Festive Food and Product Photography: Boost Holiday Sales with Stunning Christmas Shots

1. Class Introduction: Are your holiday photos falling flat, leaving your products overlooked during the most profitable season of the year, you've spent countless hours preparing for the Christmas rush. But your photos don't do justice to your amazing products or worse, they don't stand out in the sea of festive promotions. I totally get it. As a small business owner, creative, professional, or entrepreneur, the holiday season is a crucial time to boost sales. But without festive eye catching and professional looking photos, it's easy to get lost in the crowd. This class is designed to help you stand out by teaching you how to create stunning holiday themed photos using simple and accessible techniques. No expensive gear or expert skills required. You'll gain practical tips to showcase your products in a way that grabs attention and helps elevate your brand during the busiest time of the year. Hi, I'm Rose, a food and product photographer who has helped business owners increase their holiday sales with eye catching photos that stop the scroll and drive conversions. Over the years, I've developed techniques to make food and product photography both simple and effective for businesses. And now I am excited to share these tips with you. In this class, you'll learn how to create beautiful festive food and product photos that capture the holiday spirit and help you stand out from the crowd. Whether you're working with a professional camera or just your smartphone, I'll show you how to style your products, use lighting to make them pop and create a holiday vibe with easy to find props. We'll cover everything from DIY setups in year, festive prop styling, basic lighting techniques, composition and angles, and quick editing tips to give your photos that polished holiday ready look. By the end of this class, you'll not only have the skills, but also a stunning Christmas themed photo you can use in your business right away. You'll put everything you've learned into practice with a hands on class project designed to help you create visuals that will boost your holiday sales. So if you're ready to take your holiday marketing to the next level with scroll stopping festive photos, keep watching, and I'll see you in the next video. 2. Why Is Festive Photography So Important?: Hi, and welcome to class. I'm really excited you're here. Let's start by addressing something you might be feeling right now. Maybe you're a small business owner or creative professional, and you're wondering how to take your food and product photos up a notch this holiday season. But you're not sure how to create professional looking photos that capture the festive spirit and get people excited about your products. I totally get it because I used to feel the same way. When clients ask me to photograph their products for the holidays, I would overthink everything, go crazy and complicate my setups. For example, here's a photo from an old holiday shoot when I thought that adding all the Christmas decorations and adding all my clients products in the frame would make the shot festive. It's not bad, but it needs a lot of improvement. Now, look at this one from my latest holiday shoot, where I used just a few props and gave each element space in the frame. I learned the hard way that with just a few well chosen props and the right techniques, you can create festive, professional looking food and product photos. But enough about me, let's focus on you. The holiday season is a huge opportunity for your business. It's when people are shopping, looking for inspiration and making buying decisions. Your visuals need to stand out, and festive eye catching photos are the way to do that. If you don't have fancy gear or a professional setup, you might think these kinds of images are out of reach. That's where this class comes in. Throughout this class, I'm going to show you that you don't need expensive equipment or a big budget to create photos that sell with just a few simple props, basic lighting, and some easy to learn techniques. You can take photos that look professional and help boost your sales and engagement during the busiest shopping season of the year. Don't worry. I won't be boring you with technical photography jargon. I'll keep it simple and hands on. I'll walk you through exactly how I did it for a client whose goal was to make her product look festive and appealing for social media ads. To get your creative juices flowing, I'll be styling three different Christmas themes, a white and snowy Christmas, an elegant golden look, and the classic festive red and green. These live demonstrations will give you hands on inspiration, and you'll see how easy it is to pull off a stunning holiday photo shoot. Now, still wondering if you really need festive Christmas photos or if you can do it yourself. First of all, yes, you can. And here's why it's so important. When people are scrolling through social media or browsing online stores during the holidays, they are bombarded with offers and visuals. A well styled festive image can immediately capture their attention and trigger an emotional connection. It brings that warm, cozy Christmas feeling to life, and that's what makes them stop and click. This kind of photography is not just about looking good. It's about driving action, whether that's clicking on your post, visiting your website or making a purchase. The best part, you can achieve these results without overcomplicating things. This class will show you how to get things done using the gear you already have, even if that's just your smartphone and a few easy to find props to create stunning festive setups. With all that said, we'll talk about essential gear and setup for DIY festive shoots in the next lesson. See you there. 