Photograph Family and Friends During the Holidays
Capture candids of your young ones baking cookies, decorating or enjoying holiday festivities.
Updated November 2025
Looking to get the best photographs of your family and friends this holiday season? The key to success is to stay relaxed and allow the process to unfold naturally. There's no need to feel overwhelmed by the camera's functions, instead let's focus on your creative vision.
First, realize you have huge advantages when your family is your subject: you've got access and familiarity. And if your family is used to seeing you prowling around holiday gatherings with your camera, you're way ahead of the game. They're likely to ignore you—and that's exactly what you want in order to capture photos of everyone just being themselves.
You'll get the best pictures when people are doing what they're into doing: dinner preparations, gift wrapping, chatting, table setting, carving the turkey (or other holiday delicacies). It's not just the Thanksgiving dinner that's photogenic; it's also the team spirit that went into its preparation. During the holidays, it's not just the giving of the gifts, but the decorating, too.
In addition to family events at your house or the home of loved ones, you can find many opportunities for festive photography taking in your neighborhood. From holiday pageants to caroling for your neighbors, you’re sure to capture memories of the season in photographs.
Important Tips for Great Snapshots
Two of the most important factors in taking great family photos are timing and location. You know where the family's favorite places are: the kitchen, family room, living room, backyard.
Be there!
You can’t take great photos that happen around you if you don’t keep your camera handy. Having to say, "Hold it, I'll get the camera" is a sure sign you missed the shot.
With little children you may only have a short window in which to take their picture before they tire of posing for the camera. The photographer was able to get a natural looking shot of this youngster laughing for the camera.
While you shouldn't be the director of photographic events, there's nothing wrong with having a subtle plan—like this one, told to us by a writer friend.
"A few blocks away from the house where my family gathers for Thanksgiving there's a beautiful park. So, what I did was put my camera and a football I'd brought along on the coffee table in the living room. It took a few minutes for them to be noticed, and then eight or ten of us were out the door and down to the park for about a half hour of no-rules football...and lots of pictures. It worked because I knew them—knew what they'd do when they saw the football. We had a great time playing, and we passed the camera around and got some really nice shots."
So, it's about timing, and location—and it's about the gear. The best news is that cameras today are easy-handling wonders that are made to capture precious moments with precision and automatic ease.
Bring some techniques and ideas, too. For instance, when you're photographing kids, don't just stand there—get down to their level for the best images. And once in a while hand the camera over to them and let them show you what they see. A great benefit of digital cameras is that you can take hundreds or thousands of images on a memory card and if they aren’t in focus or are badly exposed, simply delete them. No wasted film!
Camera choices for Holiday Photo Taking
So, what's a good camera choice? The latest Z series mirrorless cameras are packed full of technology and are so easy to use. If you’ve got a DSLR or COOLPIX compact point & shoot digital camera at home, those can be great options too.
Nikon Z series mirrorless cameras are ideal for the picture taker who wants the flexibility of interchangeable lenses and the form factor of a smaller, more compact camera. The latest technology of these cameras makes it super easy to just put the camera on Auto and snap away, letting the camera figure out the exposure and focus on your subjects. Mirrorless cameras offer advanced features not found in DSLRs, including subject detection—and eye-detect autofocus—which ensures precise focus on people and even pets. Their compact, lightweight design makes them easy to carry, so you can shoot comfortably in a variety of situations.
Along with still images remember to capture video, slow motion video or even time lapse so you can tell the complete story of your celebration.
DSLRs are also versatile, offering point-and-shoot ease along with the ability to use interchangeable lenses. In difficult low-light conditions, bump up the ISO sensitivity of for well exposed photographs. Some models even incorporate a built-in pop-up flash.
If you’ve got a DSLR with scene modes, there are plenty that you can utilize to get well-lit, sharp images in a variety of situations. They include Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Night Portrait, Food and Night Landscape—all perfect for holiday photos.
Without doubt, a key factor in selecting a Z series mirrorless or DSLR camera are the incredible range of available lenses, and your choice of lens is going to be the key factor in your holiday photos. If you’re using a lens with Vibration Reduction (Nikon’s name for image stabilization) that's even better, as it means the lens offers image stabilization to banish blur for clearer, sharper pictures. In fact, a lot of the Z series mirrorless camera models feature VR image stabilization built-in the camera body—something that DSLRs don't have—meaning its even easier to get sharp images every time with these models.
Happy holidays and happy shooting!
Enclosed holiday vignettes along both sides of the street in a local Long Island town showcase different themes for the holiday. Bending down to get a kids eye view, the photographer was able to take a photo through a window and frame the scene using the Z 6 and the NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S at 40mm.
5 Top Tips for Great Holiday Photos:
- Take plenty of photos during the holidays. With all the cooking and baking, decorating and gift giving, there are lots of fun family events to shoot. Digital cameras make it so easy to experiment and take tons of photos.
- For great shots of a decorated Christmas tree that’s lit or Chanukah or Kwanzaa candles, don't use a flash. Put the camera on a tripod or steady surface, and use a slow shutter speed to pick up the warm glow of the lights or candles. The same holds true when photographing outdoor decorations. Experiment by changing the shutter speed until you get a photo you like. The longer the shutter speed, the more the lights will glow.
- Ever hear the phrase “Dress in your holiday best”? When your kids or family are dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner or holiday parties, that’s the best time to pull them aside for a quick portrait. Try to keep the backgrounds simple and clutter free. If you’re going to photograph the kids in front of the tree or other decorations, try using a wide aperture such as f/3.5 or f/2.8 or faster to blur the background. This will produce a pleasing image by separating your subjects from the background.
- Close-ups of decorations make for unique images. Use a macro lens or macro mode (If your camera has one), or telephoto lens. Take your inspiration from the colorful ornaments and other holiday decorations, tasty treats and fancy wrapped gift boxes.
- Include your pets in the fun! Lots of folks have dogs (and even cats) who don’t mind being dressed up. An accessory as simple as a festive bow on your pet for a nice holiday themed photo will be enjoyed for years to come. Get down on their level, place them in front of a simple background, or use a wide aperture for a great shot.
Try creating unique art from a holiday light display. Here the photographer turned the zoom ring on the lens barrel as the photograph was captured. Set the camera to either manual or shutter priority exposure mode so you can control the duration of the shutter speed. Shutter speed 1/6 second.
