holiday lights

3 Tips On How To Photograph Festive Christmas Lights

It's the holiday season and with that comes Christmas trees, beautiful decorations, twinkling lights and all things sparkly! If you are going to be out photographing festive Christmas lights over the holiday, we wanted to share some tips with you that will help make sure those photos come out beautifully. 

When you are photographing holiday lights, it will most likely be when the surrounding environment is dark. Here there are a few things you can do to insure great pictures in these situations:

Photo credit: Digital Trends

Photo credit: Digital Trends

Shoot at higher ISO settings. 

EOS cameras set to "Auto" ISO will naturally tend to pick higher ISOs in these types of low-light scenes. Or, you can set ISO somewhere around 1600, 3200, or even higher if the holiday lights you're shooting are not super-bright. If you use higher ISOs – that means less chance of blurs from any motion blur.

Use a tripod. 

A tripod is the best way to keep your camera still while taking your photos. If you don't have a tripod, see if you can lean the camera against something like a lamp post, bench, or other solid surface. If there is nothing to brace the camera on, make sure you are holding it as steadily as possible and hold the camera firmly with both hands. Use your optical viewfinder (rather than the LCD) if you have one, so you can rest the camera against your face.

Photo credit: DIY Network

Photo credit: DIY Network

Use a wide-angle lens. 

Wider focal lengths, such as 16mm, 18mm, 24mm, etc. are much more 'forgiving,' showing little-to-no blur from camera movement, even at slower shutter speeds. Consider stepping closer to those lights, and zooming the lens to a wider focal length, to minimize blurs and camera shake.


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