I got the shock of my life when my grandpa sent out photo Christmas cards for the holidays. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I didn’t even know he knew what a digital photo was.

It seems that unbeknownst to me, grandma bought him a digital camera for his birthday in an effort to, “get him out of her hair with a hobby.” Little did she know that she would create a monster. He never went anywhere again without his camera by his side.

I discovered he had a proclivity for the “candid” shot. He later sent a picture of me asleep on the couch at his house. That was fine, but he happened to catch me with my mouth wide open and my eldest son holding a worm over it. Hilarious, Pop.

But getting back to the holiday photo cards he sent out, I had to take the bull by the horns and explain that after a certain age, couples in bathing suits in Florida are no longer considered photogenic. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with on his next foray into the digital photo world.

Ahh vacation! How we look forward to some relaxing time off from the day to day hustle and bustle. We spend time dreaming of the laying on the beach in the Bahamas, watching the sunset in Hawaii or sailing in the Cayman Islands. We plan and plan, and then the day comes and what!?! It’s over already!?! Thank goodness for vacation photos. Taking vacation photos with your digital camera while travelling is the best way to preserve the memories of those days when you didn’t have a care in the world except for what time lunch was being served. Vacation photos are also great options to consider for your holiday photo cards.

Digital cameras are one of the best things invented, especially for people who travel. You can fit so many pictures on a single memory card, and there is no need to worry about changing film or bringing extra film canisters. You are always ready for every photo opportunity that occurs while travelling. What if you ran into Oprah or Britney Spears while sunning on a beach in Cancun? What if Brad and Angelina decide to have dinner in your favorite vacation spot in the Hamptons, and they sit right next to your table?!? These are definitely photo ops, to say the least, but I am dreaming again. My vacation photos consist of family and friends doing vacation things like visiting museums in New York City, looking for bargains at street fairs in Point Pleasant, renting bicycles in Cape May, and taking long walks on the beach in Cape Cod.

I don’t like to be too structured while on vacation but I always make sure I take a few digital photos that would make great holiday photo cards. Holiday photo cards are so popular now and I can see why. Sites like ChristmasCardsDirect are so easy to use, and their cards are real cards…not just something that looks like a photo. These photo cards have your digital photo on the front of the card, and they open like a real card. On the inside, there is a greeting and the cards can be personalized…how cool is that?!? You have to check out the foil lined envelope that comes with the card too!

So make your friends green with envy this holiday season and use your fantastic digital vacation photos as your photo holiday cards. It’s one way to keep memories alive.

I get several business Thanksgiving cards every year and loads of Christmas cards and Season’s Greetings cards, but my dentist has an unusual tradition of sending out New Year’s greetings cards. I find myself looking forward to getting his card because it’s always festive and unique.

Last year he sent one-of-a-kind holiday photo cards with a wonderful picture of all the things that make a New Year’s party so delightful. There were all the glitzy decorations you would expect including noisemakers, shimmering balloons, shiny streamers, and champagne bottles along with several platters of scrumptious looking hors d’oeuvres and desserts. And sitting discreetly on one corner of the bar was a sparkling cut-glass tumbler filled with a bevy of crystal-studded toothbrushes.

He’s always thanking his patients and cleverly reminding them that they’ll be happy in the future if they take care of their oral hygiene today. Inside his distinctive photo cards he had printed a greeting that expressed his thanks and wished everyone the very best in the New Year. At the bottom he had his and his staffs’ names printed.

Besides being a thoughtful and thoroughly skilled dentist, he really gives you something to look forward to every December.

Every year I find myself putting off taking my kids’ picture for my holiday photo cards. I don’t know what it is – they are good kids yet once you dress them up and put them in front of the Christmas tree or where ever, something seems to take possession of them. My normally well-behaved twins will suddenly find it necessary to nudge one another, or look angelic until the very moment I am ready to take the picture only to find they suddenly stuck out their tongues.

This year we had the added aggravation (I mean pleasure) of adding our kitten to the family photo card taking fun. Who would get to hold the cat? Who got to feed him a treat? Who just got scratched by the cat? Where did the cat go? He is hiding under the tree. Who will get him out? Oh, we are having fun now.