3. Essential Gear & Setup for DIY Festive Shoots: In this lesson, we're going to tackle a concern I hear all the time. I don't have a professional photography gear, and I'm not sure how to set up issue at home. Sound familiar. Don't worry. You're definitely not the only one. My clients pay me to photograph their food and products, and guess what? I do most of it in my small, far from magazine level kitchen. So if I can do it, you can, too. Here's the thing. You don't need fancy equipment or a professional studio to take amazing festive photos. Whether you're using ADSLR or just your smartphone, you can get beautiful professional looking results with a gear you already have. Let's start with your gear. If you have ADSLR and know how to use it, feel free to skip this part of the lesson. But if you're new to ADSLR or mirror less camera, I recommend adding my beginner's guide to camera settings class to your watch list. For most of you using smartphones, which by the way, is totally enough for high quality photos, this lesson will focus on making the most of that. With today's phone technology, you can capture sharp, high quality images. The key is knowing how to maximize whatever device you have. I'll show you how to adjust settings and make a few small tweaks to give your photos that professional look. Let's start with two key basics focus and exposure. For focus, tap on your subject to make sure it's sharp and in focus. For exposure, after you've tapped to focus, you can adjust the exposure by swiping up or down to brighten or darken the image. This helps capture all the details without blowing out highlights or losing shadows. I mentioned these first because no matter what camera you're using, if your image is overexposed, underexposed, or blurry, it's tough to fix it in editing. You can't really recover a completely underexposed or blurry photo. So it's super important to get your focus and exposure right before anything else. Now, here are a few tips to make sure your images stay sharp. First, keep your camera steady to avoid blur. Use a tripod or prop your camera against something stable. If you're using a smartphone, a simple but often overlooked step is to clean your camera lens. It sounds obvious, but it makes a huge difference. My friends are always asking me why my iPhone photos look so sharp and clear. And they're always surprised when I say, it's just because I keep my lens clean. Since our phones go everywhere with us, it's easy for the lens to get smudged. Even the most high end phone won't give you sharp photos if the lens is dirty. Next up, tip number two, enable grid lines in your camera settings to help with composition. These grid lines help you follow composition rules and improve framing. If you're using an iPhone, here's how to enable them. Go to settings, tap camera, and under composition, turn on the grid. While you're there, I recommend turning on the Level two. This helps keep your photos straight and balanced, especially if you have straight lines in your scene. Crooked lines can instantly make a photo look unprofessional, and level ensures everything looks aligned and polished. Tip number three, turn live photos off for crisp, still images. While live photos can be fun, they're not ideal when you're aiming for sharp, clean photos. Static images are easier to control and generally come out sharper. Also, remember to keep your phone steady and your hands level for balanced, natural looking shots. Now that we've covered those tips, let's talk about your DIY setup. You don't need a fancy studio to create beautiful festive setups. DIY props and household items work just fine. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I shot all my holiday photo shoot demos in our tiny kitchen right on top of our small dining table. I used a cheap felt paper as a surface background, an old curtain as the backdrop. And added our small Christmas tree in a few decorations. And here's the result. In another setup, I used the same table with a paper backdrop, a scarf, and some fairy lights, and here's the final photo. Last example is this DIY setup beside our bedroom window, where I used a chair and a flat surface to set up shots. And here's the result. The key to DIY setups is to create a scene that tells a story or follows a theme. It's not about randomly placing items and hoping for the best. Be intentional. Believe in yourself, your style, and let your creativity shine. I know you're probably wondering about lighting. Sure, I can use old curtains and decorations, but do I need expensive lighting to make everything look professional? Good news. You don't. You can start with the most accessible, most affordable light source there is the sun. We'll dive into lighting in the next lesson, so I'll see you there. 4. Lighting Techniques for Festive Warmth & Vibrancy: Now, let's dive into one of the most important elements of your shoot. Lighting. Good lighting can make or break your photos, especially when you're aiming for that warm, cozy holiday vibe. The goal is to illuminate your subject in a way that gives it depth and dimension, not flat or poorly lit. And don't worry. You don't need fancy lighting here to achieve this. I'll show you some budget friendly options and tricks to get beautiful festive lighting using natural light or household lamps. Let's start with the easiest option, natural light. Making the most of the natural light you already have can give your photos a vibrant festive feel, whether it's the soft glow of morning or the golden light just before sunset. Natural light brings out the best tones in holiday themed shots. These photos were taken using only natural light and a simple DIY setup. By the way, we live in a tiny apartment, so this is the only place in the house where I can get decent natural lighting. But it's sufficient, and I love it. If you have a house full of windows with natural light, then you're very lucky. Experiment and have fun with it. The key is positioning your subject to get that cozy festive warmth. If you want a brighter scene, you need a larger light source like a big window. To tone it down, you can use a light blocker like a blackout curtain to control the amount of light hitting your setup. If the light is too harsh, creating strong shadows, just use a diffuser. Something as simple as a shear curtain or a light blanket can work wonders to soften it. But what if you're shooting indoors or after the sun has set? No problem. You don't need professional studio lights to make your photos look great. If natural light isn't available, you can use a simple desk lamp to light your setup. For example, in my kitchen, I used a desk lamp and a reflector to create these festive shot. Next, let's talk about shadows and highlights. When done right, they add depth and warmth to your images. A great way to play with shadows and highlights is by using side lighting. This means placing the light source to the side of your subject, which creates shadows and highlights that bring out the shape, texture, and details. It gives your photos that three D effect. Now, if you're looking to add a little sparkle to your images, try back lighting. This is where your subject is between the light source and your camera. It gives a dreamy glowing effect. With a hallo or am light around your subject that helps it stand out from the background. This trick can really make your photos pop with that magical holiday glow, a top tip. Don't be afraid to move things around. You can adjust your light source, subject or camera until you find the best lighting for your scene. The key is to practice and experiment. Trust your instincts and let your creativity shine. One last lighting pro tip, use reflectors. No need for fancy gear here. Something as simple as white paper or a foam board works perfectly. Reflectors bounce the light back onto your subject, softening shadows and creating a warm even glow. If you're using back lighting and the front of your subject is too dark, a reflector in front will balance out the exposure, and that is it for lighting. Remember, your goal is to light your subject well and avoid making it look flat. Use natural light and everyday household items to create that festive warmth in your photos. In the next lesson, we'll talk about prop styling. We'll explore how to create festive setups and backgrounds to bring your holiday photos to life. See you there. 