How to shoot the pixel-imperfect holidays

The best moments rarely wait for everyone to get ready. In brighter conditions, steady your camera and let the available light do the work. For indoors or as the light disappears, flash can help freeze the action.

And get close: apart from making the moment feel more immediate, your flash is more effective when your subject isn’t halfway across the room.

There comes a point when someone decides it’s time for a group photo (thanks, Mom). Bring everyone close together and use your viewfinder to check the edges of the frame... particularly for rogue heads, elbows, and relatives.

If you can, take bigger group shots somewhere with plenty of light. And don’t spend ten minutes arranging everyone by height.

The holidays are full of tiny things worth remembering. Handwriting on a gift tag. A half-decorated cookie. Someone’s hand up the turkey. The ornament that has somehow survived since 1987.

Move around and try different distances and perspectives. Just remember that every Polaroid camera has a minimum focusing distance, so check yours before getting too intimate with the Christmas pudding.

Holiday lighting can be beautiful to humans and deeply confusing to cameras. Candles. Fairy lights. Dim kitchens. Extremely atmospheric lamps. That’s where flash comes in.

Stay reasonably close to the people you’re photographing and pay attention to what’s behind them. A nearby wall can help keep some detail in the background instead of leaving your subject floating in darkness.

The crooked compositions, accidental flashes, and people who weren’t quite ready are often what makes a photo feel alive. So keep your camera close, keep shooting, and don’t worry about getting everything right. It’s better that way.