Christy says
I’m a huge fan of impromptu pictures. I love catching people in real life moments…my husband walking hand-in-hand with my daughter, my son snuggling on the bed with our dog, etc. I like putting together a collage cards each year and I give small updates for each of us.
Kim Lynn says
The cover photo of my Xmas card is professional photo with Santa at the mall. Inside photos are taken on my iPhone. Birthday is a professional photo shoot. Would love using that camera.
Renee Baude says
I love this idea! Using a “real camera” vs my iPhone would be amazing! I have four kids 8-14 years old and each year I take a photo of all four kids in age order at the exact same spot. I love seeing how they have grown over the years.
With this nifty feature I could even be in the photo!
Happy Holidays!
Melissa says
Favorite holiday card moments: I love to exchange cards with my husband; we always buy two cards for each other; one is a humorous card,vwhile the other is a loving one.
How I capture my best photos: I love outside pictures because plants can make a portrait vibrant.
Do I take family photos especially for your holiday cards: sadly, no; I haven’t been very fond of the portrait packages, backgrounds, and prices at local studios; I also haven’t had a decent camera in a very long time ( like many people, I’ve been relying on my not so great phone camera for quite some time).
laura says
We did a similar set up when our daughter was one. Set up the fabric and lights, and gave her a handful of ornaments to play with while in a red cloth diaper. She managed to hold one up that was strategically modest and give us a grin. We captured it!
s says
My Holiday photos are usually hit and miss. This camera seems like the perfect solution for those missed shots. I really enjoy taking my own photographs, rather than professionally stage images.
Lori says
The pictures turned out so cute! I live DIY. I always try to send out picture cards. Even when I am running behind, I at least snap a picture of my daughter and place it inside the regular card. It’s a great way for distant friends and family to be a part of our life. I try to include 2-3 pics of our daughter and try to fit our furry daughter in. Then I try to include one of us all together. Usually random, from a fall event. Last year, for the first time, we actually kept out church clothes on a little longer than usual one Sunday and sat on a blanket in the front yard while my grandmother snapped a picture. It turned out perfect for our card. Such a wonderful blessing to whoever wins!
Shakeeta W says
Following on IG as mamatomandm 🙂
Steph says
My favorite holiday card was when we tried to wrangle 2 dogs and a 9 month old. One dog went one place, the other the other way. I was looking at them my husband was fixing my daughters gat and she was the only one smiling. With that being said no we don’t take special photos anymore We capture our best photos when we are not trying to make it perfect.
Andrea H says
I follow both on Instagram as honestlyandrea. Thank you!
Shakeeta W says
We’ve only taken holiday pictures once 2 years ago but everything worked out pretty well in those. I’m hoping to do more this year since we now have 3 little ones 🙂
JoeyfromSC says
Following you both on instagram:
ajoebloe
Andrea H says
We’ve honestly never taken photos for holiday cards as a family. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but this time of year is always so tight on the budget. If I had a nice camera like this I would definitely make a concentrated effort to have some holiday cards made! I love your backdrop!
Catherine l. says
A few years ago my boys had their santa hats on and were smiling and hugging each other. That was my favorite Christmas picture.
Amy Wahl says
I just took our family shots with out 1971 VW super Beatle in the background; and our new puppy!
Laura Fuentes says
How cool!!
JoeyfromSC says
Your pics are great!!! I have had some funny moments over the years trying to capture our “holiday card” lol
One year, I thought we all should dress alike..It was a fiasco haha..2 yrs ago, I designed us a great family newsletter holiday card! It turned out really cool!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Joey J.
Cari says
Genius! I have been trying to come up with a less expensive way to get updated holiday family pics for cards this year. I have been considering finding a photographer, but that can get pricey! I love your DIY approach! I once used a random “snow day” and had a friend take family pics in two feet of snow! We were freezing, but the photos turned out amazingly! I can’t wait to give your backdrop a try! An actual camera (NOT an iphone!) would make it even better! Thanks for sharing your inspiration!
Brecca Fuentes says
For sure I love receiving photo Christmas cards more than taking our own!
Erica says
We reached the tipping point of having too many kids to pay for photos any more, so I’ve started dabbling in taking our own school photos… I am inspired by your holiday photos! Would love that fancy camera!!
