Christmas Lights

[roo4192]

So, I'm totally new at using a nice camera and I need some help! My Dad puts up christmas lights in our front yard every year, and he really wants to get a good picture of them! I just so happened to get a Nikon d3100 today for christmas, and I was wondering if there were any tips that I could use. I'm using the lense that came with the camera, the 18-55mm lense and I also have another lense the 55-200mm lense. Which lense would work better to photograph the lights? I also do not have a tripod, which makes a difference in the settings that I would use. I'm having a pretty hard time getting the pictures that I want! Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

The one thing you will need to get a night shot of the lights, is a tripod or something to stabilize your camera. I would probably use my 18-55 so I could be wider. You stabilize the camera to obtain a long shutter speed with a moderate aperture (f8-f11) and low ISO (100). I would also use a remote, cable or wireless, or the delay shutter function. The key is stabilzation.

 

[Marlton Mom]

The other thing you might want to do is try taking the picture when you have that deep blue sky that happens right before the sky gets totally black. You'll have to experiment to see when you get the balance of that deep night blue and the Christmas lights show up nicely.

The point is that it will be dark enough to show off the lights but the sky will also be an interesting color.

Good luck!

~Marlton Mom

 

[roo4192]

Thanks so much! Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[seashoreCM]

Don't let the camera use its normal automatic exposure.You will likely end up with the lights or fireworks washed out and loss of color.

The problem is, the camera in normal auto mode tries to make a night scene look like day, and opens up (its aperture) all the way. The Christmas lights may produce enough average illumination within the frame to force the camera to stop down a little but it will still overexpose the lights themselves. In addition the overall scene will appear darker or brighter depending on howmuch Christmas lights are in the scene.

A "night exposure" mode will help. Sometimes you will get acceptable results without a night mode by minusing the exposure compensaiton.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

One good starting point for a manually adjustable camera is to bring the camera up to say, within a foot of the subject. Set the exposure there, then back off and frame the entire shot. You may still need to bracket the exposure. For example, for the Osborne lights you might set the exposure by getting up close pointing at the side of one building, including some strands of Christmas lights, and then back off and take a shot. Then set the exposure differently by getting up close to a differently textured side of a different building, then back off and take the same scene (which, say, included both buildings).