I had a really ambitious goal for my holiday "card" this year: I want to create a stop-motion animation video. I envisioned a jazzy few seconds of me decorating the tree, hanging stockings, frolicking with the pugs. And while I did successfully make a video, it wasn't quite as quality as I was hoping but it was a good time nonetheless and I definitely learned a few things that I'll be applying to the next attempt. My first realization/recommendation would be to use a remote. I did set this up on a tripod (which is a must) but you'll notice that it still jumps around a bit each time I click the button. The other big issue was lighting. I shot this during the day due to time constraints but if I had it do over again I would have shot at night so there was not such dramatic shadow play (Another option would be to flood the environment with artificial light). But all in all, making a stop motion animation video is pretty simple and can easily be edited in iMovie or the like afterwards :)