You can feel it in the air, you hear the music in the streets, the people are in a festive mood. The holidays are once again upon us. There are Christmas lights and other festive decorations going up everywhere you look. You see cars with trees strapped to the top. The children are visiting Santa to tell him what they want for Christmas. The holidays truly are a great time for photography.

The Christmas lights are beautiful to see, but they can prove difficult to photograph. Do you ever shoot a picture of Christmas lights but end up with a a dark underexposed picture with little dots of light? These photography tips will help you capture the beauty of the holiday season fast and easily. So you can get back to spending precious time with family and loved ones, and not fumbling around with your camera.

Take Pictures During The Blue Hour

The biggest mistake people make when shooting Christmas lights is waiting until it’s way too dark to take pictures. People wait until the Christmas lights look good to their eyes, but this is usually past the time when the lights look the best to a camera. Cameras can only see so well in the dark so you want to photograph while there is still some light in the sky. The time just after the sun sets is the best time for taking pictures of Christmas lights. This is called the Blue Hour, when the sky still has a blue glow, but it will be dark very soon.

When you are shooting during the blue hour, the sky and the foreground will be equally exposed. If you wait until its too dark, you will just have a Black sky. You wont be able to see any detail in the scene besides the little Christmas lights themselves. You will not be able to see what the lights are decorating, or any people in your shots. You can still shoot handheld during the blue hour. The darker it gets, the longer the exposures will need to be; further increasing your chances of blur.

What You Will Need:

Tripod: When photographing Christmas lights, you need to keep the camera absolutely still. Because Christmas lights are very dim, you will need to shoot with a slower shutter speed. 1/15th of a second is a good place to start. Just a little camera shake, and your Christmas lights will streak and you will not have a sharp image.

Settings:

• 1/15th of a second shutter speed.
• High ISO. ISO 800 is a good place to start.
• Turn off Auto White Balance – The camera can become very confused by all the different lights. It is best to set your camera to Tungsten White Balance, and this way you will have a nice blue color to your scene which looks nice at night.
• Turn off your Flash. – when taking pictures Christmas lights, you want to capture all the subtle colors and soft light given off by the lights. When you use a flash, you will blast that intense light onto your subject causing high contrast and unnatural looking light. But if you have a good reason to use the flash, use it. For instance, if you want to make a photo of your kids standing out in the snow with the Christmas lights, Expose for the Christmas lights so you down overexpose them, and the flash will illuminate the kids. Shoot manual mode to be able to control the ambient light separately from the flash.
• Manual Focus – Turn off auto focus. The dim conditions will make the camera want to refocus between shots. If your camera supports live view, turn it on and magnify the image 5x or 10x to precisely focus on the tiny lights.
• Depth of field – you want to get everything in focus,

Other Tips

• Pay attention to the background, make sure there is nothing distracting poking into the frame.
• Tough to find a good angle. Walk around looking for the best composition. Most people will just grab a snapshot of the lights and move on. but If you take the time to find a unique perspective, your image will stand out from the rest.
• Zoom in on specific details in the scene. These close ups help tell the whole story.
• Show Up Early. Arrive before it gets dark out, this way you can take the time to find a good angle and not be rushed. You don’t want to be scrambling to find your shot all while the light in the sky is fading.
• Remember to have a good time, The holidays are all about spending time with family, don’t neglect them because you are so worried about taking that perfect shot.

Happy Holidays everybody,

See you next year.