'Tis the season for professional Christmas card photographs! Here are some tips to perfect your Christmas portraiture and bring in some extra cash for the holidays.
The pictureline staff couldn't go uncelebrated this season, so we put a simple "photo booth" style shoot together with a roll of scarlet seamless paper, and a Profoto D1 kit from our rental department. A few minutes of simple setup, and the rest was up to silly hats and cheerful employees. Separating large groups into photo booth style portraiture saves you (and your family, or clients) from wrestling fidgety children, or hoping for the entire group to be picture-perfect in the same moment. More authentic reactions result from intimate groups, as well.
Set your images apart! Christmas lights create a bokeh-rich background when you shoot on a lens with a wide aperture, such as a 50mm f/1.4 from Nikon or Canon. We opted to shoot through a folded strand of Christmas lights. Placing lights near the lens offers even larger bokeh!
Holiday-themed bokeh is a simple way to stylize your Christmas portraits when you are short on props. This can be achieved with custom paper cut-outs placed over your lens, or Lensbaby's premade Creative Aperture Kit 2. This image was created with standard christmas lights and a paper snowman cut-out "lens filter".
Pictureline Rentals make professional portraits available anywhere. Pro equipment doesn't require pro cost. Professional, portable lighting options and backdrop stands are available to rent so you can set up a studio shoot indoors or out! All pictureline rental gear is half price on weekdays, with no charge on Sundays (or Christmas!). Festive seamless backdrops are inexpensive and will hold up through dozens of shoots.
THE RESULT?
Merry Christmas from Pictureline!All of our Holiday Portraiture equipment is available to purchase or rent: