I love the idea of Christmas photo cards, but I don’t have any young children and let’s face it – who really needs a photo of me? Looking through my old photographs I noticed that I often take sunset pictures. The colors are always gorgeous, so I thought, “Why not use one of these for my Christmas photo cards this year?” Which one I should use?

I have traveled all across the country and the one enduring picture from all of my travels is of a landscape highlighted by a myriad of colors present in every sunset. I love the purples, mauves, reds, yellows, oranges and all the different hues they carry. There is nothing more breathtaking to behold, and taking digital photos of a sunset has allowed me to capture that beauty for a long time to come.

Pictures of sunsets are perfect to use as your Christmas photo cards...especially beautiful images like this one!

The lovely soft mauve that fades into the peaceful serenity of Lake Tahoe paints a picture of waiting tranquility. The bold oranges and reds that appear upon the distant horizon of the Painted Desert bring the vivid starkness of desert life into bold relief just before total darkness envelops the emptiness. The feeling of awestruck wonder sets in when the setting sun tints the Grand Canyon walls with too many shades of red to count. The most amazing feeling of loneliness comes about while standing on a cliff to watch a ball of flame as it floats on the surface of the Pacific for the longest moment, and then falls instantly out of sight. Taking pictures of sunsets is a most rewarding practice. Ah, wouldn’t it be wonderful to share these images with my friends.

By taking pictures of a sunset on every vacation, I can now share these travels with my nearest and dearest. This year, I’m including a collage of sunsets on my photo Christmas cards.

Seems everyone has gotten on the sending Christmas photo cards bandwagon, myself included. While I started sending Christmas photo cards way before some of my friends and family did, mine is now just another photo card amongst the sea of them that I get every year. My brother also found himself in this position and decided to break away from the pack. I always like to complain that my brother got all the creative genes, leaving none for me. He did send out his usual Christmas cards with a photo of his lovely boys, but for a select few close family and friends, he decided to do something a little extra. Along with the photo Christmas cards, he sent each of us a drum. Yes, you read it correctly, a drum (as in the Little Drummer Boy).

Now I should say that when my brother gets an idea, he does like to go all out. I found out later that he spent many days locked away in his office during Christmastime making these drums much to my sister-in-law’s frustration. It was a beautiful, functioning drum and it had the Christmas card photo of the boys on the barrel of it! What a great idea! He also had the forethought of making it a miniature drum that could be hung as an ornament on our Christmas tree. So I will now always have my little drummer boys (nephews) on my Christmas tree, year after year, and my brother can continue to call himself the creative one.

I’ve lived overseas for the past three years because of my husband’s job. We keep in touch with our friends and family by e-mail and we’re always sending them digital photos from the holidays and from the vacations we take to other countries.

Last year we decided to send Christmas photo cards instead of emailing pictures. We have a new baby girl and a puppy now, both adorable. Mail to the USA takes so long that we decided to take the pictures before Thanksgiving!

The tree was decorated, the presents were wrapped, and I had strung garlands around the living room. I wanted us all dressed up for the photos. My husband was already setting up the camera when I suddenly realized Scout didn’t have anything to wear. Scout is our new Beagle puppy – not our daughter (I’m not Demi Moore!) – and a skimpy bow around his neck just wasn’t good enough. We postponed taking the pictures, I went shopping, and I bought a red turtleneck doggy sweater. Scout looked unbelievably cute. Next, I went to dress the baby in the gorgeous red velvet “Baby’s First Christmas” outfit I bought back in September, and of course it didn’t fit her. The next day I had to go back out and buy her a bigger dress.

It was lucky we started all the planning and posing so early because our digital Christmas photo cards arrived in the states right on time and everybody, especially the grandparents, loved them. I’m going to send Christmas photo cards again, but this year we’ll take the pictures while we’re on vacation in July – palm trees instead of evergreens!

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!

I remember a Christmas photo cards that my parents sent of my brother Gary and myself when we were little children. We lived in a modest ranch-style home in Oklahoma in the late ‘50s. I must have been eight years old. Mom put a red flannel shirt on Gary and slicked back his brown hair. I wore a proper black velvet top with a white-pleated skirt. Mom put those embarrassing little pin-curls in my hair. Finally, Dad sat us in front of the stone fireplace and I beamed because I was allowed to hold my new puppy for our photograph. Fifty years have gone by, and I still remember that family photo Christmas card.

Today I have dear friends in California but I live on the opposite coast in New Jersey. I deeply miss being a part of their family celebrations and I wonder how they are doing. They remembered to send me a photo greeting card for the Holidays this year. It warmed my heart to see how their sparkling blonde-headed girls had grown and how happy they were as a family. Their colorful digital photography of a recent family hiking trip to the Sierra Nevada brought home the message. There they were: Jim, Betty, Rachel and Rebecca in all their glory with the bright California sunshine reflecting off the background of snow-capped mountains.

For a secret moment I relished being a part of their lives. I sensed I was no longer one of those forgotten friends that lived “back East.” It warmed my heart to be included so personally in their thoughts. You see…the card was the gift I received. And I felt joy to be with them in spirit once again. If you happen to wonder why, it’s simple, really; they took the time to share.

When someone mails me a photo greeting card I know they care. There is a timelessness to it. A photograph imprints in my mind like nothing else can.

Several years ago (I won’t say exactly how many in order to protect the innocent), my uncle celebrated his 60th birthday. My aunt created a very unique and special invitation for his surprise party. The photo greeting cards that my aunt selected to use for his invitation featured space for three different pictures. The photo montage she chose to use included three pictures from various stages throughout my uncle’s life. In the first picture (black and white, of course), Uncle Bob was an apple-cheeked baby with a full head of blonde curly hair. In the middle picture, he was a teenager with enormous awkward glasses and dark brown hair. The third picture was from my cousin’s wedding last year, and you guessed it – Uncle Bob was all smiles but had even less hair and it was yet another color – silver! Seeing the pictures of my uncle throughout the years definitely brought back fond memories for everyone who was invited to the party.

The surprise party went off without a hitch and my uncle was truly touched that we had all gathered together to celebrate him. My aunt received rave reviews on her invitation and as a result, the photo invitation cards she chose started a new family tradition. Over the years my family has spread out and moved to different areas all over United States – Hawaii, California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, and even a few in different countries! We have all started sending out Christmas photo cards at the holiday season to keep in touch with each other. I am always eager to receive new pictures and photo cards from my relatives – these photo cards hang on my refrigerator all year long in anticipation for the next holiday season!

For the past couple of years, my wife Susan has really been into the studying and tracing of her family history. Genealogical research is a complex process that involves more than affixing a collection of names on a pedigree chart. Genealogy involves identifying ancestral or descendant families by using historical records to establish biological, genetic, or familial kinship. Oftentimes, Susan spends entire afternoons and evenings on the computer doing her research.

One of the ways I have been able to help her is by going through old family photos and Christmas photo cards that she has collected over the years and scanning them into the computer. Some of the old photos are perfectly clear and don’t need any digital restoration at all. However, quite a few of the antique photos have lost a little bit of their sharpness or need to have marks or obvious cracks removed.

This is where programs such as Microsoft Picture It (which is installed for free on some computers) or Adobe Photoshop come in handy. Not only can old photos be cleaned up, but other editing features can also improve these older photos. The old photos can be resized or cropped, the brightness and contrast changed, or in the case of color photos, the color balance restored and red-eye removed. Once these procedures are used, new, digital files of the photos can not only be saved onto a hard drive or disc (CD or DVD), but the photos can be printed out, framed, and hung on a wall for all to see. It’s priceless to now have the ability to create digital photos of old family photos taken before this technology was in place.

For Susan, digitally restoring and preserving these family photos of long-gone relatives has brought her many hours of joy and happy tears.

Every family has one – a mother, cousin, grandparent or aunt who obsessively shoves the camera in everyone’s face at family functions.  This special family photographer is always around for opportunities for family photos, no matter how unflattering they may be. You can run, but you can never hide from the unforgiving lens.

