Taking Photos of a Christmas-Lights Display
Easy Tips for Getting the Best Shots of Your Holiday Light Setup
Nov 13, 2008
To preserve the gorgeousness of your Christmas lighting display — and to have a record of it to help you duplicate it next year — you'll need to take pictures of it at full blast. But getting photos of holiday lights at night isn't always easy. Herewith, some advice for taking good photos.
Basic Rules for Good Photos
Always remember the general principles that make a good shot no matter what you're photographing. Some examples from photojournalist Russell Hart, author of Photography for Dummies:
- Whatever you’re shooting, get as close to it as possible. As the famous photojournalist Robert Capa once said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."
- If you have an animated display full of movement, don’t take the shot when your subject reaches the best position. Shoot slightly before it reaches that point. The advice sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.
- Take lots of pictures. The more you shoot, the more likely you are to get a perfect picture.
When to Take Pictures
Don't wait for the night to get completely black. Dusk is a great time to take photos of holiday lights. The lights show up almost as well around sunset as they do at midnight. Besides, as photo expert Lynne Eodice has pointed out, "Sunset skies and Christmas lights can result in some beautiful holiday images."
At the same time, get street lamps and other sources of light out of the picture. Their glow on film may interfere with the glow from your own bulbs.
Photo Equipment
To capture the lights best, use fast film stock. ISO 800 seems to work best. (ISO, by the way, stands for International Standards Organization, a group that sets film speeds and other measurements.)
Use a tripod rather than just your own hands. A hand shivering in the winter cold doesn't take the steadiest pictures. Besides, according to the authoritative New York Institute of Photography, "You're probably going to need a very slow shutter speed. This means you should mount your camera on a solid unmoving surface to avoid camera-shake."
The NYIP also recommends leaving your strobe light in its case. If you use fast film and a slow shutter, the holiday lights themselves should provide all of the illumination that your camera needs.
The cold and damp of winter can be tough on cameras. Until you're ready to shoot, keep your camera handy but in someplace snug, like a purse or a car's glove box.
Find the Best Shots
Finally: go to Flickr, Photobucket or other online collections of pictures, and search for photos of Christmas lights. Take a look at what other people have done. Pretty soon, you’ll know exactly what kind of pictures you want to take . . .
. . . And what you don’t want, too!
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