The christmas light tradition isn’t a recent phenomenon. It dates back to years before the invention of electricity. The lightings are extravagant pieces of decoration that individuals use to decorate their homes both inside and outside. Although there is nothing new to be added, the improvement comes from how we put up our displays. The lighting form an exclusive scenic place to take your photos in the most celebrated day across the year.
Whether you want to capture the moment of the day or you just want to have your perfect holiday display, we will show you how to arrange your lighting to perfection for an exclusive christmas photo shooting.
Tips for Your Christmas Lights Photo Shooting
Prepare
It is vital to make sure you are well prepared for the day and its entire events to make a great shoot. Getting yourself ready as well as the location of your christmas photography is crucial. Make sure your camera is backed with batteries fully charged. Carry extra memory cards and consider the lighting of the room where shooting will be done among other things that will make your shooting a success.
Capture the Preparation Stages
Photo by Jonathan Borba
The actual party is certainly the best part of the day but other excellent photographic opportunities can’t go unnoticed. These moments include:
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Making decorations
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Preparing food
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Wrapping gifts
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Kids playing and throwing tantrums especially when being dressed in their Christmas attire
This is where you will get the best shots even before the party gets started!
Getting a Point of Interest
Perfect shots often have a focal point that captures the attention of the viewer of your photographs. However, during this momentous occasion, there are several competing focal points in the shots with colour, people, food, and decorations in every shot. Take it upon yourself to de-clutter your shots so that they come out perfect.
Tips for Capturing Christmas Lights
Just like in any kind of photography, making the perfect shot is important and involves tolerance and timing. With these few tips for capturing the perfect shot you will be set up for excellence:
Shoot at twilight or Dusk
Lights are often vibrant during night time. But, if the sky is pitch-black, the photos will end up look like the figures are floating in an abyss. With a good timing for your shot, you will get more photographic texture, especially when capturing at dusk. As such, you will be able to see the shape of the home more clearly and more of the background elements. At least ten minutes after the sun sets is the magical time to have your shots.
Use a Tripod
Shake hands aren’t great at taking steady shots. To make sure you have crisp images that are crystal clear with your ideal camera setting, consider using a tripod.
Utilize Bokeh
At times getting out of focus, lights create a bokeh effect that delivers your images an artistic flair. One of the sure ways to get these effects is by using a macro lens and zoom in on the subject to keep it sharp as you blur the background into a magnificent bokeh. Besides, you can also blur the whole image into bokeh. Whichever way, you will get a perfect shot. Even though it is tempting to use the flash, it is not advisable. It will wash out all colours and look horrible. Keep the flash off!
Fill Your Frame
Most individuals make a mistake of shooting photographs with images with a lot of spaces around them. However, you can fill your subjects in the photos by either zooming or getting closer to them. This tip will guarantee you the best impact on your shots.
Check the Camera’s LCD after every shot
It is important to check the LCD after each capture because your eye will tend to adjust to the changing light yet your brain won’t draw the differences and your camera.
Set your Camera Aperture for f/4
This is a better starting point especially if you intend to follow suggestions we have already given. Keep in mind that the lower the number the more light it lets in and the higher the number the less the light.
Our photography cheatsheet can help you here.
Use the Incandescent White Balance
Some cameras might refer to it as Tungsten, yet they refer to the same thing. The lighting you are capturing is most likely to be incandescent bulbs therefore the incandescent setting will justly reduce the colour of your christmas lights. If you shoot in RAW you can leave it on AUTO and change the white balance in post.
Blinking Christmas Lights
If you are capturing in blinking lights, ensure that you have increased the shutter speed so that you can capture the full light cycle. But if the shutter is set in priority mode, you don’t have to adjust the rest of the exposure settings accordingly.
Explore Your Neighbourhood
Photo by Kelvin Balingit
Neighbourhoods often provide excellent photographic opportunities that you won’t want to miss out in your shooting. Certainly, your neighbourhood houses, churches, and shopping malls are filled with attractive and photogenic christmas lights and colours. Position yourself out there with your camera and capture these! What the best time of the year to enjoy using your camera!
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Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