Katie Brown says
Always love the coordinating outfits. Getting all the smiles to line up….well, that’s a trick. Practice, practice, practice!!
Cierra says
We haven’t taken pictures in soooooo long so my favorite would have to be the last one we took.
I feel like the best pictures are usually the ones I didn’t mean to take. Sometimes, I just keep snapping away. I figure there has to be at least one good one in the bunch. Lol.
Elizabeth says
I always try to make the card festive by including my children in their holiday garb in front of the tree.
Kennon says
I LOVE Christmas and your family photo idea is fantastic! I usually just take a picture of my 2 girls and use them for cards. One year I was so late I actually made happy new year cards instead! Sharing pictures of family during the holidays is a highlight of our year – giving AND receiving!!
Tash says
I love taking my own holiday photos! Although I usually take them on time, I always forget to make the cards, my mom became fed up with me and started sending pictures of my kids out on her holiday cards!
Michelle says
I do sometimes take my own holiday photos for cards. It is always quite a job trying to
coordinate outfits with my 5 kiddos and get everyone looking the right direction. Would love
this camera for the option of us all being in the picture!!
thuy n.. says
We do take holiday photos every year. At first it was just the kids, and then I realized that one day I would be really sad that we didn’t have more family photos. So, even though I hate having my picture taken, I know I will be grateful later.
Elisha says
We used to take photos in front of the big tree at our local mall. It is always a huge tree and lit up. Now we do them at grandma and grandpas each year so we will always have that memory.
Kellie Folkerts says
We take our Christmas card pictures the same way only using the “quick, run and smile dad” method required of the 10 second delay our camera has. Thanks for another great opportunity to potentially win something awesome!
Jennifer says
Last year we took our kids to a cute old timey area in town for some festive pictures. Our super active daughter was all over the place, making faces, looking everywhere but at the camera, being silly and trying to make us laughter while our model/actor/love to perform son was taking it all very serious and posing perfectly for every shot. Afterward it was funny to flip through the 100’s of images and see our son be as still as a statue with a perfect smile in everyone and our wild child got nuts all around him! Fortunately we got ONE good shot out of all of the crazy out takes. 🙂
Julie says
I go through this same debate every year about having a photographer take the photos or to take my own. I keep trying but can’t seem to make them as good as I’d like and trying to get 3 small children dressed up and out for pictures and forcing everyone to smile and look forward is always a memorable holiday experience. I feel it is somewhat of a good workout running back and forth to the timer.
Laura Fuentes says
Yes! let’s think it’s a workout 😉 I love catching myself in half the pictures running LOL
Tabitha says
Yes, I do try my best to take our own pictures. I have 5 kids and I became to tired of attempting to get their pictures taken at a studio. We always ended up with frazzled looking pictures. I took a few photography classes in high school and college so I try to draw from my pasts experience and started taking our own pictures. I know they are not great but it is much more relaxing and if someone is not feeling it we put everything away and try another day. Would love some better ideas and equipment to get better results.
Sara G says
I didn’t even realize cameras came with wifi…game changer! We haven’t had a family photo taken in 2 years (outside of phone selfies). I am horrible about that, and regret it so much, as we lost our oldest son 3 years ago, and I only have 1 candid shot of all of us together. Your pictures turned out precious!
DeAnna Sturtevant says
We take pictures all year long and then make a collage card for Christmas, though I do a photoshoot with my daughter every year using my camera phone. She loves getting dressed up and posing.
Marcela K says
I love having the kids help with ideas of what to do for the pictures. Our holiday cards are different themes from one year, to the next. The candid ones are my favorite! This year was pjs and Santa hats. Next year, they want to do formal, but goofy. Hahaha! And our family and friends love seeing what we come up with. We usually do them at a department store photographer (they love our ideas), but I’d like to try doing my own.
JoAnna Talik says
We have taken pictures for our Christmas cards since my son was born. We always do them ourselves. Unfortunately my camera was broken this year and we have not been able to replace it. My favorite pictures to take are capturing special moments between my husband and out little boy.
Cassie Webster says
I absolutely LOVE the WiFi and social media share capability!!
Following you both on Instagram!