5. Prop Styling for Christmas: Festive Backgrounds & Themes: In this lesson, we're diving into something crucial for creating eye catching holiday photos. Prop styling. One of the most common challenges I hear is, I don't know how to make my photos look festive and aligned with a Christmas theme. It can be tricky to capture the holiday spirit without overwhelming your shot, like I did here, but don't worry, I've got you covered. Let's start with color schemes. When you think of Christmas, what colors come to mind? Red, green, and gold are the classic holiday hues that instantly bring that festive vibe. But it's not just about throwing these colors into your shot. You need to be intentional. My top tip, choose a theme. This helps get your creativity flowing and gives you a solid starting point. For my class project, I experimented with three different holiday themes, a white and snowy Christmas, an elegant golden look, and the classic festive red and green. Once you have your themes, you can start creating a mood board. If you're a Pintras fan, simply create a board. Name it and start saving photo ideas that match your theme and vision. For example, these photos served as inspiration for my holiday photo shoot in the white, gold, and red and green themes. The key is selecting a color scheme that not only screams Christmas but also complements the food or product you're photographing. Whether you're using bold reds or subtle metallics, focus on creating a balanced, cohesive look that draws attention to your subject. Now let's talk about props. You don't need a massive budget or a huge collection of items to make your photos festive. Simple props like fairy lights, garlands, ornaments, and even wrapping paper can work wonders in evoking that holiday mood. The goal is to elevate your product or food, not distract from it. Look back at your mood board and see which props from those images you already have or can easily get from a nearby store. But before you go shopping, I recommend creating a layout for your scene. For example, in this photo of a mug, I created a rough draft on how I will style my scene, including the props. This gave me a clear idea of what I needed, preventing me from buying unnecessary items. A couple of prop tips. First, choose props that match the size of your subject. If they're too large, they'll overpower the subject. If they're too small, they'll seem insignificant. Next, start with a few props and use what you already have. One mistake I made as a beginner was overloading my scene with tons of props, thinking, the more the merrier. Unfortunately, that doesn't apply here. Intentionality is the key to success when it comes to prop styling. Finally, we need to think about theme cohesion. We want to create a festive atmosphere without overcrowding the shot. The goal is to strike a balance using just enough elements to set the holiday mood while keeping the focus on your product or dish. It's about creating a visual flow, guiding the viewers' eyes straight to what matters most. I know that sounds easier said than done. So in the next lesson, we'll add some extra tools to your styling toolkit. Composition and angles. This will help your photos stand out even more. See you there. 6. Composition & Angles: Make Your Photos Stand Out: In this lesson, we're tackling one of the most important aspects of photography composition and angles. I know many of you might be thinking. I don't know how to compose my shots to make them look professional. It's a common frustration, and I struggled with this for a long time, too, creating plenty of cringy photos that I can barely look at today. The good news is, once you understand a few key principles, you'll see a huge improvement in your photos. And with practice, mastering composition will become second nature. Now, let's start by defining composition. Composition is the arrangement of the elements in your photo. This is the foundation of any grade shot, and I'm going to introduce you to some simple yet powerful composition rules that will instantly elevate your food and product photography. First stop is the rule of thirds. This classic technique helps you position the most important elements of your photo in a way that's naturally pleasing to the eye. Remember the grid we discussed in the gear lesson. That's your guide for following the rule of thirds. To apply this rule, place your subject on either the left or right third of the frame instead of dead center. Each intersection point on the grid can serve as a potential point of interest. Align your main subject and other elements along these points to create a balanced and visually engaging image. Next is the leading lines. This technique directs the viewer's eye toward the subject by using natural lines within the scene, whether it's a countertop, a table, or even the edges of your props. These subtle lines help guide the viewers attention to what matters most in your photo. Then we have the rule of odds, which states that an odd number of subjects in an image is generally more appealing than an even number. I find this rule particularly helpful when deciding how many stacks of products or items to include in a shot. It's also useful for selecting the number of props to add to your scene. Next, one of my personal favorites is diagonal composition. This is when the elements in the image are arranged along a diagonal line. Diagonal lines add depth, create tension, and give your photo a sense of energy and movement. They tend to be more dynamic and impactful compared to horizontal or vertical lines. Of course, there are many more composition rules out there, but I've shared my favorites that are easy to follow. And remember, don't feel restricted by the word rules. The beauty of photography is that once you master these principles, you can start to break them and follow your creativity. Now, let's move on to angles, which are equally important for creating professional looking photos. The angle you shoot from can completely transform how your food or product is perceived. Top down shots are perfect for flat lay compositions, where you want to capture everything from above. Straight on angles work best for tall subjects, showcasing their height and structure. 