Christmas morning is almost upon us and it seems like everyone has their own DSLR camera now to share the memories with. What is everyone's goal this week? Why, to capture that awe inspiring, jaw-dropping, virtually sparkling image of their loved ones in front of the Christmas tree, that's what! How do we do that, you ask? Well, I am no expert but I can share with you a few pointers to help you better understand the process. The technique takes a bit of patience, and not everyone's lighting situation and/or camera settings will be the same so there is no way of giving you a detailed outline. Just practice! Practice! Practice!
The first thing you will need, besides Christmas lights and a somewhat willing subject, is a lens with a fairly large aperture. Basically, your lens needs to have the ability to open up like the pupil of your eye to let as much light in as possible. The aperture will be listed on your lens as 3.5-5.6 or 1.8, and so forth.
The smaller the number is, the larger your opening will be:
The lens I like to use, is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. A fairly inexpensive lens that provides great bokeh.
Setting your aperture to the lowest setting will throw the background and foreground out of focus, so Christmas lights in those areas will become cute little balls of light. I would always put my subject (usually my daughter) a few feet in front of or behind the lights. The further away you and your focused subject are from the lights, the larger the balls of light will seem.
Another trick you may have been seeing a lot of, are bokeh cutouts. You can use any shape you can think of. Just cut it out of black construction paper, or preferably, card stock to make it last longer. Attach the cutout to your lens with either a rubber band or small pieces of painter's tape...and viola!
I made this one....feel free to use it as well!
Most of all, have fun with your pictures! Don't be afraid of your camera, play with the settings, different lenses, and techniques.
~Becky
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