I love the Christmas Lights , its a special time of year to see the displays and a great time to practise your slow shutter speeds and night photography.
Here are my tips as well as some photos I’ve just recently taken.
1/ Choose your location- For me I didn’t want the distraction of moving cars and lots of people , so I waited until after Xmas , found a wonderful display in a quieter neighbourhood , and set off.
2/ Choose your time of night. – late dusk can be just as pretty as full darkness , ideally take both scenes.
3/ Tripod and 2 second timer – an absolute must, there is just no way you can hand hold and get the same results.
4/ White-Balance – try daylight ( to warm the lights up a little) or better Raw , and adjust in post – processing.
5/ Meter – Centre weighted is best.
Settings
* Choose your ISO first – I like to bump it up a bit , but not too high that my images look grainy , ( this will depend on your camera , the newer , better models have a larger ISO range) .
1500 – 2000 worked well for me
* Choose your Aperture – So if you want everything super sharp , then 8fg or above.
However , have you considered the ” Bokeh” effect as well , then your need a wide open aperture , 1.4 – 2.8fg ,experiment with both.
* Choose your Shutter speed . Now this will be entirely dependant on your other 2 settings , so watch your cameras light meter , and try to under-expose just a little ,this will make sure your highlights aren’t overexposed.
Expect around 1/10 – 10 seconds depending on how light your scene is.
So enjoy , experiment and don’t forget the smaller details, that can be just as pretty.
