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Stunning Christmas Images and Photos

Images of Christmas capture the lively emotions and celebrations of this special time of year. Whether you are working on creative Christmas content or finalizing holiday-related projects, your choice of relevant visuals will reinforce your message. From photos to hand-drawn illustrations, beautiful and festive Christmas images will enhance the holiday spirit and send a joyful message to your viewers.

What are Christmas images?

Christmas images are easy to recognize. They include the usual cast of characters like Santa Claus, Santa’s reindeer, and elves from Santa’s workshop. In Christmas photos and illustrations you find traditional symbols like bells, twinkle lights, mistletoe, gifts, wreaths, and more. Christmas images also focus on the gatherings of friends and family at this time. An image depicting a cozy room full of gifts creates a feeling of anticipation and warmth. A photo of a happy family posing after a hearty Christmas meal invites the viewer to share the joy of the moment. The Shutterstock image library has thousands of Christmas images, illustrations, and vectors. Our robust image search allows you to find your perfect Christmas image fast. Use various Christmas-related terms and use the search filters to single out the best image for your project.

Trending Christmas images and backgrounds

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Questions about Christmas images and backgrounds


How to find beautiful Christmas pictures?

The web has no limit of Christmas pictures. But picking a beautiful and relevant image can still be a challenge. The best Christmas pictures tell stories and create a festive spirit. Some popular scenes include cooking for Christmas dinner, putting up decorations, wrapping presents, playing in the snow. These are the types of images that can build a story for your viewers. Good Christmas images and photos have a clear focal point, too. The focal point is the element that is meant to hold the attention of the viewers. Bad Christmas images are likely to have competing focal points with too many distracting subjects, non-complementary color schemes, or poor composition that doesn’t tell the viewer where to look.


What images to use in Christmas cards?

Be creative with Christmas cards. Look for images that tell a story, but ones that aren't so busy they overwhelm the message of the card. A Christmas tree goes well with gifts and Christmas lights. A family in Christmas sweaters will be more expressive while unwrapping presents. Christmas shoppers will look busier with scenes of a decorated shopping mall in the background. If you plan to add text to your image, pick a visual with enough empty space. Don’t lay your text over important elements in the image. Add the text to complement the subject and not to compete with it.


What are popular Christmas messages?

“Merry Christmas” is one of the most popular Christmas messages. It is also the simplest and most elegant message that you can offer to your loved ones. If you plan to use a greeting on a Christmas card, you may consider a longer message. Start with a greeting, continue with a personal message, move to a Christmas wish, then sign the card. Christmas is a special time when you reconnect with your family and friends, so just write a message from your heart. Something authentic and honest will communicate the spirit of the season.


How to choose authentic Christmas backgrounds?

Choosing a Christmas background is a little like choosing gift wrapping. Think about what wrapping tells about the gift, about the sender, and about the recipient. A gift for children will be wrapped in playful, colorful paper. A gift for a client might have more sophisticated wrapping. The same goes for backgrounds — choosing an authentic Christmas background requires some thought about where it’s displayed and who will see it. As a rule of thumb, use patterns and textures that include Christmas symbols: lights, stars, snowflakes.


What are good images for after Christmas?

When Christmas is over, some people might feel sad that the holidays are coming to a close. After the Christmas celebrations are over, the excitement may be dwindling, but the joy is still there. “Pleasantly tired” is a good way to capture the post-Christmas feeling. Choose images with happy and tired smiles. Choose kids who are sleeping with their presents in hand. Choose visuals that remind us what happens after Christmas: ‘tis sale and discount time!

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How to use Christmas images creatively

Christmas Images for Websites Decorating your website for Christmas is a good way to engage with your visitors during the winter holiday season. You can use festive graphics in different ways. The most popular way is to change the header of your website’s homepage to greet visitors with a beautiful Christmas visual. Certain sites that use sliders or carousels on their homepage may use a slide as an opportunity to send a Christmas wish to their users. E-commerce sites may include festive elements in product shots. News sites may decide to temporarily change their site background to a more holiday look. Popular blogs are known to replace icons and buttons to include Christmas ornaments. Sometimes, you may ask your designer to change your logo by adding a Christmas element to it. Options are really limitless and you just need to start by searching for quality graphic elements. Christmas Images for Social Media A single Christmas image may not be enough if you plan to engage with your social media audience over the holidays. Make a calendar of the events happening during this season and respond to each with engaging and appealing images. During the Christmas period, there is a lot of activity on social media sites. Brands compete with each other and individuals for users’ attention. If you want your creatives to be noticed in the dynamic feed of updates on social media sites, follow these simple principles. The best Christmas images are surprising, but not invasive. They convey the spirit of the holiday without being too aggressive. They instill a sense of excitement, peace, and connectedness. Christmas Images for Wallpapers Electronic devices are not for entertainment only as they have become our daily tools for work and communication. As we tend to spend hours with our devices each day, onscreen wallpapers help serve as reminders about a lot of things, holidays included. Pick your Christmas wallpapers to tell what’s next on your list or how you would like to feel. Need to buy a last minute gift? Just look at the smartphone’s screen. Feeling under the weather? Take a look at the beautiful ornaments or decorations on your laptop’s screen and cheer up: Christmas is coming.

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