The yearly exercise of getting the perfect picture for your holiday card can elicit a spectrum of emotions ranging from absolute enjoyment to stressful anticipation. Keep it light and follow a few simple rules to guarantee a good experience and great results to show for your family photo shoot efforts.

Don’t stress about dress
Whether you’re going for a traditional or casual look, rule number one is leave the busy holiday patterns for holiday pajamas. If family members are wearing clashing colors, black-and-white photography is flattering for everyone and pairs well with modern, fun and classic card styles. Look like yourselves and you’ll be happiest with the outcome.

Go for variety
Family photo portraits can be flat—so sit, stand and kneel to energize the shot. Have parents sit and kids stand. Make a pyramid. Better yet, get the shot of trying to make the pyramid. That just could be the one.

Lighten up
If you’re shooting indoors try to forego the flash by flooding the house with natural or artificial light. The flash on a camera can sometimes produce a harsh and cold effect—not to mention red-eye. On the flip side, if you’re taking pictures outside, use the flash. The extra burst of light helps even out shadows. Wherever you’re shooting, be sure the main light source is behind the photographer.

Tighten the frame
Capture the playfulness of the holidays with close-ups of kids and pets. There’s nothing better than a big doggie nose or giggly siblings jockeying to be front and center. Also, make good use of the Shutterfly editing tools to crop your pictures just right.

Shooting spree
Take dozens of pictures to get the one shot where everyone is wide-eyed and happy and shoot between shots to capture candid, fun and unexpected moments. Just be sure to bring extra batteries and media storage if your family photo shoot is on location.

Once you have the photo you want, find the perfect holiday cards to go with it.