{"id":12663,"date":"2016-12-15T13:20:06","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T19:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/?p=12663"},"modified":"2016-12-15T13:20:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T19:20:28","slug":"photo-tips-christmas-tree-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/2016\/12\/15\/photo-tips-christmas-tree-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Tips – Christmas Tree Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas tree lights are one of my favourite things to photograph at Christmastime! \u00a0The tree makes a perfect backdrop for holiday photos. \u00a0I thought I would share some fun ideas I have tried with my camera settings to get different looks for my photos.<\/p>\n

One of the best tricks up my sleeve is a 50mm prime lens. \u00a0It gives that beautiful blurred background and the soft bokehs. \u00a0Bokehs are the out-of-focus light spots that you can create with your lens by fixating on your main subject. \u00a0You can achieve the look with other lens’ and you can work with what you have. \u00a0The 50mm just makes you look like an expert photographer! \u00a0They are a small investment and wonderful for portrait photos.<\/p>\n

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Have you ever wanted to achieve the starburst effect on your Christmas tree lights? \u00a0Here is how…you will need a tripod or a tabletop for steadiness, and settings are as follows: \u00a0ISO 100 – 200, 25 sec shutter speed, f22 for aperture.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 My setting are very similar for these two photographs and the larger the bokeh depends on the focus. \u00a0I have switched my camera to manual focus here and blurred the lights. \u00a0Photo on the left settings: \u00a0ISO 200, 1\/20 sec shutter speed, f1.8<\/p>\n

Photo on the right settings: \u00a0ISO 200, 1\/40 sec shutter speed, f1.8<\/p>\n

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These three photos all have the same settings except for the shutter speed: \u00a0ISO 200, 2.5 – 6.7 seconds, f22. \u00a0The shutter speed or time varies to achieve the different pattern in the lights. \u00a0The pattern is made by very carefully moving your camera on the tripod to achieve the effect you want. \u00a0The first one looks like roses to me, second one is hearts and third is circles. \u00a0These all make a great Christmas card photo!<\/p>\n

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Here are some other ideas on what to do with those beautiful lights on our tree! \u00a0I try to use our tree as a backdrop when I am photographing at Christmastime. \u00a0I am not gonna lie to you… I am very strategic about putting my subject in front of the tree, it doesn’t just happen by accident!<\/p>\n

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Putting the people we love in front of the tree is always a favourite of mine! \u00a0Lauren is doing some Christmas baking and we know it is Christmas just by the beautiful lights in the background.<\/p>\n

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A silhouette of young love in front of the tree is fun to try. \u00a0Have your subjects hold very still because you will need to have the shutter speed a bit longer. \u00a0The reason you need to have the shutter speed longer is to achieve those starbursts with a very tiny opening on your shutter (f22). \u00a0They didn’t seem to mind standing there like that.<\/p>\n

Settings: \u00a0ISO100, 8 sec, f22.<\/p>\n

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This one is a bit of a different angle. \u00a0Focus on your subjects eyes and you will see the lights reflecting in them and the lights from the tree illuminate your subject’s face.<\/p>\n

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This one is very similar to the couple one. \u00a0You can see a bit of movement on Grant’s arm because the shutter was open for a bit, but I did achieve the beautiful starburst. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Settings: \u00a0 \u00a0ISO100, 15 sec, f22<\/p>\n

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This one is similar, but yet a bit different as there aren’t \u00a0starbursts in this one, but Grant is sharper. \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO1000, 1\/20 sec, f4<\/p>\n

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This is one of my favourite Christmas photos and I just ordered this in a large canvas to hang over my fireplace. \u00a0I will never get tired of this photo! \u00a0Grant’s sweet face is illuminated by my cell phone hiding in the book. \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO1000, 1\/40 sec, f1.8<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

\"sig_beth\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas tree lights are one of my favourite things to photograph at Christmastime! \u00a0The tree makes a perfect backdrop for holiday photos. \u00a0I thought I would share some fun ideas I have tried with my camera settings to get different looks for my photos. One of the best tricks up my sleeve is a 50mm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107021403,"featured_media":12701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15607,117068,14113],"tags":[56000,22610,723500084,16940],"class_list":["post-12663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-photography-tips","category-project-ideas","tag-creative-memories","tag-december","tag-photography","tag-scrapbooking"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/untitled-18011.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NsZA-3if","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6662,"url":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/2016\/08\/31\/photo-tips-flowers-and-gardens\/","url_meta":{"origin":12663,"position":0},"title":"Photo Tips -Flowers and Gardens","author":"Beth Thomander","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Bud to Bloom All of the stages of a flower are beautiful so I try to capture all of the growth of the flower. 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