45 degree angles are great for adding depth and texture to your images, making the subject pop. Side angles can be used to highlight intricate details and features that may attract buyers. Finally, let's talk about creating visually balanced scenes for your holiday shoot. When styling for the holiday season, it's tempting to go all out with props and decorations. But the key is balance. Use the composition rules I've shared to position props like ornaments, fairy lights, or garlands in a way that enhances your subject without overwhelming it. This way, your photos will feel festive and polished, not cluttered. Don't worry. We'll go over more hands on examples in the live demonstrations happening in the next lesson. See you there. 7. Demo: White and Snowy Christmas: It's time for demos. Yay. This is my favorite part because I get to show you hands on how to take photos for both my personal projects and my clients. When I was just starting out, I loved seeing the behind the scenes of photo shoots. It not only gave me tons of ideas, but I was also amazed by what happens behind the camera, the creativity and the troubleshooting that go into every shot. Notice how I said creativity and troubleshooting, not fancy gear or professional studio. Because for me, those two are the key to leveling up your food and product photos. Pay close attention because the steps I follow in this demo are the same ones you'll use for your class project. So step one, choose a subject. Pick a food item or product that represents the holiday spirit. It could be a festive dessert, a holiday drink, or any product you'd like to promote this season. In my case, I'll be photographing these heart shaped chocolate bumps in a tall chocolate cake from one of my regular clients. By the way, they're called chocolate bumps because they melt when you pour hot milk or hot chocolate over them. Inside, you'll find marshmallows and chocolate powder. A sweet little surprise. The goal for this shoot is to create festive Christmas themed photos that my client can post on her social media during the holiday season. Step number two, lighting. Apply the lighting techniques we discussed earlier. Whether you're using natural light or a simple lighting setup, focus on creating a warm, cozy and inviting atmosphere that screams holiday joy. Since it's nighttime here, I'm using an artificial LED light with a soft box to diffuse the light. Now, this setup might look a bit more professional because it's the same one I used for my talking head videos, but you can achieve similar results with natural light. Just set up near a window and aim for side lighting similar to what you see here. Step number three, set the scene. For the backdrop, I'm using a paper backdrop I got online. I love it because it's simple, versatile and works well for both food and product photography, especially when I want a minimalist vibe. For this surface, I'm using the same, a double sided paper backdrop, but this time with a different design. So I'm choosing the one that complements my subject. I also have an old white scarf, which reminds me of snow, so it fits perfectly with my winter theme. You can really improvise and get creative with what you have. To style the scene, I've gathered some props, plates, teacups, snowflakes, which is super cheap from a nearby store, and a fairy light string to add that warm festive glow. I have some white Christmas trees to stick with a snowy theme. Step number four, styling the scene. When styling, make sure that the props don't overpower the subject. For food photography, I prefer to style the scene first before adding the food. One of my favorite techniques is layering. For this setup, the paper backdrop is my first layer. The white scarf is the second layer and the plate is the third layer. As you can see, I'm following the diagonal composition, positioning everything diagonally for a more dynamic feel. I'm also sprinkling in some snowflakes for extra holiday cheer. This is why having a color skin is so important. It helps keep the scene cohesive. Notice how nothing looks cluttered because everything follows the white and snowy theme. Step five, take te shots. Before adding the food, I always take a te shot to see how the seam looks. Here, I'm trying both the standard lens and the telephoto lens on my iPhone. I'm happy with the results, but we'll make some minor adjustment for balance. The goal is to create a visually appealing balance scene while following composition rules to guide us. But don't be restricted by the rules. Let your creativity shine. Next, add the subject. Now it's time to add the heart shaped chocolate bombs. I'm following the rule of odds, placing five of them in the scene to keep it visually interesting. Again, this is all about trial and error. Arrange the food so it looks balanced and natural. Since we're working with chocolate and it's starting to melt, I'm cleaning up the plate to keep things tidy. Next, I'm adding a cup of hot chocolate to complete the scene. I want to maintain that bright, snowy vibe, so I'm using a reflector to add extra glow and soften the shadows. Once everything looks right, I take the photos, making sure my subject is in focus by tapping the screen. I am happy with the results so far, but I realize I forgot to include the fairy lights, so I'll add them in. So I'm following the diagonal composition for consistency. After adding the fairy lights, I'm adjusting the snowflakes to avoid overwhelming the scene. Again, it's all about the balance. The setup looks amazing. The fairy lights really add that cozy holiday feel, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. Time to take the final photos. The top view angle or flat lay works well for this setup, since we're working with flat products. It's the best way to showcase the entire scene. It's good, but I notice some white spots in the hot chocolate that are a bit distracting. So I'll steer it to remove them. This is one of the challenges of photographing food. You have to be mindful of how food changes appearance over time. I think everything looks good, so let's take more photos. And I'm super happy with the results. Next, we'll be photographing the tall chocolate cake using the same white and snowy setup. But now we're shifting our focus to a straight on angle. Since the cake is tall, this angle will help emphasize its height and make it stand out beautifully. Now, instead of spreading the snow, the white scarf and snowflakes all over the scene, I'm focusing it in the background. Since we're shooting from the front, the background becomes more prominent and I want the snow effect to be a subtle backdrop rather than distracting. This is also a great opportunity to highlight the tall Christmas trees in the scene. Since our