Category Archives: Blog Entries
Holiday Photography Tips
It is now well into the holiday season and the decorations are up and looking good. Trying to figure out the best way to capture holiday decorations that reflect all of the warmth, color, and festive modd can be a challenge. Here are a few brief tips for photographing decorations, lights, and holiday displays (indoors and out).
Santa hanging out in the tree
Indoor Tips
- Use a Tripod
- Do NOT use a flash
- Use low-medium ISO (200-800) to avoid too much digital noise
- Use Aperture Priority mode with low aperture (F4, F5.6) to get the nice bokeh effect from background lights and reflections.
- Check White Balance – “Auto” or “Indoor” may result in an overly yellow final image. If you shoot in RAW mode, just choose what looks best when you post-process the image.
Outdoors in the snow
Outdoor Tips
- No flash
- Tripod if possible
- Wait for the right light – look for the “golden hour” just after sunset but before full dark.
- Aperture Priority mode, low to medium apertures (F4 – F8). Lower aperture will capture the “bokeh” effect better.
- Try different angles and lenses – shoot from ground level with wide angle lens, for example. Zoom in on unique features with longer lenses.
Happy Holidays!
Final Notes
- Crank up the saturation in post processing to make the colors really jump out
- Adjust levels to get the most from the color and contrasts
- Check the white balance!
- Happy Holidays!
Comments Off