Every year, we do our own family holiday card photos. It’s become a tradition over the last couple years to really do it the “old fashioned” way (well, as old as the self-timer and tripod are!), because we actually have a lot of fun doing it (our favorite was in 2013 with our ugly sweaters)!

So we thought it would be fun to give a little tutorial on how to take your own family photos!

Step 1: Plan Your Outfit Theme

Just like with any other family shoot, you want to plan and coordinate (and no, matching jeans and white button-up shirts aren’t still in style!). This year, we just made it easy and stuck to holiday themed attire – red plaid, shirts with holiday phrases, jeggings and cute holiday outfits for the dogs. We also made sure to get the kids stuff they’d actually re-wear (unlike the year we did ugly sweaters … we just donated those right back to the thrift shop!).

Step 2: Bribe Your Children

For us, this is the easy part. We bribe them with the promise of (insert their current special favorite treat – this year it was pizza) afterward and the threat of losing the Wii if they don’t participate willingly. Promise them it’ll only take a few minutes and the faster we get it done, the faster we get pizza (or whatever it is you’re going to reward them with).

Step 3: Leash the Dogs

Our dogs can be a-holes. There, I said it. So if you’ve got dogs or you’re going somewhere other dogs can be … leash your dogs.

Step 4: Get your Settings Right

If you’re an auto-mode shooter, this doesn’t affect you. But if you’re a manual shooter like we are, get your settings where you want them before you add the chaos of kids and dogs. And, this goes without saying, but use a steady tripod that your camera attaches to.

Step 5: Set a Long Start Time

If your camera has the option, set the timer to not start taking the picture for at least 10 seconds, if not 20. This will give you time to run back to your family, and pull your pants up/fix your top/etc.

Step 6: Shoot Multiple Exposures

If your camera has this option, this is the best part of the whole thing. Our cameras (the Nikon D800s) allow us to take 9 shots at an interval of one second apart (there’s other options too, but we found this to be the best setting), so we can usually get a choice of 25-30 photos in the space of 2-3 minutes of set-run-shoot. We’ll be honest, the kids and dogs combined don’t usually last much longer than that with our shenanigans.

Step 7: Twenty-Three!

Ashley’s mom taught us this trick: having people say “twenty-three!” in a posed photo where it’s hard to get natural smiles out of people is a great way to get what LOOKS like a genuine smile.

Step 8: Check What You Got

Just make sure you’ve got ONE that’s good (or if you’re a decent photoshop wizard, a couple shots you can merge together like we did).

Step 9: Take Individual Shots

Because how often do you get a picture of your kids cleaned up in a cool spot? Have them take a “nice” shot and then take a “silly” shot. 9 out of 10 times the silly shot is the one that you love the most!

Step 10: Have your oldest/most responsible kid take YOUR photo together!

Wrap the camera strap around their hands or neck, give a quick tutorial on framing, say a quick prayer and hand your camera over to your most responsible kid and have them take a few shots of the two of you. Because, how often do you get a chance to have a photo of the two of you together all dressed up and in a cool spot?! Thank you, Daniel (our 13 year old) for capturing these for us!

And that’s it!

Family photos in 15 minutes with no meltdowns!