Christian Photographers Community

How do you do that??  I'm trying to take pictures of my daughters tree....very large..but the twinkle lights blur every time.  I had the camera steadied and that didn't help either.  I know there are settings to use for those lights.  Can you help me?  It looked like John had those miniture lights on his tree, and his Christmas card was beautiful. (the card he made from a photo of his tree)

I took a picture of my little tree with steady light and it was ok...but still wasn't what I wanted it to be.

Does someone want to tackle a tutorial? I neeeeeeed it.  please.  Or just a few hints?

Thanks for asking this, Nita.  I'd like to see it too.  I loved John's card and also the lights that Sonja put in of her tree being decorated and the finished products.

Pat, I hope someone wants to help us. haha  I've tried every shutter setting there is, but nothing works for me.  

Hello

I just saw this and said hmmmm.

Well I have tried to shoot Christmas lights and I must say that it is very difficult to do.  When I say that I mean outside at night of Course.  Inside is truly no big deal.  
It is very difficult due in part to the Contrast of the night and the brightness of the lights.  I will be trying to figure this out over the course of the next two nights so stay tuned.  I would also assume that manual focus is almost a must here.  

When you do shoot you will notice that there is Bleeding of light colors and I would think that that has to do with slow shutter speeds.  And another thing Manual Whitebalance is really a must as well.  

Stay tuned.  I am on the case

John (TurboTech)

Sorry I ran off on a Tangent.  

Inside you will have to Use a Tripod or a bag of Beans from your Grocer.  A bag of rice will work as well.  You will also have to use your timer if you are not using any other light but the tree lights.  

When I made that Christmas Card I used a Professional Photo Strobe with a light diffuser and that enabled me to use a faster shutter speed.  Grant it I still used a tripod but my shutter was over 60 so I did not have to worry about Camera shake from pressing the shutter button.  If using your Auto mode I would think that there is not enough light to allow for a faster shutter so you will have to use your timer and a tripod or a Bag "O" Beans.  :-)

You can also try using some Table top lamps or Halogen desk lamps but you want to control the light so it does not hit the wall  or it will make the picture look wierd.
In other words keep the light off the Background.  

Time for work.  

John (TurboTech)  

Hope this helps.

ok, John.  I appreciate this.  I'll start trying again.  Thanks.    I get discouraged when things turn out so bad in a shot.  I need lots of patience....so am working on that along with learning photography.

Thanks John...

I'm taking notes!

Now, those beans!  Frozen or dried?  

What settings have you tried so far, Nita?  It would be interesting to know.  Because no matter what, you need a tripod or what John said a bean bag to keep your camera extra still. I set my camera on the end table and then I used my timer to take this shot and my shutter speed was at I think 2-4 seconds.   I will have to go back and look.  I didn't use a flash. I also had all the lights shut off in the house.

Sorry I haven't gotten back here.  Soni, I tried so many settings I can't remember what they were.

Mostly what I wanted was to shoot outdoor lights.......like the million or so mini lights they have at Shore Acres this time of year.   I can't really take a tripod, so guess maybe without something to steady, I'm not going to get anything BUT blur.


I also tried in the house, with my daughter's tree, and wasn't happy with it.

I haven't tried again since I came and ranted here.  I think I gave up.  I really need to get my manual out again......

Thanks again.   You guys are so great about helping.

 JOHN.....I like this picture better than your old one.  This makes you look more cuddly.  The other one was more creative, maybe, but this gramma likes the new one best.

My Olympus has a setting for night shots that slows the shutter and opens the lens.  Using this setting, a tripod and the self-timer night shots are fine.  But...  I haven't been able to get any Christmas lights - it's been in the teens and twenties at night and according to the manual my camera shouldn't be used below freezing.  

I've found that even in the 30's, taking the camera from the house to the outdoors, unless I move very quickly to snap the shot and get back inside, I get condensation on the lense.

Okay, a day late and a dollar short I guess, but I have found that when doing long exposures with Christmas lights in the pictures, it worked best if you could adjust hte lights to "run" or flash on and off.  In the picture with TAS asleep under the tree, I wanted him to be exposed properly, but if I left the lights on "solid," they were way overexposed and were just bright globs of white spots.  

I set them to "twinkle" slowly, and that helped.  Not perfect, but not big ole globs of light, either.

Good suggestion.  I'm going to try to remember that.

That would work too, I guess, for trying to take pictures of lights around a lake, or boardwalk, or etc.  And city lights?

I would think so, Nita, although I have seen some cityscapes done at night that were wonderful.

I think you just have to take a bunch at different exposures and shutter lengths, etc, and experiment until you find what you like.

Or find a book by someone like Bryan Peterson.  He's got one called "Understanding Exposure" or somehting like that.  It is very informative and easy (well after Bernard explained it to me ) to understand.

Bump

I think part of the beauty of showing Christmas lights (and lights in general) is the ability to show those big spots of colour when shooting at high apertures, intensified with long lens.  I love to play around with that!  I'm trying to insert an example, but don't know how.  HELP!!!

Ursula

OK, let's see if I can do this:

Ursula, that's lovely!

that is beautiful!  you need to put that in the monthly challenge.

I just realized I didn't spell "highest" right.  BUMMER!!!!

Ursula...I love you!  You made me laugh Where God lives, I'm sure there are highest, highests, and His Glolry makes heaven even  highestER!