How to shoot Christmas lights
Lincoln Park Zoo Lights (1/80th at f/2.8, 30mm, ISO 3200)
Just got back from a whirlwind trip to Michigan where I visited with family and friends for the holidays. Some highpoints: I ate killer buckeyes (chocolate covered peanut butter balls) to no end. My 93 year old grandma told a dirty joke, and my dad turned to me and said , “Have you heard of the U2 ?” “That Blade guy is a good guitarist”. Oh…it just got better from there and here’s some proof:
The Pack (1/125 at f/4 85mm, 200 ISO)
The leader of the pack (1/80th at f/2 85mm, ISO 200)
Now, a legit question did come up from my brother in law, who is a self admitted Christmas lights junky. How do you shoot Christmas lights? Well, here are a couple of suggestions that might land you a solid Christmas light shot:
- Get a tripod or some device that will steady your shot.
- Consider shooting at dusk so that you can use the available light.
- Use mirror lockup mode if available.
- Consider using a cable release or a remote to fire the camera
- Put your camera on manual mode.
- If shooting near dusk with a tripod set your aperture to 4.0, ISO 200, speed 1/30 sec. If shooting in the dark try a higher ISO like 1600. Results may vary but play with your ISO and aperture as needed.
- Consider using fill flash if you’re relatively close to the object. If not, consider using a high ISO setting.
- Try to be creative and use reflections to enhance your shot.
- Take test shots ( taking test shots and experimenting is key to making this work, so don’t’ be afraid to play with your settings a bit).
- Exposure compensation: if needed, change you exposure compensation (+ or – as determined needed).
Have fun and let me know what results work best for you.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am. It is filed under General, How to and tagged with christmas lights, manual settings.
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Hmm I can understand high ISO setting (1600) when you don't have a tripod, but that also introduces as lot of noise, unless you have one of the newer higher end cameras. Even with my Canon 5D Classic, I very rarely go above 800, just because of the noise. Also another tip I would try is to try swirling your camera around, or moving it in different directions, while the shutter is open. You might treat yourself to some very creative and festive results.
The higher ISO does work best on the new cameras but I have experimented with a nice point and shoot at 1600 and received some good results. I like the swirling idea but I think I'll borrow my daughter's camera for that one…my luck I would drop mine.