How To: Christmas Light Photography
“Let us kindle little lights.”
What you need:
• lights
• a dark space
• camera
Using lights in portraits has become really common and it’s something I’ve wanted to try with the kids for awhile now. (and thanks to Marisa for reminding me I needed to make it happen) It’s a fun thing to do - especially if you take your camera out of auto. And the results are so great!
My kids got tired of playing with the Christmas lights way before I was tired of taking photos. But I still managed to get some great shots with Darrell’s help.
before and after
The most time consuming part of the process was editing. Straight out of my Canon 6D the white balance was completely off and it didn't help that the LED lights were so blue. Luckily that’s an easy fix in Lightroom by adjusting the temperature and tint of the photo. Once I had those set it was easy to use that as a preset for the rest of the session.
My list of photography things to try is always growing. Next I’m going to concentrate on capturing motion and double exposures. What have you tried that you love? Or what do you want to try?
