At the moment of immortalizing the gifts received by the children or the meeting of the whole family, it becomes essential to follow some common sense that is easy and simple to apply. Here are tips from a professional photographer to succeed with your photos. Do not forget that the holiday season is approaching and that the cameras will not go away during this period of family rejoicing.

First and foremost: A great smile is primordial
So make the most of your beautiful smile for the festival of family photos by brushing your teeth twice a day and using today a whitening toothpaste with a low abrasive formula with baking soda, such as ARM & HAMMER toothpaste.

1- Choose your framing
The background area must be cleared, it is preferable to the crowded tables with the pretty appetizers. It is better to choose a plain background rather than a patterned wallpaper or a wall strewn with frames. The frames in the image take away the focus of the picture that must be on the faces. It is also advisable to avoid dark backgrounds or open doors on other rooms.

2- The staging
The layout of people should not be too repetitive. For large families, it is desirable to favor a classical staircase arrangement (first row crouching, second sitting and third standing) adding some originality, such as placing the last one on the shoulders of an adult or all tighten around the elder of the family by bringing faces together. It is also possible to opt for a staging in single file in which everyone spreads his face in order to present himself to the lens according to his size or leans to one side to give a less fixed appearance to the photograph. Another original idea is to position people in the frame of a window and take them from outside.

3- Avoid fuzziness
Winter and low light indoors often require the use of flash. If the camera lens opens a large diaphragm (eg f2.8), the exposure time will be reduced and the risk of a blurred image will be reduced. A greater diaphragm aperture (often effective in portrait or aperture priority on compacts) also has the advantage of reducing the depth of field, resulting in sharp faces on a slightly blurred background. Gives more strength and intensity to the look.

4- The choice of wide angle
While for individual portraits the zoom allows one to obtain a more natural result depending on the distance between the photographer and his subject, the wide angle is recommended when a room allows little recoil and the guests are numerous. It allows you to surround a large table or to show the surrounding decor of the scenery, tree and gifts included.

5- Color rendering
To avoid orange-yellow images, due to the lighting of warm-toned light bulbs, and to obtain more natural and contrasted colors, it is essential to set the camera in “Indoor” mode if it is a compact. By selecting the small bulb symbol in the “Color Balance” menu, the images are more natural in color and look better at the whole family.