Cassie Webster says
This was an Awesome post! I try to keep holiday cards cost down by having a photographer friend take our family pictures. I like to use a subtle color scheme between the adults & children. We don’t send out holiday cards usually, but I think we will this year! I’m excited to try this at home with my kids!
Jennifer says
We always take our picture near the fireplace all snuggled up around Christmas time. But having someone take it is a challenge! I need to look into this camera..what a brilliant idea. Beautiful pictures and love your ideas!
Christina says
This year for our family Xmas card I took pics of my boys against our shed. It reminded me of the backgrounds at portrait simple. I said to myself to totally got this!
Kelly says
Great pictures! Love them! I’m with you, sometimes the candid shots are best. There are years we take a special family photo, but other years I have a great time going down memory lane and put together a collage of photos taken through the year. It is fun to reminisce about all of our memories throughout the year!
Patricia says
I try to do Christmas pictures every year, but having 4 kids ages 2-11 to dress and get ready for pictures is hard. Anyways, one funny memory was when we only had 2 children, I made my husband get ready and dressed my two kids and my husband asked, “who is going to take the picture?” I was like I don’t know, so I went outside and called my neighbor to do it, so we all sat by the Christmas tree and boom, done lol!
That camera looks like a dream!
Katie Rae says
Cute photos and love the backdrop!!! This was my first year doing Christmas cards with my puppies 🙂 I capture my best photos with the 10 second timer currently haha. We’ll definitely be doing family photos from now on 🙂
Jennifer armao says
My neighbor and I take photos for each other. It is lots of fun and our kids feel more at ease since they know her. I always take a special photo for our Christmas card.
Amy says
We always try to do our own Christmas card picture. We usually try to do something fun like dressing as the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who with the kids or having them tie is up with Christmas lights. I love your set up!
Jen says
I think we capture our best moments candidly and for us it’s outside 🙂 sometimes we use those for our cards and sometimes we have a professional. We’ve gone both ways. The best Christmas card photo shoot moment we’ve had was by far this year – after having to leave our children several times this year for our other daughters multiple surgeries we won a session with a lovely photographer who captured the love of our family and how we stayed united and strong through being apart. My 4 year old would get this camera if I won, she has developed a joyous and rewarding love for photography at her young age.
Katie says
Oh! And we love following you on Instagram!!
Katie says
Our best Christmas card oopsie was the year we ordered 100+cards and never sent them!! We’re thinking we could send them years from now as Throwback Cards!!
We get the best photos of our boys and our family when we’re captured out and about in the world enjoying an activity together!!
Laura Fuentes says
That is such a great idea Katie! I have some cards from a few years ago that I never sent out!!
Jonna says
I love candid shots, so I’ve never done the traditional Christmas family picture. Plus a family of 9 is even harder to squeeze on a bench! 😉
Annie Haslem says
Are favourite holiday card moment was when our second son was born. We had professional photos done and tried to get our toddler to hold his baby brother. The older one looks like he is having a great time but the baby is crying. They happen to be sitting in a red chair so we sent this out as our Xmas card that year and it got the best response. Still on people’s fridges two years later.
Lorraine C. Ladish says
I have never done studio photos, but I admit it’s a challenge to get everyone to pose and SMILE for the camera. I have to say the most outrageous things to get my stepson to smile. But, every year, I try again. Great shots!
Amie says
Hi- Some of my favorite holiday card moments are the pictures that were taken in front of the Christmas tree of my three kids in matching outfits! To get the best photo I always taken close to one hundred pictures before I get a good one…thank goodness for digital cameras! I always take a picture of our family especially for our Christmas cards.
Christy Owenby says
My favorite holiday pictures are when we are trying to get the puppies to sit still. We always take family photos for Christmas. Great idea! Love taking them yourself and then you get to own all the pics.
Kristy says
I love the idea of the lights on the white background! I try to take photos outside and keep it as simple as possible. Last year the kids had on their Christmas pjs and Santa hats on outside in the snow! It was my favorite photo yet!
Laurie says
My favorite pictures of my kids are individual. Then I don’t have to photoshop someone’s head from one picture to another. It’s hard to get four kids to look at the camera.
Laura says
Love this idea!! We typically do an inexpensive studio for our family pictures. This year though our favorite photographer has a new job elsewhere, our previous Olympic camera broke and is too old to replace the part, & our budget won’t allow for a photo session. We’ll take one from home! Great tip about using the mirror!
