Maybe I surround myself with weirdos, but many of my family and friends do not like having their picture taken. This can make photographing people a bit of a chore, especially if your attempting to snap a decent picture for your photo Christmas cards. Ask my mother to sit down and smile for a Christmas morning pose in her robe and she’ll tell you to wait while she puts on her face. Ask my brother to smile and he’ll give you the same blank stare that you are used to seeing on a driver’s license – or maybe a celebrity mug shot! And my friend Sabrina…the great majority of photos snapped of that woman consist of the top of her head and a napkin, glass, or other object to block out the rest of her face.

But I digress. In this age of digital photography and photo-editing, people do not have to be afraid of their yellow teeth or under-eye circles. It’s as easy as snapping the shutter button, inserting the SD card into your card reader, and opening Photoshop on your computer. You can whiten teeth, get rid of red eye, and even airbrush out the unsightly pimple that crept onto your chin overnight! Sure, it used to be that the only photographs that looked good were the ones in magazines, but if you have a savvy computer friend (or anyone under the age of thirteen) in your household, you have the power to make your digital photo Christmas cards really stand out.

So the next time you whip out your camera, only to be met with eye rolls, sighs, and the sight of your Uncle Tony fleeing the scene, let the subjects of your photos know that you’ve got it covered. They may ask to see proof, but it will be worth it to never have to photograph a “talk to the hand” pose again!

If you decide to send a Christmas photo cards, vary your photo techniques. Choose beautiful backgrounds, experiment with different camera angles, and take candid rather than posed photos. Be the director of your Oscar-worthy Christmas photo cards.

Do you live in a cold climate? What’s more seasonal than hills of snow and majestic pine trees in the background as your family goes sledding or skiing past your camera? Dress everyone in brightly colored parkas, zany ski caps, and scarves. Buy or rent a tripod for your camera, set the timer, and join in the action. Tilt the camera at an angle and it will look like you’re skiing down the Alps.

If you live in a sunny, Southern state, digital photos from a day at the beach will turn your snowbound friends and relatives “evergreen” with envy when they receive your Christmas photo cards. Colorful beach balls and umbrellas contrast beautifully with the white sand and blue ocean. No beach nearby? Gather everyone in your own backyard or in the park, or choose a picture from your most recent vacation.

Be aware of the sunlight’s glare on the snow, the sand, and the water. Set your camera at the recommended exposure for those conditions. If you have an automatic camera, remember to keep your subjects’ faces in full sunlight to avoid any deep shadows.

If you’re indoors, photograph the family around the Christmas tree or in front of the fireplace. Have a tree trimming party and play some favorite Christmas music to set the mood. Seat a few people in chairs, have some standing, and let the children sit on the floor or in Grandma’s lap. If you have pets, include them in the photo too. Turn the camera vertically to emphasize the height of your tree, or take some photos from the top of a ladder.

Combine and overlap several finished photos in a collage. Use the editing features on your computer to enhance any of your photo techniques. Lights, camera, action! And be sure to get those Christmas photo cards finished in time for the holiday mail!

My sister says that sending holiday photo cards is the perfect way to show the rest of mankind that you have the most beautiful baby boy in the world. The only stumbling block is picking out which picture should be shared with your friends and relatives. Should it be the adorable one with the kitten, the one with him wearing the floppy feathered hat, or the delightful one with him splashing and laughing in the bath? Then again, how can you overlook the one where he looks like a sleeping angel? With her digital camera working overtime, there’s a vast array of pictures to choose from.

While some pictures call for the option of full bleed photo card, some might be more suited to a digital photo card with a special and unique design. I’ve seen a number of designs created just for baby pictures. There are also digital photo holiday cards with special formats for little ones including multiple picture layouts…in case you really can’t resist two or three shots.

One thing you have to keep in mind when taking or picking a treasured photo is whether a horizontal or vertical format is best for the image, and for your intended photo cards. If you’ve already picked out a format or design, you can keep the colors or possible pattern in mind when composing your picture. With a little planning, it’s possible to make your perfect little bundle even more incredibly amazing!