subject, the cake is also tall, we have to ensure that trees in the background don't compete for attention. The key here is balance and placing the trees in a way that enhances the cake without overpowering it. Already, it's looking fun and festive. Once the scene feels balanced, it's time to introduce our main subject, the tall chocolate cake. Look at that. With just a few props and a small space, we've created a festive magical setup that looks like it's straight out of a holiday wonderland. This is the magic of food and product photography. It's like you're a kid, bringing your imagination to life. It brings me so much joy to see the final result and to know that it makes my clients happy and boost their sales. Now I'm just arranging everything, placing the Christmas trees on both sides for balance. Adding fairy lights for that cozy holiday feel, as always, it's a process of trial and error. I'll check how the scene looks on my camera to make sure everything is coming together as planned. It's important to remember that what you see in real life may look different on camera, so adjustments are always part of the process. Once I'm happy with the setup, it's time to start taking photos. Just like earlier, I will be using both my mirror less and iPhone to take photos. And here are the results. I love how everything turned out. The tall chocolate cake looks so fun and festive, perfectly fitting the holiday theme we were going for. That's it for our white and snowy Christmas. In the next lesson, we'll set up another scene where we'll create an elegant golden look. See you there. 8. Demo: An Elegant Golden Christmas: For this demo, I'll be photographing the same products, heart shaped chocolate bombs, any tall cake. Now let's dive into the props for creating this elegant golden scene. To set the mood, I have a Bige table cloth to serve as the background for our scene. Bige is a great neutral that complements the other gold props we'll be using. Next, I have a gold tray, some gold ornaments, A a cup of hot chocolate transferred into this beautiful gold cup and saucer. As you can see, it's not a lot, but the props follow the same color scheme to maintain a cohesive and elegant look. You've already seen my lighting setup earlier, so now we'll move on to styling the scene. We'll start by laying out the tablecloth as our surface background. By covering the dull white table with this timeless tablecloth, we're already transforming the vibe of the setup. Next, let's place the tray where we'll arrange our food, and I'll start positioning the props. I'm simply experimenting here and giving each prop some space to breathe. I don't want the scene to look too cluttered, so I'll take a test shot to see how it's looking so far. Let me add a few more props to balance things out. Now I can see a more visually appealing composition. These props around the tray will serve as heating lines, guiding the viewers' eyes toward our main focal point, the heart shaped chocolate bombs. I'll do one more test shot before we bring in the food. I love how it's turning out, but I feel like it needs more ornaments to give it a festive touch. However, I'm being careful not to overcrowd the scene as that could make it look chaotic. Now, this looks perfect for me. So let's place the chocolate bums. I'm following the rule of odds with a number of chocolate pumps, and once again, I'll place the white one in the center to draw the viewer's eye. It's looking fantastic, but I'll add a reflector to soften the shadows on the right side and give us that warm holiday glow. Here's how it looks now. I love how it turned out, except for the hot chocolate. It looks a bit off with those white specks on the surface. Just like earlier, I'll give it a quick steer to smooth it out. While I'm at it, I'll use this chance to adjust the spoon's position, so the end of it serves as a leading line as well. And here's the final result. It all came together beautifully. Now, let's move on to our next subject, the tall chocolate cake. Just like earlier, we'll be shooting straight on, so I'll need a backdrop. This time, I'm using an off white curtain to match the tablecloth and keep the scene cohesive. It's okay, but it looks a little too plain, so I'm thinking of adding a tiny Christmas tree to bring some life and festivity to the setup. Already has golden ornaments which fit perfectly with our golden theme. So I'm just removing the white snowflakes on the tree, as they don't quite match the look we're going for and might distract from the scene. Here's the lighting setup again. And now we'll start adding the other props. I've got some elegant glassware, the gold tray from earlier, and some gold utensils. It's a very simple setup following the diagonal composition and using leading lines to guide the viewers' eyes throughout the scene. Next, let's include the cake in the scene. I'm really loving how the vibe is coming together. Now let's not forget the reflector to soften those shadows and add a bit of warm. It's looking good, but I feel like the composition and prop placement could still be improved. So I'll try adding more props, including the chocolate bombs from earlier to see if it makes the scene feel more festive. In case you're wondering how I know where to place my prop so quickly, I have to give credit to the composition rules I've learned and practiced. After taking a lot of cringy photos early in my career, I became obsessed with improving. Over time, the more I applied these principles, the more natural it became for me to arrange everything in a balanced way. The worry if you feel overwhelmed when starting out, the key is to add one prop at a time, take a test shot, and then see where you can adjust to achieve that visual balance. So I experimented with different arrangements and here's the result. As you can see, you don't need a ton of props to make your photos look festive and stand out. Sometimes a few well chosen props and thoughtful styling are all you need to create that elegant festive look, and that's it for our elegant golden sera. In the next demo, we'll create a classic festive red and green scene. See you there. Oh 9. Demo: The Classic Festive Red and Green: For our next setup, we're going for a classic red and green festive theme. It's similar to the previous setup, but I'm swapping out the surface background with a red felt paper to really bring that festive red into the scene. Again, nothing fancy, just ordinary felt paper. I also added candy canes to the Christmas tree to bring in more red since all my other decorations are gold. Then I added some red holyberries to match the red and green theme, followed by a few Christmas balls. Finally, the star of the show Our cake. I didn't feel the need to take Tahot since the arrangement is almost identical to the earlier