Michelle Niederstadt says
We stink at family pictures- and holiday ones don’t happen very often. Why? We don’t have a camera other than the useless ones on our phones! We have taken family photos a few times but had a professional do them. My husband always loves to do one crazy pose when we do family photos. Two years ago, when Levi was only a year old – we took pictures and he said ok – everyone stand on your head! I held Levi upside down, which was a bonus for me because I didn’t have to stand on my head -but the look on poor Levi’s face was priceless!
Kirsten says
Well I don’t have a good camera to take awesome pictures but I have taken some good ones from my phone. My favorite type of holiday photo is when it’s more laid back. Not sitting still but at a park on a nice fall day (which in Texas, we don’t have many “fall”days..lol) and catching those wow moments with my family. I would love to win that great gift! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! !
Cathleen M says
Always take my own photos! Living room has loads of natural light so I usually set up something like you did then try and get my kids to sit still long enough for at least one good shot! (I don’t think I’ve got one yet where everyone is looking and all eyes are open!!) makes great memories!
K Thomas says
I normally get photos taken by a photographer for our holiday cards. I’d love to have a nice camera and be able to take the pictures on my own when our schedules allowed for it!
Taryn Crigler says
I would LOVE to do this with our family! My favorite photos are always the candid “in between” photos moments.. Especially with my 2 littles being at such fun ages. We do take pics especially for holiday cards but we usually just take some of the kids & my husband and I just grab a stranger if we look decent somewhere lol! Thanks for the opportunity! Love allll your stuff!
Ashley B. says
My favorite holiday card photo session was when my husband and I took the dogs to be included in the picture. We went to a park to shoot, but trying to get the dogs to properly pose was challenging! All they were interested in was all of the balls being tossed behind the photographer!!
We usually take our Christmas photos outdoors but I’m starting to really like your back drop idea! I just had a baby a couple of months ago and forgot to schedule our holiday card photo session, so it will be a DIY session this year!
Chrysta says
My favorite card moment was when my then two year old daughter decided that she was done with picture taking for the day. We are all smiling happily and she was screaming and making a run for it. Sounds terrible but turned out super cute.
Lubelia says
My favorite holiday moment is from last year. Trying to coordinate 1.5 yr old twins to get a great shot! It was so fun and despite how stressful it could have been had we gone to a studio, it was so much more fun using my pocket camera! I have been saying for so long that it would be so nice to own a nice camera and to be able to save money on photographers and avoid the stress of trying to get them to cooperate!
Brunton says
I would love to be able to take pictures like this! Thanks for the ideas.
Tatjana says
Hello Laura!
I like your photos – especially the “crazy” ones. I do pictres by the famous “running back” which brings me into stress each time 😉
The control over an app sound perfectly easy!
Isis Puente says
My favorite Christmas holiday picture was taken two years ago when It was my turn to continue the family holiday traditions with my own family. We decorated a bucket to resembled Santa’s belly and we dressed our little muse as a Santa’s elf. . . . She looked adorable.
Laura thank you for this amazing contest and opportunity.
Heidi Lucas says
my favorite holiday card was in 1996. The year my family came to the US. It was also the first family photo taken since back then my parents didn’t bother getting a family portrait. Also living in the province with no technology at that time was difficult to have it done anyway. Since that first family picture, I made sure to myself that I will be taking pictures every christmas which until now with my very own family we always do using my 10+yr old bulky camera. It is a lifetime memory and I wanted my kids to be able to see pictures since their birth. (I didn’t have any baby picture saved at all) . This camera will be really handy with all it’s innovative features (& less weight) to carry at all times.
Juanita Consoer says
I love your photos! We take holiday pics every year. But my fave was 2 years ago. My hubby was giving my daughter a kiss on her check and she made the cutest surprise face.