Stop it! Stop it right now and let’s get creative! No more lining people up like glazed-over mannequins for the annual group photo! Life is beautiful and so is your family, your friends, and even your coworkers. With a little forethought and a few simple steps you too can bring forth award-winning digital photo holiday cards without running to the local portrait studio. Here are a few ideas to get you going:

• - The number one trick to taking good photos is to take lots of them. You delete or discard the unusable ones and are left with only the spectacular. Digital cameras make this very easy to do.

• - The second technique is to find refreshing locations, even if it is in your own backyard. Parks, golf courses, churchyards, beaches, and gardens all offer lovely settings with natural light. Seat everyone on a sand dune or on an outcrop of rocks. Have some standing, some seated; variety can come together into the perfect shot of a warm family gathering.

• - A third technique is to match apparel or manner of dress for your family photos. Have each person wear casual white shirts and blue jeans, for example. Shoot a few pictures with everyone barefoot. And it is not necessary to have everyone look directly into the camera. Some or all participants can look off into the distance or other direction for a more thoughtful pose.

• - Finally, think of several scene settings in advance; be the director and put them to work. Sometimes it takes careful planning to come up with that natural and spontaneous shot, but if you work your plan you will be absolutely delighted with the outcome!

In my husband’s family, there is never a shortage of pictures to choose from when creating our holiday photo cards! Now, I am not saying these are necessarily good pictures, but pictures non-the-less. It all started when my father-in-law got a new digital camera. After giving him a tutorial on how to use it, he would take digital photos of everything and everyone! Then it got worse when my first nephew was born. And now that there are four children in the family, you can imagine the ridiculous amounts of “cheeses” that go on during our Sunday dinners together!

There are not many requirements in our family for taking digital photos. Since the family is growing, you take what you can get! Here are some tips from my family to yours…

1. As long as a majority of the family is present in the picture, it is ok to snap that shot!
2. As long as half the people are smiling in the picture, it is considered a success.
3. As long as three people are sitting still and looking at the camera, it is a great picture!
4. No crying children is always a plus!
5. If you can hear the person talking next to you, everything is going pretty smoothly!

The unveiling of the photo that will appear on the next family holiday photo card is always intense because you are never quite sure if you made the cut or not! It is very humorous and you would have to know my husband’s family to understand, but it does keep the holidays interesting! ‘Tis the season.

Anyone can use a digital camera. Just point and click, right? The obvious answer would be yes for most people, but that’s only partially true. It depends on what you’re taking a picture of, if you’re taking a picture for your digital Christmas photo cards, what hour of the day it is, whether your subject is stationary, and also what type of camera you’re using. Did you also know that basic “point-and-click” cameras can be more efficiently operated depending on a simple button or angle used during shots?

One photographic technique that can produce an intense image is to take very close or straight on pictures in a dark-lit setting, specifically focusing in on the eyes. Softer lighting often makes for softer, less serious pictures. Ominous photos are very rarely done in bright, cheery colors. This is something to remember in the upcoming months, especially with the onset of Halloween or if you’re preparing to take pictures for your digital photo Christmas cards.

The flash is a great tool for lighting up a dark room, but with many cameras, the flash is so powerful that it washes out the whole picture and/or its defining elements. Try holding down the button halfway for a few moments before taking a photo and then pressing it to full…this can sometimes dull down the flash. Also, if its bright outside and you happen to be in doors, leave the flash off. Natural light can add a lot of depth to a picture. In either dark or light photos, be careful of back-lighting. It can often be a good feature while in some instances, it will very well ruin your photo.

No matter what type of digital camera you have, try playing around with the options. Simple options such as “Macro” will help you focus better on tight zooms or smaller items. Other buttons have other actions like image stabilization for fast moving subjects. Digital cameras are incredible pieces of technology, and with the correct knowledge, they’ll enable you to capture those special moments in time just as you’d like to remember them.

Every year since my kids were little, I would go crazy trying to get our Christmas tree decorated in time for taking pictures in front of it for our holiday photo cards. It was hard work getting the two kids (who didn’t really like to pose) and the camera-shy dog to cooperate for the multiple pictures we had to take…just to get one good enough to send to family and friends. Why did we stress ourselves out every year over this process?

