{"id":409,"date":"2024-11-12T03:13:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T03:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lumefind.com\/?p=409"},"modified":"2022-07-01T15:03:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T15:03:37","slug":"how-to-photograph-christmas-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lumefind.com\/?p=409","title":{"rendered":"How to Photograph Christmas Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you want to photograph Christmas lights and don\u2019t know where to begin?<\/h3>\n

Hopefully your busy season has wrapped up and you are ready to play.\u00a0 I love the lull of winter for a few different reasons.\u00a0 Since I\u2019m in Michigan winter means cold and snow and long dark nights.\u00a0 One great thing about winter is having more time to photograph for myself and my family.\u00a0 A favorite over the past few winters has been capturing the holiday lights to bring back memories for years to come. \u00a0One thing most blog posts on the topic will say is use a tripod (or maybe a bean bag on a car ledge). \u00a0But beyond that we want to show you how to get the most out of lights, and how to control the look and feel of your images.<\/p>\n

Holiday lights come in many forms from colorful strings of lights, to white lights and the glow of candles.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been trying to get more creative than capturing ordinary snapshots and I love to experiment with my camera and take control of my photos.<\/p>\n

I took these images while exploring Rochester\u2019s Big Bright Light show last year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Understanding aperture to\u00a0photograph Christmas lights:<\/h3>\n

A wide open aperture (like f\/2.8) will help you blur the background.\u00a0 You will need something in the foreground to focus on to get a more dramatic effect.\u00a0 Your distance to the object or person in focus and the distance between them and the background will have an affect on the final image as well.\u00a0 Notice how the shape of the lights changes as they fade further into the distance.<\/p>\n

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With no image in the foreground the point of focus is in the distance, in the midst of the lights here causing less bokeh but a great representation of how your eye sees the scene.\u00a0 The aperture setting for this image is f\/8.<\/p>\n

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To get a starburst effect to lights, like the lamp post light below, you will need a more closed down aperture like f\/16 \u2013 f\/22.\u00a0 Once again experimentation is key!\u00a0 Have fun!<\/p>\n

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Bring this technique inside and you can capture some special objects or people with soft lights in the background.\u00a0 You can get great effects and get more attention to your object(s) when you experiment with placement and aperture settings. If you open up to f2.8 or f4.0 your lights will blur in the background.<\/p>\n

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I hope you found this information helpful and are inspired to play around with your camera to capture some creativity with the lights around you! For more tutorials on photographing lights, read:<\/p>\n