As a child, my grandmother was the biggest offender, taking pictures of me “eating” chocolate cake, watching television, or running around in a diaper. Then, of course, I hated the thought of being photographed at such inopportune moments.  Now, as I look at the albums upon albums of all those fleeting moments, I have to say that I am sort of glad that my grandmother was as aggressive as the Hollywood paparazzi when I was young.

My family went to a backyard barbecue at my aunt’s house never expecting that we would walk away with one of the best family photos we had ever taken together.  The four of us were sitting around with our burgers when grandma came around with the camera.  She snapped a perfect shot…my sister had a mouthful of burger, my mother was mid-conversation with my father who was obviously not listening, and I happened to see the camera and winked.  A perfect candid photo! When grandma emailed it to us (yes, she does that, too), we all got a good laugh out of it and decided to share it with everyone else.  We used this ridiculous picture in our Christmas photo cards. I have to say, we got a lot of positive feedback from the recipients of the card…some loved it, some thought it was a mistake and others thought it was posed.  But I had to hand it to my grandma… her persistent camera-clicking was a big hit this year!

Christmas photo cards have been out there for a fairly long time now.  Parents everywhere have been enthusiastically sending out bright and shiny images of their beloved progeny on their annual Christmas photo cards.  I have fond memories (now that it’s long over) of trying to keep two small children and one shaggy dog to stay still and all look at the camera at the same time.

There was my four-year-old son sitting in a child-size red rocking chair in front of the fireplace; such a warm holiday photo card, right?  He had one hand valiantly holding the back of his giggling baby sister’s dress to keep her from crawling away, and the other hand holding onto our dog’s beribboned collar to keep her in place, all while smiling at the camera.  The next year, I got oh-so-clever for our Christmas photo cards: put the tree up early and gift-wrapped three big open boxes.  You guessed it: two held a child each and the third held the dog (with a facial expression conveying, “Huh?!”)  My poor son had a bad cold so I put a little concealer under his dark-rimmed eyes and he wound up looking like a vampire child.  (Amazingly, he grew up to be normal, despite these travails.)

Outside of the holiday season, I’ve seen some “Christmas” photo cards put to brilliant use.  A friend who couldn’t get it together in time for holiday mailing sent out digital photo Christmas cards with an inside message saying, “Yes, I’m late!  Happy Valentine’s Day!”  A cousin sent a thank you message on a photo card, with our family’s group photo from his son’s wedding on the front.  It was such a nice remembrance of this “family reunion” that I set it atop my piano for daily viewing.  A business associate opened up a beautiful new facility in a new location and announced it by sending a photo card that pictured himself, like a “proud Papa,” standing in front of the new headquarters.  Inside the photo card, his message said, “Thanks for your business and welcome to our new home!”

So, as I set out to illustrate, Christmas photo cards aren’t just for holiday sending anymore!

Digital cameras are a wonderful thing. Picture the stack of Christmas photo cards you receive each year. Ever stop to wonder how long it took to get the shot that wound up on your best friend’s photo card? The kids are perfectly posed, looking at the camera, smiling brightly. The only question is whether it took 50 or 100 tries. It’s an open secret…photographing people presents its challenges!

When I was a kid, there were no digital cameras. My family didn’t even have a 35mm camera; It was Polaroid all the way. I can still remember the flash sticks and shaking out each print so it would develop faster. A look through our family photo album shows lots of photos that could’ve been better, but somehow, I don’t think it was cost-effective to try and try again. This would explain why there are family photos of me, at age three, baring all of my teeth in a horrific grin, eyes squinted closed, trying my best to follow directions when my mom or dad said “Smile!” There is an old saying that each time someone takes your picture, they steal a piece of your soul. I wonder what pieces were stolen with photos like that!

Photographing people, be it toddlers, teens, or your grandparents, is a lot easier without having to worry about wasting film. Well, maybe “easier” isn’t the right word. The more people you put into your photo, the harder it gets. One person is smiling; the other is talking. Your mother is looking at some other person with a camera and your brother’s eyes are closed. Your wallet isn’t being hurt by wasted film anymore, but your patience may take a hit.

When taking pictures, breathe deep, and work for that shot. It will come. Those photo holiday cards you got in the mail last winter are proof. And, in this age of computers and online photo albums, the bloopers can be stored for all eternity, too!