Not any more! Let me share some photography basics that I have learned which have helped to ease the stress. Simply put: RELAX!

It doesn’t matter if the kids are posed like Christmas soldiers or little angels in front of your Christmas tree. It doesn’t even have to be a winter day. Your family and friends will enjoy the digital photos you took this summer at the beach, pool, or at the Disney resort with Mickey. Go through the photos you took when your kids were just being kids. Silly, spontaneous, in-the-moment photos are sometimes the best!

Try to pick a photo that depicts your kids’ personalities or many moods. Sports your kids like to play or even just walking the dog at the park are always fun ideas. Just make sure the sun is behind the camera so there is no shadow cast upon their smiling faces.

And you’re set to go! Now in the digital photo age we have it even easier. You can simply download your digital photos to a website like ChristmasCardsDirect and your photo Christmas cards will be en route to your mailbox before you know it. So start snapping!

The loss of a family member or friend is an emotionally wrenching experience. We all know that. We search for words and gestures to help soothe this grieving period. Using digital photo cards to create a memorial keepsake can be an aid in healing the acute initial response to such a loss.

Start the process by selecting the loved one’s photo for the front of the photo greeting card. Deciding on which photo to use is also a way of giving yourself time and permission to look back over years of personal memories at your own pace. For the text inside the photo card, you may choose to write a brief biography, a description of the deceased’s personality traits, a favorite poem or verse or scripture or simply a heartfelt expression of how this dear person will be missed.

There is no prescribed time frame for sending out such a memorial, but anywhere within the first year following the death would be understandable. You should allow yourself all the time you need, so that the preparation process can have a palliative effect for you. The sharing of these memorial keepsake photo cards, with others who knew and loved your loved one, can be a kind and gentle comfort to all.

My Dear Mr. Daguerre,

On behalf of the members of the Institut de France, I want to let you know we have chosen the 7th of January to announce to the world the photo technique process you have named “The Daguerreotype.” The applications, as we see it, can only benefit the citizens of France and in time should be made available to the entire world.

We were honored to have you as a guest in our home last week to demonstrate the entire photo process. I am still amazed at how the plain silver plate, after being exposed to the chemicals, fixed the mirror image. Today, at breakfast, my wife announced that we should sit for a family portrait and if successful we should have a second one taken and sent by courier as a holiday photo card to her family in England. She finally convinced me by reason that the time and expense to create the daguerreotype would be inconsequential to a traditional oil painting. As you can imagine, I could not find fault with her scheme but have my doubts as to how we will keep all five children sitting still for 15 minutes.

As you know, your friendship has been invaluable over the years and because of this I want to take this opportunity to warn you that there have been rumblings by certain members of the press that un-named pundits from Leipzig are claiming that your photo process invention is of the devil. We can only pray that if this slander is widely circulated and read, French society and the world at large will turn their backs.

Until our next meeting, I remain,

C. Morris

Everyone has them filed away in their closet, under their bed, or stored in the basement. They are there, you know they are there, but you just never find the time to do anything with them. You dread the thought of having to go through them; You hate the notion of having to spend hours doing it.

What is this dreaded evil that is taking up space in your house and in the back of your mind? It’s your family photos! Yes, they can make you scream louder then any horror screenplay by Stephen King. The picture taking was easy. Now organizing that picture taking and putting it in a place you can easily get to…that’s the hard part.

There’s no easy way to do this other then to sit down at a PC and scan your images onto your computer. Yes it takes time, but you also save your photos FOREVER! I have my 30th birthday coming up and had all those photos staring at me. They were mocking me, laughing at the mere thought of me having to get this done.

I took the time, scanned my photos into the PC, and now I have an extensive library of photos that the whole family can easily get to and enjoy. It was so easy that my mother, who can barely use the computer, hopped on to a photo greetings cards site and made one of our family photos into an awesome photo Christmas card.

The only tools you need for this task is a PC, a scanner, and previous pictures you have taken. If you have all that, then sit down and get the job done. It’s worth it! Put the TV on in the background (I like wrestling myself) but if you want to watch reruns of Who’s The Boss…go ahead!