Help with Christmas Photography

D

daventryh

Suspended / Banned
Messages
184
Name
Helen Daventry
Edit My Images
No
This is my first year with my Canon 1100D and I've spent the afternoon getting frustrated with the Christmas Tree. I've done the reading on how to photograph a Christmas Tree but Im going wrong somewhere and don't know where that is!

I'm after a fresh pair of eyes to tell me how I can improve these .. Other than a tripod ;)
1. 1/20 f1.8 1600 ISO
2. 1/60 f2.8 800 ISO


Untitled by Nellie.Photography, on Flickr


Untitled by Nellie.Photography, on Flickr
 
Colours wise I prefer picture 1. Did you use flash on 2? My only criticism is there is a lot going on. You could try cropping in close on an area of the tree or zoom out to get the whole tree in
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
Colours wise I prefer picture 1. Did you use flash on 2? My only criticism is there is a lot going on. You could try cropping in close on an area of the tree or zoom out to get the whole tree in
Click to expand...

Thank you for replying :)

I do prefer the colours of the first picture. I used on board flash for the second.

Have zoomed in on some pictures on my flickr page but I think your right about getting the whole tree in so I will be trying that next
 
1 has better colour, 2 looks over powered with flash. The only thing with 1 is its blurry (probably from the slow shutter). Do you have a tripod or something to rest the camera on?
 
Nick_1981 said:
1 has better colour, 2 looks over powered with flash. The only thing with 1 is its blurry (probably from the slow shutter). Do you have a tripod or something to rest the camera on?
Click to expand...

I do have a tripod, which I will use next time to get some pictures with the advice I have received. I was just trying to get a rough idea of how to get the lighting correct. I'm not used to shooting in manual, I'm still very much a newbie, but I'm needing to use my knowledge of shutter and aperture to get a picture.
 
Keep the ISO down to a minimum, use the tripod and longer exposures, this will give you much 'sparklier' lights, either get the whole tree in, or concentrate close in on the better lit/colourful areas.

Don't forget the obligatory out of focus bokeh lights shot :) One I took 2 year ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cagey75/5253989795/
 
Last edited:
You have choices...
Either get all the tree in, using only the fairly lights as illumination. This will need a tripod ideally...
Go in much closer and focus on just one branch with some lights in the background. You have some nice decorations on the front, frame a shot with one of those about 1/3 if the way in with some fairly lights out of focus in the background. See how you do.

Don't suppose you have a 50mm F1.8?
 
Cagey75 said:
Keep the ISO down to a minimum, use the tripod and longer exposures, this will give you much 'sparklier' lights, either get the whole tree in, or concentrate close in on the better lit/colourful areas.

Don't forget the obligatory out of focus bokeh lights shot :) One I took 2 year ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cagey75/5253989795/
Click to expand...

Got some brilliant ideas from everyone here.. Guess what I will be doing again tomorrow!

How did you get that image? Looks like you had natural light from behind?
 
RichardtheSane said:
You have choices...
Either get all the tree in, using only the fairly lights as illumination. This will need a tripod ideally...
Go in much closer and focus on just one branch with some lights in the background. You have some nice decorations on the front, frame a shot with one of those about 1/3 if the way in with some fairly lights out of focus in the background. See how you do.

Don't suppose you have a 50mm F1.8?
Click to expand...

I have some images on my flickr focusing on just the one decoration but I need to experiment getting the lights behind them blurred.

Indeed I do have a 50mm f1.8 that is what was used for these images.. Any other suggestions to experiment with this lens and Christmas?
 
You may need to adjust decorations on the tree to make them more photography friendly too... move in close and it will throw more of the background out of focus at F1.8
 
daventryh said:
I'm after a fresh pair of eyes to tell me how I can improve these .. Other than a tripod ;)
Click to expand...

I'm afraid you need a tripod. To get the tree to sparkle with the fairy lights, you need to get the ambient light lower, which means an even longer shutter speed. Really dim the house lights down, so that the Xmas tree lights are proportionately much brighter than the room lights. Then switch the xmas tree lights off... meter, set it up manually, then switch the xmas tree lights back on, and take the shot.

If the Xmas tree lights are too bright, slowly start to increase the house lights and repeat the above until the ratio of house/xmas lights are correct.

You could increase ISO of course if you have no tripod.
 
Last edited:
daventryh said:
Got some brilliant ideas from everyone here.. Guess what I will be doing again tomorrow!

How did you get that image? Looks like you had natural light from behind?
Click to expand...

I took it during the day, with the blinds down behind the tree, in the bay window. Just used manual focus to get the effect :)

Nice job you've done, been taking a few myself this evening after putting the tree and some decorations up.
 
That's more like it!
 
daventryh, can you tell me what shutter speed you ended up using?
 
Just Dave said:
Exif says for 1st of the pics

Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 50 mm

and 1/8 on another think they are nifty fifty
Click to expand...

That's correct. The second set are all set at ISO 100 f1.8 and around 1.3-1.6 seconds for shutter speed, all with Nifty Fifty. Next mission is to try Christmas with the macro lens :$

Thank you again for the replies. I take all guidance on board.
 
Much much better Helen.

Sometimes the key to photography is to take your time and set it up properly. This you have clearly done and with much improved results :)
 
RichardtheSane said:
Much much better Helen.

Sometimes the key to photography is to take your time and set it up properly. This you have clearly done and with much improved results :)
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice First and second time round. Really appreciated
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top