Yet in the end after only 50 attempts, we finally snapped what is to be our 2008 Christmas photo card. It actually came out quite cute, though we ended up with one without the cat in the Santa hat. Oh well. Next year we will try the antlers for sure.
He’ll just love that.

I can’t wait to upload it and figure out which digital photo card design will suit it best. Then after I mail them all out I sit back and wait as I’ll inevitably receive a few compliments on my “little angels.” Oh, if they only knew!

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!

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.

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!

Many of us are sure to grab the digital cameras for obvious social events such as weddings, vacations and birthday parties. When September rolls around every year, you’ll find me taking photos at a different kind of social gathering: a Rutgers football game.

No, I don’t have a side job as a sports photographer (although I admit, taking photos for a living sounds interesting!) I’m just a fan taking pictures for the fun of it. Ever since I graduated from Rutgers University, my husband and I have had season tickets to the Rutgers football games. Although the football team has improved remarkably over the past few years, there were some “lean” times when the team rarely won any games. But the team’s losing record didn’t matter to us because we had so much fun tailgating with our group of friends.

We’re the crazy fans who start tailgating at the crack of dawn on gameday and are never deterred by bad weather. As we drink, eat and chat, I enjoy taking photos of everything going on: my husband Dan, manning his post at the grill; our friend Lou, who we call The Mayor, schmoozing with the players’ families; and fans clapping along to the marching band as they play the school fight song. I mostly shoot candid photos of the festive atmosphere but I also capture some memorable posed photos. Our friends actually used one of the digital photos I took for their family holiday photo cards one year!

After the game, the digital photos are posted online for all to see and enjoy. That’s one of the great things about digital pictures – they’re easy to share! The online photo album immortalizes so many of the fun moments we’ve had at the football games. A few of us regularly take pictures on gameday so we’ve amassed quite a collection of digital photos over the years. It’s especially entertaining to look back at the digital pictures taken years ago to recall the great memories and appreciate the special little community we’ve created with our football pals.

Is it football season yet?!

Has anyone else gone through the experience of a family wedding?

When my son Sean starting dating Kim, I thought to myself, “She seems like a nice girl.” But with my son’s dating history, I really didn’t think the relationship would last. But last it did! I think my first clue was when Sean wanted Kim to be included in the family holiday photo cards. Then we had to take digital pictures of them on Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. You get the idea.

Finally, after a year of dating, Sean popped the question on a horse and buggy ride through Central Park. This experience, along with all of the holiday photos, have been captured in digital photos that will last a lifetime. The photo collection is sure to continue growing as time goes on.

Now we are in the process of hiring a wedding photographer and I can’t believe how much photography has evolved since my wedding. Not only have the wedding photographers gone totally digital, but now the whole process isn’t complete without a videographer capturing everything on a DVD.

I know it sounds like we’re flash happy, but years from now we’ll look at all of the family photos fondly, enjoying memories of when we were all a little younger and slimmer.

“Say CHEESE!”

And with this one utterance, the frenzy to create holiday photo cards begins. Year after year, people will start the holiday card photo shoot earlier and earlier. “Kids! Get out of your bathing suits and put on these hot and sticky velvet outfits so we can take pictures in front of our artistically decorated artificial tree.” The kids aren’t the only ones who get in on the action. If you’re anything like me, you enjoy taking photos of your pets in addition to photographing people. Wouldn’t a picture of my five kitty cats make wonderful holiday photo cards? What’s not to like about sweet, furry kitties?

Sending photo holiday cards is also a growing trend among businesses. While coordinating holiday photo cards for a company may sound a little daunting, it really isn’t. The hardest part will be gathering all of your employees together at the same time, but if you give them enough notice, it’s not impossible. The most common business holiday photo cards I see are photos of all the employees grouped outside on a clear day. Click, click, and you’re done. While some companies will get a little more festive with Santa hats or antlers, it’s really a matter of personal taste.

Whether you’re creating holiday photo cards for business or personal use, once the photo is taken the rest is a piece of cake. You can insert your printed picture into photo holder cards or you can go the more electronic way and upload your digital photo to have printed directly onto your holiday photo cards. What could be easier?