Tips for shooting Christmas lights

[Jezebel]

Anyone got any suggestions for the best ways to photograph Christmas lights? I strolled through a place with lights yesterday and felt like all my photos looked like boring snapshots. I'm thinking maybe a longer exposure for a more surreal glowy effect might look better? If any of you have photos you've taken yourself (or good examples off the net) I'd love to see them.

Thankee!

(edit: I just spent some time looking for photos and I'm finding that they ALL look like snapshots to me. Maybe I just don't like Christmas light photography? Haha, I dunno! Surely there must be some really stunning pics out there that will *wow* me. )

[suzyjazz]

This isn't too special, but I like it :-) You may be talking more about outdoor light displays.
21.0 mm, 13.0 sec, f/16.0, ISO 100

I should have shot at f/8 instead, but back then didn't realize as much about aperture.

[Lissa]

Here's an older article from the NYIP that they run every year. It seems to give some good tips. If you scroll down the article, there's a section devoted to the problems encountered with digital photography, and how to overcome them.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by suzyjazz

This isn't too special, but I like it :-) You may be talking more about outdoor light displays.
21.0 mm, 13.0 sec, f/16.0, ISO 100

I should have shot at f/8 instead, but back then didn't realize as much about aperture.

Holy cow...I thought you were in my house for a second!

[suzyjazz]

Hehe, really? If you have a similar photo I'd like to see That is my parents' house last year. Their house is prettier than ours, so I plan to take some more photos there next time I go. Love the nice foyer.

I haven't taken any outdoor light photos, but if I could find a nice spot to shoot I would like to try it. I just don't know where to go. I might take pics of some neighbors' houses at dusk, since it's convenient!

[JohnRushing]

Come on down to East Texas and we can meet up in Marshall Texas if you want some nice outdoor lights to shot. All the years I've went to see the lights and I have never photographed them? I just like going for the hot apple cider!

[wedeking]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the you're more likely to get a star effect on the lights when shooting at smaller apertures (higher f number). Assuming that is something you might want. The other option is to pick up a cross screen filter.

I will say that in the past I've tried to take shots of colored christmas lights outdoors and blown out the lights, so they ended up all looking white. Not sure how to avoid that and still capture the background. Maybe shooting at dusk instead of dark night so the lights aren't that much brighter than thier surroundings?

I'd be interested to hear what white balance setting folks have had good luck with. I shoot in Raw, so it's not that critical, but it's nice to have a starting point.

Greg

[engstrom]

Originally Posted by wedeking

I will say that in the past I've tried to take shots of colored christmas lights outdoors and blown out the lights, so they ended up all looking white. Not sure how to avoid that and still capture the background. Maybe shooting at dusk instead of dark night so the lights aren't that much brighter than thier surroundings?

Greg, something else you can do is use a tripod and shoot two different exposures - one for the lights and one for the background - and then blend in Photoshop.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by engstrom

Greg, something else you can do is use a tripod and shoot two different exposures - one for the lights and one for the background - and then blend in Photoshop.

kinda what bracketing is for?

[suzyjazz]

Originally Posted by wedeking

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the you're more likely to get a star effect on the lights when shooting at smaller apertures (higher f number). Assuming that is something you might want. The other option is to pick up a cross screen filter.

Yes, I have found that shooting around f/11 and up will normally yield the effect.

Originally Posted by wedeking

I will say that in the past I've tried to take shots of colored christmas lights outdoors and blown out the lights, so they ended up all looking white. Not sure how to avoid that and still capture the background. Maybe shooting at dusk instead of dark night so the lights aren't that much brighter than thier surroundings?

That is a good idea.

[Shane]

Here is one I took . . . shot in RAW and then had very little post processing in PS.

[boomerd35]

Jez-
Don't know if you're still looking for suggestions, or if you were looking for indoor or outdoor lighting. But I like the bokeh effect (or whatever you call it) on indoor lighting. Here's a quick one I took of myself with a timer trying to setup a family Christmas portrait.

Troy T.

[zepp]

The second image is from last years City of Sugar Land Christmas Tree lighting. It ran in the Chronicle and several people commented on it saying it looked like a greeting card.

I walked into the Starbucks shown in the photo days after the image ran in the paper and the branch manager saw me in line with my camera in hand and asked if I was a professional photographer. When I replied yes he told me to look at this picture they had hanging on the wall behind the bar. Then I told him I was the photographer of the image.

The first photo is from this years tree lighting. The lighting on the ground was very dim this year.

Third photo is from last year and shot from the freeway. Was fun with cars buzzing by in the dark at 70 miles an hour.

From these images my tip would be look for different shooting locations.

[Abel]

Originally Posted by zepp

I walked into the Starbucks shown in the photo days after the image ran in the paper and the branch manager saw me in line with my camera in hand and asked if I was a professional photographer. When I replied yes he told me to look at this picture they had hanging on the wall behind the bar. Then I told him I was the photographer of the image.

great story... i bet you were proud!

[Abel]

also more less waht were you shooting at.... shutter aperture iso etc...

lisa and i may be heading to the woodlands this weekend to shoot at their market square...