Tips for Photographing Christmas Lights

One of the best sights this time of year is the Christmas light displays. All the colors and design seem to bring life to the still of the night. Photographing these displays is a wonderful way to share the sights with others.  I have a few tips that might make it a touch easier to capture the moment in a wonderful image that you can share for years to come.

 

Photo by Scott Cramer

1. Plan or schedule you shooting time. The time of day is very critical to a well exposed photo full of colors. The best time is when the sky and the lights are as equal as possible, in other words the light from lights does not overpower the sky. My preferred time is shortly after the sun goes down, perhaps 15 minutes or so. I will usually take some test shots at two to three minute intervals starting at about 15 minutes after the sun goes down. When you have found the best time you will only have about ten minutes of shooting time, be ready!

On the other hand, some folks like the pitch black background so you see virtually nothing but lights with some structure peaking through the lights. If this is what you are after then I would wait until dark sets in and then take the shot at a faster shutter speed.

2. Use a supporting device. A tripod or beanbags, in case you are shooting from a car window, is very helpful. Actually, they are a must have in most cases because your exposure time will be slow. If you are after the black background look, I still recommend a bracing device.

3. Christmas lights are for the most part tungsten; be sure to set your white balance to tungsten before shooting. This will ensure the colors you see are what you will get.

4. Snow makes an interesting foreground, so don’t try to crop it out when framing your picture. Reflective items make for interesting foregrounds as well. If you are using the roof of the car as a base, try to get some of the reflections in the image.

5. Turn off all flash accessories. Flash is not a good thing for Christmas light photos.

After you have taken a few photos, use the remainder of your sight seeing to discover new and wonderful sights for the next shot. Christmas lights can be a little tricky but, with a little practice you will be creating wonderful images for years to come.

Family Portrait Posing Tips

Are you thinking of sending family portraits to friends and family during the holiday season? If so, I have a few tips to help keep those photos looking fresh and unique from year to year.

1. Keep your poses interesting and different. Look at last year portraits and change up the posing somewhat. Change the arrangement, positioning and colors of the photos. The key is each subject should flatter the other while maintaining a sense of family between them.

2. If you take photos outdoors, ensure the scene compliments you. For instance overcast skies tend to make objects appear flat and lifeless. Do not pick an area that has a lot of background traffic.

3. Ensure all head wear such as Santa caps are not covering the eyes or creating a shadow across the face.

4. Lighting - hair lights do not work well with people that are balding. If you must use the hair light with people that are balding then plan some extra time so you can move the lights around so the reflections are not beaming into the camera.

5. Do not make family portraits a chore. Capturing unique and dynamic family portraits should be fun.

Help Your Photos Pop

Are your photos falling short in the pop department? One of the most over looked compositional elements can be to blame, Bokeh. Simply put bokeh is a technique where the photographer throws the background out of focus, creating a soft blend of the background objects.

So, what does throwing the background out of focus do? When the subject is sharp and the background is blurred the subject tends to stand off from the background. Almost like a 3D object. Therefore, your subject is more likely to pop out at the viewers. In the photo of the butterfly the foliage in the background is blurred to allow the viewer to see the butterfly with out distraction.

Throwing the background out of focus is not always as easy as it seems. Bokeh does have quality and quantity levels that make the blurring effect good and bad. Yes, you heard correctly there is good bokeh and bad bokeh. Without going into great detail, I am going to say that the blur should be smooth, blending the objects and lights evenly. Bokeh that creates shapes are not the most pleasing to view. To do this, we generally use a shallow depth of field, keeping the subject in sharp focus and the background out of focus.

Steps to Creating Good Bokeh

1. Equipment: A camera that allows you to control the aperture settings will be needed. A DSLR or SLR is preferred. If you have a camera in the point and shoot category check for an A/V or Portrait setting, either of these will usually work.
2. Turn off any and all flash units. Flash is not good for boken.
3. The objective is to get a shallow depth of field, which can be achieved in several ways. The shallow depth of field will throw objects behind the subject out of focus and hopefully creating a nice smooth bokeh. I prefer the A/V setting to be in the area or 4.0 if possible, 5.6 at the highest f/stop and 2.8 at the lowest f/stop. If your camera does not have the A/V setting, try the portrait setting. Generally speaking it does not work as well as the A/V setting. If all else fails, move your subject away from the background (more than a few feet).
4. Focus on the subject and click.

You can bring your photos back to life and make them pop with just a little good bokeh. Try it, I know you will like the results.

