With Thanksgiving just passing and Christmas on the horizon many are beginning to trim the Christmas tree, including my family. So why not practice your photo skills on something that isn’t in the house everyday and possibly get the next image for your annual Christmas cards. Here are a few of the angles I like taking for great Christmas tree photos.
1. The Obvious Christmas Tree Photo Angle
I don’t have much other to say than this is typically the angle you see for Christmas tree shots. There’s nothing wrong with it, but let’s try a few other angles to change it up a bit today.
2. Highlight Your Favorite Ornament
This is one of my favorite christmas tree photo ideas. It’s obviously very simple, but I don’t see much of it. If you have any ornaments that have significant meaning or are just simply cool looking get up close and share their story through a photo. Remember the (rule of thirds) to set up the shot so it looks interesting.
3. Ornament Self Portrait
Do any of the bulbs or ornaments on the tree reflect? You could take a self portrait or a reflection of almost anything by getting close up to it. I’m waving to you in the image I took!
4. Get Under the Tree!
Or at least lay down in front of it (like I did in the first photo). If you shoot up from the ground at the tree it makes it look much bigger!
5. Bokeh Style
This one is pretty simple. Walk up to the Christmas tree and focus on something very close, like the Santa ornaments I took photos of earlier in this post. Now once it’s focused on the ornament change the focus on your camera from auto to manual. Now walk away from the tree about 10 feet or so and take a picture with the camera completely unfocused. This will cause only the lights to show up in the image, which results in the image you see below.
6. BONUS! HDR Wide Angle
IF you have a wide angle lens you can grab a photo of the whole room with the Christmas tree in it to set the scene. HDR optional!
The photos in this post were all taken using a canon rebel XTi with a 18-55mm lens (the standard lens) without a tripod (yes, even the HDR image).
What are your favorite Christmas tree photos? Please share them over at the Flickr Group Page.
Want to use the photos in this post? You’re more than welcome to along with the other stock photos on this site. Attribution and links are always appreciated.