Emilie Hebert says
Well, we’ve never taken holiday card pictures (we’ve never sent them out), BUT when I’m married with some little kids running around, I’m definitely going to make my own living room studio 🙂
Ashley Guzman says
My son is only 2 years old, so last year was the first time we took Christmas photos. We took a train ride to go meet Santa and took candid shots while off the train. We used those photos as our Christmas photos. My favorite though was my son’s first birthday photos. My boyfriend was hanging from a tree holding my son and I was underneath acting as if he was falling and I was catching him. Honestly, I wish I had a great camera to capture amazing moments and use your pointers with using my home space to take awesome photos. The app though.. AWESOME to have the availability to snap a photo just from your phone. Crossing fingers I’ll win. ❤
Nicole Morgan - TheSistersHood says
Hate to admit that the best Christmas shot I ever took was after losing it completely trying to get a shot in front of the tree .. only to have them hide from me in the hot tub .. they looked so sweet and angelic .. and I went outside, said I was sorry, promised to take only one more – and its the most fav I have ever taken … go figure.
Kristi says
Good
Ideas!
Meghan Griesbeck says
Holidays are for spend in time with those you love. I love my family dearly, they are the consistent support and endless laughter in my world. I cherish holidays with them most but this year, my favorite holiday moment has been with my 3 fantastic roommates. College has been the time where I really find who I am and the positive people I want in my life. This year, my roommates and I decided to create a Christmas card for our house but not just any Christmas card…a recreation of A Christmas Story Christmas Card. And we don’t do anything halfway, we go all out. I wore the same link footie pajamas, Nancy suited up in as much snow gear as we could find, Katie put her tongue to the pole by our house, and Emily recreated the fishnet leg lamp. Together we had the most outrageous fun and constantly laughed the whole time. We captured it on my roommate Nancy’s t3i and are going to send them out to all of our friends and family. Being at college during the holidays can make you miss your family, but having friends to create holiday memories with is a nice way to feel jollier!
Ashley B. says
What an awesome idea! I have a newborn baby this holiday season, and with all the baby hustle-and-bustle I failed to book our photo session with a photographer! But, you’ve made this look achievable!
My favorite holiday photo session was last year. My husband and I took our dogs to be in the picture and the location of the shoot was at a park. Needless to say, the dogs were more interested in all of the balls that were being tossed back and forth behind the photographer by all the kids than posing for the picture! Ha!
Ashley
Kelly Lester says
The photos are absolutely priceless and the photo tips are fantastic. You can really see all the fun you guys were having 🙂 Love this post!!!
Misty Thorpe says
I try to get myself together early enough to get professional pics done in time for Christmas cards. I usually fail. I’ve decided I’m ok with that. My favorite card of all time included a pic my husband took from outside our front window of me holding our daughter (two at the time) placing an ornament on our tree. He always writes our Christmas letters and noted on the letter that the view he loved the most was from our front porch looking in. Haven’t topped that one yet.
Cari says
Great pictures! My favorite Christmas card moments are the cards where we’ve used blooper pictures. You try so hard to get a good group photo but inevitably there’s a baby crying, someone is blinking, yawning, talking, making a goofy face etc… But in my opinion those are the funniest photos! We normally use our phones to take pictures simply because it is always handy.
Rachel D says
We always use photos of places we’ve visited throughout the year – or milestones. But all the photos are taken with our iPhones so our holiday cards are never crisp!
Yeidie says
Love to make collages with memorable moments of the year.
And also love to make calendars as gifts. Would love to win this camera. I am a photography passionate!
Elizabeth says
I have a small family so we don’t typically do Christmas cards but I always get them from all of my married friends and they always have the cutest pictures of their weddings, dogs and kids. I’m of the single ones left and so is my roommate so we decided to take pictures of ourselves and send them to all of our married friends for Christmas. It was a fun change from all the normal cards they get with the babies and dog families. I would love to win a new camera!
Victoria Isabela says
One favorite holiday card moment was my first time in Puerto Rico when I was a little girl during Christmas vacation! Not only was it a perfect season to explore the island, it helped me to learn so much more about my own culture. The holidays are a time to be with family and sometimes capturing that in a photograph is all you need to bring you back to a happy memory! Lately, I have been trying to become more creative with my photographs and have been using a fuji instax mini camera to capture my best photos. It has been a hit at family parties with it’s instant mini film photos it self-prints out! Candid photos are fun and really showcase a true moment in time. My family and I do take family photos ALL the time, especially for your holiday cards, like Laura we take them at home too and create our own mini photo studio!
Claudia Ortega says
My favorite way to capture moments it’s freestyle.. Letting my little ones et in there own zone.
