Taking Photos of Holiday Lights

The Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography

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Outdoor holiday lights can be one of the toughest scenes to photograph well. All too often, photos come out too dark, too light, blurry, fuzzy or just plain don't work. The combination of bright lights and dark backgrounds make exposure a challenge.

Here's a few tips that will help you take better photos this holiday season.

1. Increase your ASA or film speed. A higher ASA will let you have shorter exposure times. If you are using a film camera, try using ASA 400 film. For a digital camera, reset the ASA setting to at least 200 or 400 (on some digital cameras, setting at ASA 400 or above results in very grainy pictures).

2. Brace Your Camera. Even with a higher ASA, you're likely to be shooting exposures longer than a person can easily hold a camera perfectly still. And any camera movement shows up in the pictures as blurry lights. The best thing to use is a tripod. If you don't have a tripod, place your camera on a stable object, like a wall or a table, and use the self-timer to take the picture. If there's nothing available to put your camera on, try leaning against a tree or a pole to help keep yourself steady.

3. Turn Off the Flash. Most on-camera flashes are designed to light up the area 4-6 feet directly in front of the flash, and then darken down what is beyond that range. Most holiday light displays are more than 4-6 feet away. So what happens when you don't turn off the flash is that you light up whatever is directly in front of you (a wall, a tree, the lawn, or people) and put the holiday lights into darkness. Your camera may complain (with a bunch of beeps) about not using the flash in the dark, but this is one time when it's best to override the automatic functions and turn off the flash.

If you follow these three tips, you are much more likely to have photos of holiday light displays that will make you remember the holiday season with joy rather than frustration over bad photos. For more information about night photography, please see our article "Tips for Taking Great Photos at Night" from our July issue.

Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence are the co-owners of Hankins-Lawrence Images, LLC, a digital photography company based in Maryland.

Related Pages: Night and Low Light Photography - Night Photography: Tips for Photographing the Moon - Tips for Taking Photos at Night

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