Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Photographing Holiday Lights

Is your neighborhood glowing with holiday lights? Mine is! I love this time of year... everything is lit up with holiday cheer, which creates some fantastic photo opportunities. Here are some tips for taking pictures of holiday lights, both outdoors and indoors. Enjoy!




OUTDOORS
The most important tip for getting a great shot of an outdoor holiday light display is to shoot at dusk. And by "dusk," I mean the time just before the sky becomes pitch black, when there is just barely any natural light left, and the sky is a deep dark purple. This allows you to capture the house or building you are shooting, as well as the lights. Put your camera in manual mode, and lower your ISO to around 200. Use a tripod and a 5 second exposure. Turn off the flash, and turn off autofocus if you can (manually focus if you are able to). Then, take a few shots and see how they are turning out. If they are lighter than you'd like, use a shorter exposure. If they are dark, try a longer exposure.

As an alternative, you can try to use the night or low light setting on your camera and see if that works well for this shot. I still recommend keeping the camera on a tripod to avoid blur.





INDOORS
Indoor displays or pictures of the tree can be tricky. Use a tripod and a slow shutter speed to capture some ambient glow from the tree or display, and don't use the flash unless there are people in your shot. Once you get the shot you are after, have fun with angles and close ups of the details of the indoor display or tree. Use the same suggestions and make minor adjustments if needed. Have fun!

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