Love taking daily pictures of my fam. Precious moments happen every day, that capturing them is of the essence.
Brittany Harris says
One of my favorite holiday card memories is when my husband and I (before we had our son) dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters and put Santa hats on our cats and took ridiculous photos for or cards! 😉 we now get to dress in matching outfits (the three of us) and take our family pictures together!
Fran Agnew says
I have never attempted family photos myself but your post may have just given me hope!! Great ideas, thank you! Your pics look better than professional, they look real.
Laura Fuentes says
Thank you! As you can see, it really was “us” 🙂 and we had a blast.
Amanda B. says
I don’t have a family but I am a teacher and this camera would make taking class photos with me in them much easier. 🙂
Sassy gonzales says
Love your living room shots! They turned out beautiful. Our family normally has to use a selfie stick or lately I’ve been stalking books, DVDs, even cans up and setting a timer on my phone with 3 kids under 3 this has become extremely challenging!
Mona Topolinski says
We usually do outdoor photo shoot, but this time is gonna be indoors with our tree and we are going to wear christmas sweaters.
Laura Fuentes says
Christmas sweaters are in our next year list!
Winnie says
My absolute favorite holiday cards are the adorable handmade cards from the little ones! My family is not really into taking photos but, it is a new tradition I would like to start.
Irasema says
My family and I don’t take holiday pictures but we do enjoy taking pictures through out the year in all of our our outdoor activities and special ocassions too, I’ve been also wanted a camera like this for a long time but too much for us to buy it would be wonderful to actually have one and capture the many and beautiful moments we share as a family and with our loved ones and friends as well. Thanks for the opportunity.
Jessika Stanton says
We’ve done the pro photog and have done family portraits ourselves. Schedules and costs have forced us to DIY but we’ve enjoyed it both ways. Pinterest was my go to for ideas too!!! I’ve sharpened my editing skills in the process. 😉
April stacey says
One of my favorite christmas mememories goes with a candid pic I snapped of my boys. It was christmas eve, they were in their new jammies, and they were both a bit apprehensive about Santa knowing where to find us because we had just moved across our province to a new city, new house, etc. My oldest was looking out the window, and spotted “Rudolph” (the red flashing light from an airplane). He called his brother over to the window and they two of them just stared with eyes wide and faces full of wonder. I snapped a pic and it is by far my favorite christmas picture and one of my favorite memories because it so perfectly captures the magic and wonder of children during Christmas! Love your pics! I may have to try to take some myself this year of our family!
Kim Vij says
Laura yourphotos turned out so adorable, a family keepsake year after year. We usually take photos from our travels to share in a collage but I’m so loving this idea I’d rather stay home and try it out. Fingers crossed! Will be watching you both on Instagram for more tips for great family shots and backdrops.
Michaela says
We actively use our smart phones for all our photo needs! Of course, you can’t really get all the detail w/ your camera phone! When we do picture postcards, we usually just find pictures already taken of us and collage them together. This is a super cute, crafty & timeless idea! ❤️
Marni says
My favorite holiday card would have to be a picture I took of my one year old kissing her newborn brother. I happened to take the picture at the right time and it worked as we had some nice lights in the back. Since then taking pictures with my kids has been hard, now 4 and 3.
Heather Grande says
I have never heard of a remote control app for a camera! That’s amazing! Getting my three children to sit, and then together, is often hard, ages 6,4 and 2… So we haven’t always had a group shot! Sometimes it’s three separate on one card! In the last 7 years we have only captured one family shot:)
One year I dragged out our iron bench to the back of our property and got a shot of the (2 boys at the time, before our third was born) in their Christmas pjs! It was October or early November, so the weather was still nice! Love them in their baby pjs!
Jena says
We don’t always take photos for a card, but we do our best to take one on Christmas Eve every year! A nice camera like this would certainly help!! 🙂
Alisa Bleske says
My friend just did this for the girls photos. I’ll tag you in the to show you the results.
Mayra Rodriguez - Estilo Familiar says
Te sigo en Instagram y ahora sigo Olympus también.
