Even though it might seem premature for the department stores to be blasting “Rudolph” over the PA system and setting up the menorah and Christmas tree displays (it was just Halloween, wasn’t it?) it’s not too early to start contemplating this year’s holiday card. Whether you’ve been commissioned to shoot a portrait for a friend or relative, or you’re attempting to create an image you can use for your own 2010 holiday greeting, it’s important to know how to prep for your shoot and interact with your subjects to ensure an intimate portrait that can be viewed all year long.

Bing Liem, who’s been shooting for fun since he was a teenager, is often asked to take holiday portraits for friends and family — a task for which he usually relies on his Tamron 28–300mm VC lens or his 28-75mm f/2.8. “I shoot the bulk of my work with the 28-300,” he says. “I like the versatility of this lens, since I don’t have to switch back and forth between lenses, which is nice.”

Liem often tries to scout out his location prior to the photo shoot, whether it’s set to take place indoors or outdoors. “I want to understand where the light is going to be,” he says. “I’d say 99.9 percent of the time, I’m going to be using natural light. The only time I’ll use flash is if the lighting is too bright or if I’m getting a lot of shadows. If we’re going to a park, I’ll spend about an hour or so looking for the best places to shoot where I can get the best possible light, such as in nice open-shade areas.”

He follows the same general M.O. for interior holiday shoots. “If we’re shooting in someone’s home, I’ll spend a good half hour checking out the house to see where the light will be coming from and where it’s going to be at certain points of the day,” he says. “I look for rooms with large windows and doorways, but I don’t want the sun blaring into the room, either. If the sun is coming in one side of the house, I’ll choose a side where I can get more filtered light.”

Liem also analyzes his potential backgrounds to make sure everything meshes. “It helps if I understand beforehand what the people in the photo are going to be wearing, or what their complexion or hair color is, for instance,” he says. “You want to make sure all of the elements fit together.”

Rather than concentrate on large groups, Liem generally prefers the intimacy he can get with one or two subjects. “In most cases, I like to crop really tight to really get in on my subjects,” he explains. “That’s why, in most cases, it doesn’t even matter whether they’re sitting on a particular piece of furniture or object, because I’m focusing on the people instead of on distracting backgrounds. I might have them lean on something, but I’m more concerned with getting a natural expression than with what they’re sitting on.”

Evoking those great expressions can be difficult if you follow the tried-and-true “say cheese!” technique. “I’ll watch other people taking pictures, and they’ll say, ‘OK, you guys sit here, turn your head this way, put your hands there — now DON’T MOVE!” says Liem. “And that’s exactly the kind of picture they get: a kid looking unbelievably stiff. If you follow this way of shooting, people are going to get more uptight the more pictures you take, so by the time you’re done, they’ll be as stiff as a board, and so will your pictures.”

Liem prefers to engage his subjects in some small talk first to loosen them up: “In many cases — and this is usually easy because I’m often shooting people I already know — I just ask them what they’ve been up to, what’s going on at school, things like that, just to get them to relax a little bit.”

When it's time to start clicking away, Liem doesn’t simply call out “1-2-3: Smile!” Instead, he encourages his subjects to move around a bit in the general shooting area, then stop. “When they hear the click of the camera, I tell them to move again,” he says. “I don’t want them to feel they have to sit in one spot. I’m going to be cropping in tight anyway, so you don’t have to worry about your precise location. If you want to stand up and reposition yourself, do that. As people start to move their bodies around, they begin to relax and actually forget I’m taking a picture.”

Liem also strives to form a connection between his subject and the viewer by establishing eye contact. “I want people to actually look like they’re looking at me in the image, not at the camera lens,” he explains. “A lot of people have the tendency to start zoning out, and it looks like they’re staring off into space. What I’ll do is say, ‘Look away; don’t even look at the camera at all.’ Then I’ll say, ‘OK, now look over at me.’ I’ll have my eye above the camera so they can actually look at my eyes — that’s when I’ll fire the shot. Then I’ll have them look away again, then look back at me. That way their eyes look like they’re looking at me — you can actually see a connection, because they’re looking at a person, not just a piece of equipment.”

Getting just the right facial expression is crucial — and that doesn’t always mean a full-on tooth shot. “I don’t mind a subtle smile, but with many people — kids especially — when you say ‘Smile!’ they put on this big fake grin that doesn’t look great. Children are so beautiful, even when they’re not smiling. In fact, in some of my photos, the kids aren’t smiling at all, and they’re still great images. Many times I’ll tell them, ‘If you can imagine this, smile with your eyes instead. Think about something that makes you happy.’ That way you get a more natural smile or a look that shows happiness without being over the top.”

Sometimes the most subtle change in perspective can also provide dramatic differences in your images that make them stand out from the other cards you might get in your mailbox. “I was at PMA once and saw a photographer taking pictures that looked so different,” says Liem. “I noticed that he wasn’t shooting completely horizontally or vertically — he had his camera at a slight angle, so he wasn’t shooting straight at a person but actually a little bit down. If you shoot with a really shallow depth-of-field, and you don’t have anything right on top of the person where you see any type of vertical or horizontal lines, like a doorway (which could be disorienting), this will give you a completely different perspective and look. I’m not talking a 45-degree angle — just a slight tilting of the camera a little bit down or up, or a little to the left or right, really can change the image a lot.”

Holiday props and seasonal backgrounds can be fun, but remember that your subjects might be looking for a shot that’s more versatile. “Most of the portraits I’ve taken for my friends have been turned into 11x14 black-and-white prints that they frame — they’re not necessarily used just for the greeting card,” Liem says. “Besides, you’ll probably add a holiday theme in post-production in the template you choose for the card, so you don’t need to add anything holiday-related to the actual photo. The time of year when holiday portraits are shot can also differ according to personal preference: Some people like to wait till it’s closer to the holiday season, so you can tell winter’s approaching if it’s an outdoor shot, while others like to shoot their holiday cards on the beach in the summer.”

In post-production, Liem will often add a dark vignette around his portraits. “Nothing totally crazy, but enough so that you’re focusing more on the faces of the image,” he says. “And, depending on the image, sometimes I’ll make the edges go softer as well.” Retouching is often necessary, especially when there are teenagers involved in the shot. “I found a simple, inexpensive program called Portrait Professional that lets me clean up blemishes and have complete control of the subject’s face by using slider bars,” he says. “I’ll tweak it just a tiny bit so it still looks like the person but with a much more pleasing look.”

Liem often finds that his holiday portraits translate well to black-and-white. “It really depends on the image,” he says. “Sometimes I think color is very nice; other times it can be quite distracting. When an image is black-and-white, you’re focusing more on what the actual image is rather than staring at all of the bright colors in the image. Black-and-white photos are also more of a retro look, as opposed to photography that looks more like a snapshot” — in other words, a classic look for your holiday portrait that’s beautiful all year long.