setup. I just switched out a few props. Hmm. I feel like something is missing, so let's add some of the props from the earlier scene. And let's not forget the fairy lights. And here's the result. I love it, but I want to try swapping out the curtain for a green one to see if it looks even better. With a green curtain, it looked a bit dark, so I moved the fairy lights closer to the subject. It worked, but for me, the original setup with off white curtain and fairy lights in the background had a more festive inviting and bright vibe. Now, let's move on to photographing the heart shaped chocolate pumps. For this setup, I am using the same red felt paper, red holyberries, candy canes, and more red and green ornaments. I also switch to a cute platter with pink polka dots. As I arrange everything, I'm sticking to the diagonal composition, just like before, making sure everything looks balanced and natural. I'll take a quick test shot before we add the food to the scene. It looks perfect to me, so now it's time to add the reflector and take our final shots. And here's the result. Everything came together beautifully, and that wraps up our classic red and green setup. Amazing, right? But here's something to think about. Why do we often limit ourselves to just red and green or feel like we need to stick to a specific style when decorating for Christmas? As you've seen throughout this demo, playing with different color schemes and themes can make a huge difference. We've now created a simple yet inviting white Christmas theme, an elegant golden Christmas, and a classic red and green one. And guess what? We didn't have to splurge on props. All of the props I use cost less than $50, I think, because I reuse decorations I already had. The real magic came from creativity, troubleshooting, and using our photography skills to enhance the food product, tell different holiday stories, and bring out that festive vibe. I hope that was super fun for you to watch, but trust me, it's even more fun to try it out yourself. That's why we have a class project before we wrap up. But before we get to that, I'll be sharing some easy editing tips to really level up your holiday photos and give them that professional polish. See you in the next lesson. 10. Editing for Festive Flair: Easy Holiday Touch-Ups: Now that we've got some beautifully composed shots with festive props and great lighting, it's time to elevate these photos with some editing magic. Some of you might be thinking. My photos don't look polished or festive after shooting. That's where editing comes in. It's the final step to make your photos pop and capture that holiday spirit. In this lesson, I'll show you quick and simple editing tips to add warmth, vibrancy and polish to your images without spending hours in complicated software. These techniques are beginner friendly and they'll require expensive tools. You'll be amazed at how just a few adjustments can transform your photos from good to professional eye catching shots. First, we'll be using the built in editing features on your phone. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, our goal is to polish the photos and make the colors stand out while still looking natural. I'll guide you through some basic color correction which will instantly make your photos look more polished, we'll adjust exposure, white balance and vibrancy to make the colors pop while still keeping them true to life. We'll also find tune key settings like brightness, contrast and saturation to bring up the cozy holiday tones. These simple tweaks will help you highlight those warm and vibrant colors without making your photos look artificial. First is the exposure. Slightly increasing the exposure brightens up the image, making it look more vivid. This can help the product stand out, especially if the original photo is a bit dark. So you can play around with ten to 20 in your slider. For brilliance, I tend to play around with ten to 15 because this adjusts the image mid tones to make them more vibrant without overexposing the highlights. It adds a natural brightness that makes the product look more appealing. So contrast, I'll play around with 22 30. Increasing contrast makes the dark areas darker and the light areas lighter. This setting can help your product stand out by giving it more depth and definition. Lowering brightness slightly after adjusting contrast can prevent the image from looking washed out. It balances the contrast to keep the details clear. Raising the black point deepens the darkest parts of the image. This setting helps bring out shadows and add dimension to the product, making it pop. Increasing saturation makes colors more vivid. This is great for product photos as it enhances the colors without making them look unrealistic. But it just play around with ten to 15. Vibrance increases the intensity of the more muted colors without oversaturating the brighter areas. It's useful for adding life to the image while keeping skin tones or delicate hues looking natural. So for me, I'll play around with ten to 20 and see which one looks better. For the warmth, you adjust it depending on your lighting. Plus five for warm and negative five for cool. Adjusting the warmth can make your product photos feel more inviting. If your images feels too cold, adding a touch of warmth can make it look more appealing. If the lighting was too warm, reducing it can balance the colors. Next, I'm increasing the sharpness to enhance the details. So I'm playing around with ten to 15, making the product look more defined and crisp. This is important to make textures stand out. Last but not the least is the clarity. This setting adds clarity and detail to the image, making the edges and fine textures more noticeable. And here's a look at our original versus the edited photo. You can also crop your images depending on where you plan to upload them. It's a subtle edit, but it really helped elevate our food product photo, giving it a more polished and professional feel while maintaining that natural look. Remember, this isn't a strict rule. You can play around with sliders and adjust settings based on your photo for the best results. Next, we're going to explore Lightroom mobile, a free yet powerful third party app that's both accessible and beginner friendly. While the basic editing steps will be similar to what we've done with the phones built in editor, Lightroom offers a few additional features that can really take your editing to the next level. Let me walk you through it. So this is how it looks like inside Lightroom mobile. So the very first step is import a photo. And once you have your photo open, you have all these options. So we'll start with exposure under the light settings. So for the exposure, I'm going to add 50 to make it really bright because my original