Christmas lights??

[seanmc]

Anyone got any tips for taking pictures of Christmas Lights??

[Graydon]

I was at Moody Garden's Festival of Lights... and while didn't get anything spectacular you can see what happens when you play around some...

If you don't have an exif viewer...
first one - f 4.5 1/40s ISO 320
second - f 4.5 1/200s ISO 1600
third - f 4.5 1/2000s ISO 1600

I was playing with shutter speed to see when I could just get lights and not the ground.

[DigitalScape]

Sean, my suggestion is to use a fairly high ISO setting and a tripod. I have a few shots of the holiday lights I have shot this year posted on a different thread (shot at ISO 400, f8 with long exposure times - ~1-5 seconds): http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=63079

[JohnT]

If you're shooting outdoors at night, trying shooting at -1 EC so that the lights aren't overexposed.

[engstrom]

Also remember that is you use a small aperture - f11 or smaller - you get nice star effects on bright small light sources. You'll just need a higher ISO and/or a longer exposure.

[robh1920]

Turn off your IS if you have it. I forgot last year and spent all evening in very cold weather taking great shots..... all of them where a little blurred. Oh yeah and lock your mirror up. That will help too.