Photographing Christmas Lights ?

[Blade]

Hi Guys,

My first shoot (for myself),

My brother lives in a road, where all the street goes mad for christmad lights.
They all get together and have a grand "turning on" party... the local newspaper etc is involved, and last year it was even on local TV news.

This is my first opportunity to take my camera out, and yes i could take a fair amount of kit (the little i have) but am still on crutches so need to take as little as possible.

I have never photographed Christmas outdoor decorations before... being as they are all over the houses will i need to take/use flash ?

If so will the onboard flash be sufficient ?

Kind regards

Stuart

[cmclaughlan]

Hi Stuart,

When I photographed the houses in my neighbourhood for the folks around me last Christmas (with my E-10) I did it with a tripod and longish (1 sec to 2 sec exposures). You will also want to double check your images as sometimes the auto-focus can get a bit distracted at such low-light.

Colin

[Blade]

Dear Colin,

Thank you for your kind comments.... and tips, may i ask because of the longer exposure times, does that mean you used no flash/light source bar light from decorations.?

Hence tripod etc...?

Kind regards

[cmclaughlan]

Hello,

Thats right, sorry I should have said. I used no flash as the only light I was capturing was the illuminations. Plus most of the time I was trying to capture a 2 story home and its front garden, not much point trying to use a flash there.

If I was trying to capture people also .. it would be a bit more of a challenge.

Colin

[Blade]

Dear Colin,

Thanks again for clearing that up for me, and must almost be a record responce time :)

Will ask my wife if she would like to take a trip over to see them... might even be able to pursuade her to carry the tripod ;)

best wishes.

Stuart

[memobug]

Be sure to play with some zooms during the exposure just for effect, and one of those star filters could be fun (diffraction creates the dazzle highlights in 4, 8 or more rays coming from each bulb)

These were always iffy effects on film, but you can definitely get perfect results with digital if you play a bit!

A link to some examples with Tiffen star filters:

http://www.tiffen.com/star_filters.htm

[Tom V]

Christmas Light is the same as Christmas, only it has fewer calories.

Since your subject is a light, you do not need to illuminate it. No flash or other light is required to shoot the self-illuminated. If you want to include more subject (snowy bushes, fat man on roof, wandering band of singers, etc.) then you would need some light for them, in which case you should keep them underexposed so it doesn't look like daylight.

Typical decorative lightbulbs are 3 watts, maximum. You will need an exposure time between 1/4 second and 2 minutes (Oh, that's a big help Tom!) which will require a tripod. To enhance the look of the lights, you might want to try a star and/or soft focus filter. When you have the perfect exposure for the lights (maximum color), you'll probably end up with a shot that contains very colorful bulbs floating in black space.

To give the shot some depth and shape, I suggest going for a longer exposure and letting the lights get a little overexposed. This will allow the lights to colorfully expose the building they are attached to.

Whatever you do, shoot a bracket of different exposures, trying different apertures as well as shutter speeds. I know of photographers who shoot their nights shots at ƒ16 (aperture closed all the way) because the nearly closed diaphram blades create their own "star filter" effect. You can even try different ISO settings, although I would keep it as low as possible.

Since your subject will be a high contrast one (lit lights, and black night), I would not shoot jpg compressed shots. I would go for RGB tifs, or better yet, RAW files converted in EX at 48bit depth for the best range and color possible.

I would set the camera for manual focus.

Do your eyeglasses fog up when you come in out of the cold? If you let the camera get very cold, be careful bringing back into the warm, humid house. Condensation will do you no favors. Before you bring it back in the house, seal your camera & lens (or your entire camera bag) in a plastic bag. Allow the camera (in the bag) to completely return to room temperture before you expose it to your humid house air. Take the memory card out before you seal up the camera so you can work on your images while your camera is thawing.

[lightwrangler]

If you are likely to include more elements than just lights, you should shoot while there is still a little light in the sky and also just before sunset. This will help isolate the houses against a otherwise black background and fill in the shadow areas a bit. Also the intense blue in the sky of a dusk shot can contrast nicely with the bright coloured christmas lights. PS, I really like (and believe) Tom's cold weather advice, good rules to follow.

Happy shooting.

[Wichita Wayne]

The great thing about digital photography is the way it lets you play with exposure without wasting film or waiting on development. Set up your camera and take a manual meter reading to get the cameras best guess. Then bracket frames above and below that point till you get the desired results. Remember the amount of deviation from the camera's meter and use that "windage" to adjust future shots.

[Blade]

Thanks all, for the added information, :)

Much for me to consider, will have a good read through each point made.

Kind regards.

[roger marshutz]

I would try and shoot the lights at dusk so you can see the buildings, houses . You might need a tripos or shoot at 800 asa. Digital is great you can see what you are shooting immediately.....roger :)