photo is not too bright for me. For the contrast, I'm going to set it to negative 20 to soften the look. The highlights, I'm going to play around with ten to 30 to keep details in bright areas. For the shadows, I'm going to add around 20 to lift dark areas. For the white, since we want a white and snowy vibe, I'm going to add plus 30 to really brighten the white tones. Then for the blacks, I'm just going to set it to negative ten to add some depth. Next, let's go to the color settings. For the temperature, I'm going to set it to negative ten. So my goal here is to get cooler tones to give a wintery feel. For the tin, I'm going to add just a bit, so plus five to add a slight magenta. For the vibrance, I'm going to set it two plus 20 to boost color without over saturating. And then for the saturation, this time, I'm going to set it to negative ten. So that I can keep the colors natural. Now, let's go to the color mix. This is actually the feature that my built in photo editor doesn't have, and Lightroom has. So this is my favorite feature of Lightroom mobile, actually. So let me show you. So in here, you have different colors and you can adjust the hue, saturation and luminance of each color. So let's start with the red. So I'm going to set the hue to zero, and then I'm going to desaturate it because we want to soften the reds in this photo. So I'm going to set the saturation to negative 20. And then the luminance, maybe plus ten. For the orange, I'm going to set the hue to negative ten. Saturation negative 30, luminance plus 20, so this one is just force of habit for me because I do this a lot to make skin tones look bright. But of course, you can play around with a slider when you do it for your photos. For yellow, I'm going to set the hue to negative 20. So my goal here is to get muted warm tones. So I'm setting the saturation to negative 40 and then luminans plus 20. For the blue, I'm going to set the hue plus ten, that twenty's too much. So just plus ten. And then saturation I'm going to set it to plus 30. And then I'm going to set the luminans to plus 20 as well because I want to enhance that sky colors. Now let's move on to the effects settings. So for the clarity, I want to add some details, so I'm going to do or select plus ten. And then to get that softer look, I'm going to set the dehaze to negative five. To add a slight dark frame around the photo, I'm going to set the vignette. So maybe ten or 20. I love it. So now let's move on to detail settings. So to sharpen the details, I'm going to add plus 30 for sharpening. And then to smoothen the image, I'm going to add plus 20. And here's our before and after. I love how it turned out. The edited photo truly captures that winter vibe we were going for. And the best part, we achieved this using just a free third party app. Imagine the possibilities you can create with it. Can also crop your edited photo however you need, depending on where you'll be using it. For example, crop it one by one for Instagram post, four by five for Facebook or nine by 16 for stories and reels. Now, let's move on and edit one of our classic red and green shots. So I'm done importing the red and green photos. So let me just choose one. And again, let's start with the light settings. So for exposure, again, I want a brighter image. So I'm going to set it to plus 40, and I want to add a bit of punch, so I'm going to add contrast, just plus ten. And of course, we want to reduce the bright spots, so I'm setting the highlights to negative 30, but I want to lift shadow area, so plus 22 25 for the shadows. Again, I want to brighten the white tone, so plus 15 for the whites. And then for the blacks, I'm going to set it to negative 15 to add contrast. Next for the color settings, I'm going to set the temperature two plus five, just a bit warmer. And then for the ten, I'm going to add plus ten, or I'm going to set it to plus ten for slight magenta touch. The vibrant, I'm going to set two plus 30 so that we can make the reds and greens stand out. And to enhance the colors, I'm going to set the saturation two maybe plus 15. Now let's move on to my favorite color mix or the HSL panel. So let's start with red. For the hue, I'm going to set it to negative ten. Saturation. You can play around with plus ten to 30, and then the luminas again, five to 15 maybe. So your goal here is to get rich festive reds. Now for the green, I'm going to play around with a hue. Plus ten, I think is okay. Saturation playing around with ten to 40, and then the luminPlaying around with ten to 20 to make the greens more vibrant. For the yellow, I'm going to set the hue to Negative 20. Our goal here is to enhance warm colors, so I'm setting the saturation two, maybe 20 as well, plus 20, and then the luminans maybe plus 15. Next for the color blue, I'm going to set the hue to zero. Saturation negative, so maybe negative ten. So we want to reduce any strong blue. So luminan is just plus five. And we're done with the color mix, so let's move on to the effect settings. So the clarity, I'll set it plus ten just a bit to add some detail. And then the dehaze plus five. For rich colors, the vignette, I'm going to set it to negative 20 so that we can get that dark frame for a cozy feel. Finally, the detail settings for sharpening, we want sharper details, so we can play around with 20 to 40. So maybe just 35. And then the noise reduction to smoothen the image, I'm just going to set it two plus 20. And here's hour before and after. The change is subtle yet remarkable, giving the photo that perfect festive holiday vibe. Just like with other images, you can crop it based on where you'll be posting. Personally, I like to use the four by five crop, especially since these photos are going up on Facebook. And that's a wrap on editing. As you can see, from the before and after transformations, even small adjustments can make a huge difference in your photos. Now, I know this process might seem like a lot to remember. So to make things easier, I've created a preset package that includes all the edits I demonstrated. My Christmas preset pack is available here on Skill Share for just $9. It's perfect for streamlining your editing process with just a few clicks. So here's how to use it. Download the preset from the provided link. Open Lightroom mobile and import the DNG file like any regular photo. Once it's imported, tap the three dots in the top right corner, select Create preset, give it a name, and save it. Now you can easily apply the preset to any photo with just one tap in the presets pannel. You can also make adjustments after you apply the preset to match the look you are going for. So you can adjust the light, the color, et cetera. Amazing, right? Just a quick tip, though. If you're using the snowy white preset, choose a photo with some white or winter like elements. For the elegant gold preset, use it for photos that include golden elements like lights or holiday decor. And for festive photos with red and green elements, like Christmas trees or ornaments, the festive red and green preset is perfect, and that's it. You're ready to enhance your holiday photos effortlessly. Of course, if you're like me and enjoy experimenting, feel free to rewatch this demo and play around with the sliders. Find what works best for your products and your scene and make it your own. Congratulations. You now have all the tools to give your photos a professional polished look with that extra bit of festive flare. Your images will feel warm, cozy, and vibrant, perfect for grabbing attention on social media or boosting holiday sales. Now it's your turn to make it happen. In the next lesson, we'll talk about your class project. See you there. 