Christmas. What a magical time of year for untold numbers around the world! Follow these tips if you want to take memorable photos of family and friends at Christmas with a digital camera.

Be creative

Get close up and personal. Fill the frame with the subject to capture detail and facial expression.

For more natural-looking photos, snap candid, spontaneous shots when subjects aren’t looking. Also shoot from various angles. Kneel or get down on the floor for more interesting and dynamic pictures.

Using a flash inside

Stay within the recommended flash range to help ensure proper exposure. If your camera has a flash compensation setting, adjust the output stronger or weaker as needed.

For better exposure, turn on extra lights in the room to augment the built- flash. Adjust white balance setting when needed. You can also change the white balance to create a mood.

Avoid red eye

Photos of people are always disappointing if red-eye is present. After taking a shot, review the image on the LCD and retake if necessary. Take steps to avoid or reduce red-eye or be prepare to remove it when editing photos.

Using a flash outside

When taking outside photos in the evening, if the main subject is in the foreground and there are lights in the background scene, use a Slow-sync flash or Night Scene mode. The flash illuminates the foreground subject but the shutter is slow enough to capture the background lights. Because exposure can vary from long to very long for this type of shot, steady the camera, preferably by using a tripod or other camera support.

When not to use the flash

To capture the warm glow of Christmas lights, don’t use a flash. Unless you use a camera support such as a tripod, you may have to increase the ISO, the camera’s sensitivity to light. When the ISO setting is higher, less light is needed to make an exposure. The trade-off will be image “noise” but noise is better than having no photo.

When photographing through glass, don’t use a flash. If there is glare, use a polarizing filter or shoot from a different angle to prevent reflections.

Most consumer digital cameras produce visible image noise at ISO over 100. The good news is that it can be reduced when processing an image by using noise reduction software.

Take some outside evening photos

Copyright Craig Hatfield

One of the best times to take photos at Christmastime is at dusk. There is just enough light to capture both scene detail and the Christmas lighting.

If the shutter speed is slow or the camera shake warning comes on, use a camera support.