Mayra Rodriguez - Estilo Familiar says
Laura es tan gracioso que las fotos muestran gente sonriente, pero detrás ha sido una guerra para que todos cooperen, miren a la cámara y sonrian com “se supone” .Pero es lindo porque año tras año vemos los cambios de la familia y nos acordamos de la guerra que hubo!!! Nosotros tenemos una foto familiar de cuando vivía en casa que es inolvidable porque se ve cuando mi papá esta diz que sonriendo, pero se ve que está regañando a mi hermano que no se estaba quiero. Sabes que me hiciste pensar que no hemos sido consistentes de sacarnos fotos especialmente para navidad, mi esposo es medio alérgico a las cámaras, pero voy a empezar este año. Mejor tarde que nunca.
Laurie says
I capture my best pictures of my children individually unfortunately. Otherwise, I have to photoshop one kid’s head from one picture to another where only one child isn’t cooperating.
Steffanie Schindler says
I think my favorite family photos for the Holidays are the candid ones where you can really see everyone’s personalities come out.
Amy says
My favorite holiday card was having my kids draw a picture about what they would do if they had a million dollars. It was hilarious!
Mamabelly says
We always have the problem that not everyone is looking at the camera at the same time, so we sing Christmas songs to keep the kids focused 😉 I like both of you on IG! Thanks for sharing all the tips on how to take pictures in your living room! I might try this for Christmas Cards!
Suzette says
I did Christmas photo cards every year when the kids were younger. One of my favorite cards we sent out on an exceptionally warm year. I mean, EXCEPTIONALLY warm! I dressed the boys in swim trunks, no shirts and Santa hats and posed them in front of the spouting lawn sprinkler. Everyone loved our card that year.
Thanks, Laura!
Peyton says
My family has never taken christmas card photos before…but I have two dogs that would be more than delighted to take pictures with me! On top of that they’ll also eat all of my holiday cooking without complaining.
Sara says
We do take special photos every year for Christmas cards. It is always nice to have a recent photo to share with friend and family. A few years ago, my daughters were around the ages of 6 and 3. My husband and I decided to go ahead and have a family member take our Christmas card photos at Thanksgiving and thought we would include our dog as well. Many pictures later, our youngest was throwing a tantrum, no one was looking at the camera, and the dog was trying to escape the madness. We did not end up with a good picture. I decided to go with it and ended up with a card in which one child was smiling, one looked grumpy, the dog is looking away, and I am pointing at the camera trying to get everyone to look in the right direction. I chose a card that says Be Merry! ; ) Everyone that received our card thought it was hilarious and it is still my favorite Christmas card.
Cindy says
Iget a sibling photo for cards every year. A friend is learning photography and does them for me, usually outside. One year we had one crying through the whole thing….she didn’t want to share the basket with her brother. Ah, memories. 🙂
Sonia Smith-Kang says
My family and I typically do holiday greeting card pics during the year when we HAVE to dress up like for a wedding or graduation. We also choose a fun family pic from a vacation. We know the kids hate sitting still for these photos so we are nit above bribery for a good shot! Yes I’m that mom!!
Cassie Ailstock says
I just take as many pictures as I can hoping to capture a good one!
Rachel says
I love using photos from the past year to create collage Christmas cards, but I’m adoring your backdrop and your tips and that camera!!!!!!! Awesome!
Elizabeth Traub says
Trying to gather 5 kids, one daughter-in-love has been challenging. I am going to try this. Great ideas. Now to get the boys in the matching Christmas shirts I just bought.
Corey Valley says
OMG. That OI Share app sounds like a game changer. If I could push a button on my phone to take the shot instead of running back and forth like a sweaty maniac would be a Christmas miracle!
Amanda says
I follow you both on Instagram too!
Amanda says
We’ve never done an annual card for these exact reasons! I usually just print some random photos from the year and call it good ;). I’d LOVE to win this and use your tips to create some magic for our family!
Angela England says
Following on Instagram! Thanks!
Angela England says
One of my favorite cards was when my son was born in late November. We did homemade Christmas cards – the front said “Unto us is born this day…” with the baby’s footprint and inside it read “a Savior” and had my husband’s handprint inside with a red drop of blood. It had so much personal meaning to us and it was our first Christmas as husband and wife it was really lovely.
JoAnn Caruso Schneller says
Holidays are so special to our family, especially now that my mom is 93 and group gatherings are our opportunities for lasting memories.
