DIY Christmas Photoshoot

Having a Christmas card has sort of become a tradition for us. It started when my daughter Miley celebrated her first Christmas back in 2010 and I made this card:

Since then, we've been taking photos of our growing family in time for the holidays. You can see the evolution of our Christmas cards through the years here - 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

Usually I just take the pics myself but there are times we have a professional photographer do it. But I decided to DIY it this year since I had a new camera (Sony A5000) which I wanted to test out. And walang budget for a shoot so me na lang talaga haha! ;p

I just made use of whatever decors we already had and used our dining room as a makeshift studio. The backdrop I used is a tablecloth I got from SM which I just taped to the wall. I also used a white duvet to cover the floor.

my set-up

I then dressed the kids in Christmasy outfits and we were good to go. Of course, taking pics of kids will always have its challenges. My youngest was the hardest to shoot since he kept moving around and didn't want to sit still! Plus he kept messing up the props haha!

And sometimes, it's so hard for them to just give you a nice smile! They kept asking "Are we done yet??!" NOPE!

wacky faces!

I took individual shots of them first (since my daughter was on the way home from school when I started) then I was planning to do a group shot after. But then, this little boy fell asleep already after his turn since it was his nap time! Haaay, so no pics of the 3 of them together. Maybe I'll just do another shoot in the park or something.

sleepy na

Anyway, some tips for those planning a DIY shoot at home as well:
- Choose a place with plenty of natural light, like beside a window or even outdoors in your garden or garage.
- Do the shoot when all the kids are well rested and in a good mood. I was just really excited to shoot this time that I totally didn't think of nap time!
- Have someone help you! Especially if you have toddlers who find it hard to sit still. I had our yaya position him then she would get out of the frame quickly. And then she would call him so he would look at the camera.
- Bribing helps haha! I was like "I'll give you a prize if we get good pics!" Then they'd really cooperate and smile. LOL!
- Just click, click, and click away. I probably took 100 shots of each kid. There will be a lot of outtakes, but somewhere there will be some good shots! Then just crop and edit if you can to make the photos look better.
- Patience is a virtue. Nuff said.

Here's the best photos that I was able to take:

What do you think? I'm really happy with the pics considering I didn't have to spend thousands for a professional photoshoot! Stay tuned for the final Christmas card which I'll post in a few days. Can't believe it's less than a week before Christmas!