"D"

Portfolio Reviews

© courtesy of Michael Foley

Judgment day is here, portfolio review. But are you really ready for the review? Portfolios are very important for photographers and should not be taken like a grain of salt. Some very important questions should be answered before you enter your review. Michael Foley, the owner of Foley Gallery in New York was interviewed by PDN on this topic and brings to light some interesting points that should be taken wisely. Read the entire article by clicking here.

Photographing Fireworks

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about photographing fireworks.

Photographing fireworks has always been an adventure for me. It seems every year the spot I have scoped out gets filled on the big day before I can get there. However, I do try to make the best of it and enjoy my shooting.

I generally use a tripod, small flash light, memory cards - at least 4 gb worth of memory, remote shutter release, and confront items such as water.

Finding a good spot to shoot from is the biggest challenge. You will need to do a little before hand surveying if possible. Make sure there are no trees or other tall obstacles in your line of sight to the fireworks. A good clear view is best. I do not recommend getting directly under them or down wind from the explosions, the smoke will float in front of the fireworks. I try to find a spot where I can see well without having to move the camera around.

Once the shooting location is found set-up the tripod, camera and remote shutter release. Determining where exactly you will be shooting and attempt to pre-focus in the general area. When framing the area look for horizon lines ensuring if they are in your shot they are straight and any obstacles in the background or foreground that would cause distractions. Whether you shot in the vertical or horizontal position will be your preference; I prefer vertical.

One of the questions I have been asked quite a bit is - How do you know when and where to release the shutter? I use a longer shutter time of 1 - 2 seconds, and when I see the tail of the firework starting to fade I will open the shutter. At other times I will open the shutter and leave it open capturing several at once. To do this you simply tape a black piece of foam board to the end of the lens and after the first explosion flip the foam board over the lens to cover the front, then when you are ready to capture the next one you flip up the foam board. Of course you can do this in photoshop as well, but sometimes doing it in camera is so much more fun. You can also use the bulb setting on the camera. To do this open the shutter by pushing the shutter release button on the remote shutter release and continue pressing the release button until the firework has faded away or you are happy with the length of time, then release the button. As far as where to frame, I do most pre-framing before the fireworks start; however, I do reframe on the first firework, lock in the tripod and begin clicking.

The Aperture I use is in the range of f/5.6 - f/11. Some people like using faster speeds and some like using slower speeds. It is not necessary to have a super fast f/1.2 lens to capture fireworks.

The focal length is from 35mm - 300mm, with most shoots occurring around 80mm. Again, this is your preference depending on what you are capturing. Tight shots can be just as interesting as wide shots, experiment a bit.

I would recommend shooting in a totally manual mode, no flash. In auto mode the camera can really be faked out and there is no telling what you will get. Try to check as you are going to see if you are capturing what you want.

Enjoy your shooting!

Quick Tips: Photographing Fireworks

Fireworks are photogenic and inspiring, especially on the 4th of July -- but they are also very challenging to capture on camera. Learn camera settings, accessories, and shooting techniques that will help achieve great results in your fireworks images!  Read More...

Do I have enough pixels?

OK, the question about pixels and print size has resurfaced. To help you determine if you have enough of the correct pixels to print large, simply follow this link to Photo Kaboom. This site has some MATH but it is not hard. Any questions please ask. I think everyone should be able to get 16 x 20s out of their photos.

Sensor Cleaning

I created this video on cleaning your DSLR sensor. If you get time check it out, just click here.

Studio Lighting

I ran across this site a couple of months back and well just plain forgot about it. But, the site has a lot of info and stuff about Studio Lighting. It is a pretty good site. Check them out by clicking here.

Sensor Cleaning

Seeing those little blaksih gray spots on your images? Well most likely it is dust specks on your sensor. The new cameras have built in sensor cleaners, but the older ones do not. All that said, I found this article I wanted to share with you, of course on the subject of sensor cleaning. Just click here and we can go look at it.

Fill Flash

Incase you are having problems with the fill flash assignment this video might help. Rick Sammon has publish stacks of photography how to books, check some of them out - just click here.

HDR

HDR processwing was a very big issue last spring, so I thought I might try to raise the issue again. Check out the YouTube video and make your own judgement.

Transparent Copy Right

A few folks have asked me to make transparent copy right actions for photoshop and I have. However, I was thumbing though some of my 1st quarter photoshop notes, Ms. Hwang's class, and I ran arcoss her method of watermarking and creating transparent text, which by the way are the same as Scott Kelby's. In Chapter 12 of the Photoshop CS3book by Scott Kelby, he lists step by step instructions for doing this. A little different from mine but in the end they do the same thing. Oh yeah, please use it lightly. There is nothing worse than trying to look at a photo with a watermark across it.

If you would like to visit Scott Kelby's site to see all the training he does, then simply wingle your nose and click here.