Love your idea, especially for those grandkids activities: sports, dancing, school achievements
Would love to have such a great camera for sharing photos with family n friends
Amiyrah says
I have to admit, it’s been a few years since we did family photos for the holidays. With 5 in the house now, we need to do them before the baby isn’t a baby anymore. The last time we took pictures, we hired someone and did a Star Wars theme. It would be fun to do that again!
Laura Fuentes says
I loved the Star Wars pictures you posted!!!
Jennifer Bilbro says
I have a special Christmas Memories album that holds each season’s card and has a space to write memories of that holiday. One of the favorite parts of the decorating season is getting this book out and reading about the past. It’s the one thing I’ve always done. As my kids get older, I realize more and more how important is to all of us. This is such a great idea Laura. Thank you for sharing!
Tiffany says
I always do my own photos, love taking them in daylight! But I love your backdrop. So innovative!
Laura Fuentes says
And your photos are beyond incredible!!
Marga says
El año pasado hicimos algo parecido en casa (no tan genial como tu estudio, pero vigile el estilismo, el fondo, etc…) . Y a parte de los q nos costó juntarnos todos, ufff…. La verdad es que lo pasamos divinamente y nos reímos un montón viendo las fotos y haciendo el payaso ☺☺. Este año repito! Un abrazo!
Carolyn says
We usually take a family picture for the holidays. It’s hard to get four boys (7,4,2,2) to smile and look at the camera all at once. I just take a lot of pictures and pick the best one 🙂
Carrie says
I folow both on instagram @carriean13
Carrie says
I usually do take pictures just for my Chirstmas card. I usually do them myself, but that means only my kiddos are in the pictures as i am taking the picture!
Marie H says
We take our own holiday pictures as well with my Nikon DSLR and prime lenses on a tripod. I rely on my built-in camera timer, so it’s mostly a hit or miss thing. My husband and kids are all camera shy, so I have to make up a skit just to make them smile naturally just before I hit the shutter button. Imagine the stress on my part each time I have to stage a family photo shoot. We love the dressing up part, and silly shots. I enjoy editing so that’s the easy part for me. I would love to own the Olympus camera you made use. It might actually have to solve my problems having to retake shots at the minimum. Thanks for this opportunity.
One quick question: how many yardage of textile did you get for backdrop that covers the floor as well. And which fabric is that. It looks very decent. Simple but elegant. Love it.
Laura Fuentes says
Hi Marie, I purchased two pieces of 4 yards. I suggest you purchase about that much in order to accommodate for height plus allowance on the floor. That material was a low-grade satin back crepe. With the camera you can’t see the quality but the white is important. I hope this helps!
Marie H says
Thank you!! ☺
Cassandra says
We like doing Thanksgiving cards, but we take pictures throughout the year and put some of those in the card. We had some really cute ones for the card this year!
Laurie says
With 7 children ages 19 yrs down to 2 years it was hard to get them all to look…my visiting brother obliged by throwing candy at them from behind me (and the camera) – lots of grins and giggles and they were all looking happy 🙂
Yvette says
We love taking family photos every year, but our favorite is when we dressed up as “Green Acres” , with my kids holding a goose and a chicken. Lol
Cathy Hansen says
My favorite holiday card moments are making collages that include groups of photos taken throughout the year. We don’t live near our family since we are military, so most of our holiday newsletter photos are not group photos that are staged, but are action photos of the kids participating in sports, scouts, or visiting local sites in NOLA. Some of my staged photos include finding locations with huge Christmas trees (the hotels downtown work well!) and evening photos of our house all lite up (which is also a great way to remember all of the houses we have lived in).
Victoria Meadows says
One year I couldn’t get my three boys ages 1,5 and 7 to stop wrestling while I took their photo for our holiday card. Finally, I took a picture of the 1 yr old (the biggest offender) alone sitting in the middle position, and then took a picture of the two older boys, and told them to put their arms around the chair like he was in it. Then I ‘collaged’ the two photos together with software. It turned out great and no one knew but me! They’re now 19,17, and 13, but it’s one of my favorite ‘mom wins!’ moments lol.
Jessica says
Your pictures turned out great, I have six kids so photo shoots are so hard this camera seems like a perfect solution.
CP says
I give my little kids smarties when they sit for pictures. It really helps
Erin says
You always have such great ideas! Thanks for sharing with us!