Tips for Taking Nice Pictures of Christmas Lights

Christmas lights are what add color and vibe to Christmas season. The lights just brighten the mood wherever we are, in the downtown area, at a shopping mall, in the street or even at home. For the splendid picture created by Christmas lights, especially at night, we love to capture pictures or even some warm moments related to the lights. 

Taking pictures of Christmas lights can be fun yet also a trick. Sometimes the pictures taken will hardly reflect the beauty of the lights we see. Then how to photograph nice Christmas lights?

During the Christmas season, we will see the holiday lights before the day goes dark. For taking nice pictures, we need to choose the better photographing time, say, earlier in the evening, or right after sunset and before total darkness. If we take pictures of the holiday lights when it is very dark, the pictures will be poor in detail, especially in the shadow areas. 

When the sun just goes down and it is still not totally dark, we can make better use of ambient light in the atmosphere. If we live in the areas where we can hardly see the holiday lights illuminated during that time, there are other solutions. We can still get nice shots in the evening. But we need to choose the right objects. For example, we can take nice pictures of Christmas tree accented by well lit LED lights later in the evening, especially when the surrounding areas at not well lit. But if the tree is placed in the areas that is lit, it is difficult to shot nice images. The surrounding areas will just be visible in the picture and hardly will the Christmas tree be the focus. 

In the evening, when we walk around the neighbors, we can still shot good pictures for the bright lights that are decorations for Christmas trees, buildings or other objects that are only illuminated by the holiday lights. The dark sky just enhances the lighting and if the camera we use is good enough, especially if the camera has excellent shutter speed, 1/4 second to 2 second, the pictures can be nice. Of course, when we take pictures, try to control the camera shake by using a tripod so that the pictures can be less likely to get blurred. If we have no tripods, just place the camera on a steady surface or use the self-timer feature to avoid camera shake. Still increase the camera’s ISO setting for higher shutter speeds.