11. Class Project: Create Your Own Festive Holiday Photo: We've covered a lot of ground in this class, and now it's time to put everything into action with our class project. You might be feeling a bit nervous thinking, I'm not confident I can apply these skills to my own business, but don't worry. This project is your chance to shine and prove to yourself that you've got what it takes. For this project, you'll create your very own festive holiday themed photo using food or a product of your choice. Think of this as a fun opportunity to express your creativity while applying all the techniques we've learned so far. So here's how it works. Step number one, choose your subject. Start by selecting a food item or product that you want to feature. This could be a beautifully baked holiday treat, a festive drink, or any product that represents your brand during the holiday season. Step number two, light it up. Apply the lighting techniques we discussed whether you're using natural light or a simple lighting setup, focus on creating a warm, cozy, and inviting atmosphere that screams holiday joy. Step number three, set up your scene. Use the prop styling techniques we discussed to create an inviting and festive backdrop. Incorporate elements like garlands, ornaments, and fairy lights. Remember to keep your color scheme aligned with that holiday spirit. Reds, greens, and golds work beautifully. Step number four, focus on composition. Use the composition and angles we learned about whether it's the rule of thirds, leading lines or diagonal composition. Experiment with different angles to showcase your subject in the best way possible. Step number five, edit for holiday vibes. Finally, use your editing skills to polish the image, play with the colors, adjust the contrast, and give the image a festive flare. You want your photo to feel vibrant, cozy and professional. Once you've taken and edited your photo, upload it in the class project gallery. This is a great way to get feedback, inspire others and learn from your classmates. Don't forget to leave encouraging comments and support each other's work. Remember, this is a learning process. Every photo you take will teach you something new and sharing your progress is an important part of growing your confidence. By the end of this project, you'll have a stunning holiday themed photo you can use in your marketing or personal projects. More importantly, you'll feel confident in your ability to apply everything you've learned to your own creative journey. I can't wait to see the amazing photos you create. 12. Final Thoughts & Tips for Promoting Your Festive Photos : And that's a wrap for this class. I hope you're feeling confident and excited to start promoting your brand or business this holiday season. If you have any questions or need clarification, feel free to hop over to the discussion section. I'm so excited for you. You've developed an impressive skill set in festive food and product photography. But before you go, I want to leave you with my final tips on how to use your festive photos to increase holiday sales. Let's dive into how you can leverage those stunning images for marketing. Tip number one, create holiday marketing campaigns. Use your new festive photos to craft engaging holiday campaigns. Whether you're running limited time offers, spotlighting a particular product or spreading holiday cheer, your photos should lead the way. Visual storytelling is powerful. So make sure your images reflect the message and the vibe you want to send to your audience. Tip number two, social media content. The holiday season is packed with social media buzz. So make your post stand out by using your festive photos for eye catching stories, posts and even ads. Share behind the scenes shots or showcase your product in a holiday themed setting. Pair your photos with engaging captions to grab attention and connect with your followers. Tip number three, email marketing. Don't overlook email marketing. Include your festive photos in your newsletters and promotional emails. A well placed image can boost open rates and click throughs encouraging people to explore your offerings. Tip number four, enhance product pages. Update your website or e Commerce listings with these holiday photos. A consistent festive look across your product pages will attract customers and make your offerings look even more enticing. Use your photos to highlight the unique features of your products. Tip number five, promote consistently. Be sure to promote your festive photos consistently across all channels, whether it's social media, email, or your website. Consistency builds recognition and anticipation, helping you create momentum for your holiday sales. Remember, your festive photos are more than just pretty pictures. They are tools to help you drive holiday sales. So don't be shy about sharing them wildly. Now is the time to capitalize on this seasonal opportunity. I hope you had fun and found this class valuable. If you enjoy this class, I'd really love for you to leave a review so others can see how it might help them, too. I'm a bit of a cheese bull, so those sweet supportive words mean the world to me. So don't hold back. If you feel like you need a more in depth class on topics like lighting, prop styling or composition, I've got you covered. I have classes that go deeper into these areas for both food. And product photography. So make sure to check them out on my teacher profile. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay updated on new classes, announcements and giveaways. And one last thing, if you share your festive photos on Instagram, please tag me and scale share. So I can show some love and support for your brand or business. Thank you so much for sticking around and joining me in this class. I can't wait to see the incredible images you create and how they help you shine this holiday season. Good luck and bye for now.