The most expensive time of the year is approaching; the festive season. Gifts are only part of the celebrations. Creating memories is by far the most important aspect. Getting together with family and friends, some of whom you may not have seen in a long time.
Those special moments are the ones you will want to capture. The best photos are captured when you have a good idea of the equipment you have at hand, possibly props, and preferably, a plan for the types of photos you want to have by the end of the celebrations.
How to capture memories in photos candidly
Shoot in burst mode
When scenes are busy, a single still photo will rarely capture the moment. Take a leaf out of how professionals capture special moments. That’s by taking a lot more photos than you need. You can always delete the ones you do not want.
The majority of modern smartphones have a burst mode feature. It is not easy to find though. Most models have a combination key press to activate burst mode. For example, on Samsung Galaxy models, the burst mode is activated by loading the device’s camera app and then using the volume up and volume down buttons to take a series of photos in rapid succession. Other models use a swipe feature instead of tapping the shoot button.
The number of photos a phone camera can take varies by model. It can be as low as five shots per minute, or as fast as one shot every second.
Burst mode is the simplest way to take candid photos. When you notice something worthy of photographing, point and shoot in burst mode. Using this feature is the surest way of capturing raw emotion on people’s faces without them striking a pose and fake smiling.
The downside is that you will need to delete most of the images from your device. You only need to capture one good photo. If your device is lacking memory, prepare ahead by freeing up local storage space so that you can take advantage of shooting in burst mode.
Capture family traditions to include in a gallery display
Christmas is the perfect time to be taking traditional photos. Particularly, if you would like to adapt a gallery wall in favour of a festive display for all your guests to enjoy and get a sense of your family traditions.
Frequently, photos are taken only on the big day, when all the family is gathered, presents are being opened, and guests are gathered around the table.
Plenty of events happen in the lead up to the big gathering. For example, the more intimate moments of parents bonding in the kitchen baking gingerbread cookies. The tree going up and being decorated, which can be as early as the 4th Sunday before Christmas if you go by the Christian calendar and put your tree up at the start of Advent. For 2022, that is Sunday the 27th of November.
Mix up your style
How you hold the camera has an impact on what you capture. The simplest example is whether to shoot in landscape or portrait mode. Depending on the scene, the shooting mode will be obvious. A group of people may only fit into the shot by shooting in landscape mode. For gallery displays, unless you want a uniform look, you can use a mix of landscape and portrait.
Other styles for portrait photos are to take some headshots, some full body shots at different distances, and medium portraits that only capture a person from above the waist.