Get the most out of your Camera!!!!
It’s that time of year again, and maybe I should mention… my
favorite time of the year! I wait all year long to be able to go pick out the
perfect Christmas tree and the moment I get it home, it is up in the house.
Ahh, the fresh smell of pine is the best. The kids and I were listening to some
Christmas music and they were singing Jingle Bells as loud as could be while I
sat back and took pictures of their progress and the final masterpiece.
I, like most people, always take that typical picture of your
Christmas tree but doesn’t just seem so bland? Are you looking to add a little
pizazz to your pictures this year? I have a few helpful tips to make your
pictures stand out a little more than previous years! If you have a DSLR
camera, you are just in luck!
Don’t you just love the starburst in the lights? To achieve
this look, it is so simple! First, if you have a tripod, put your camera on a
tripod so it can sit still for a long period of time without any movement. If
you do not have a tripod, you may place your camera on a chair or something
sturdy (if you have a rice bag, that works great to stabilize your camera).
Next, we need to set the settings on your camera… which means you will need to
put it in the dreaded (for most haha) manual mode. You want your shutter to be
very long, in my pictures, my shutter was set on 20 seconds (see why it is so
important to have your camera on a tripod or something similar). Crank your
f-stop up to 16 or higher! The higher you put your f-stop, the more starburst
effect you will get on your lights and I had my camera set on F22. Then just
turn your ISO down low to about 400. Now, if those words sound foreign to you,
don’t worry. It is mainly two different knobs on your camera that you turn and
it is much easier than what it sounds like. Finally, turn all the lights out in
the house so it is dark and the room is just lit by your tree and start
practicing!
Now that you have tackled the tree, you want to get some
pictures of your family in front of it too right?!? How fun is it to turn your
tree lights into different shapes? Easy peasy and no time at all!
You just need black construction paper (or I only had white
printing paper so I colored it with a black sharpie) and some scissors! Cut a
circle the size of your lens so it can fit over the end. I cut a strip of paper
and taped it to the side of the circle so it would sit on the end of my lens. For
the shape in the middle… it can be anything you want it to be! Paper punches
are also fantastic, you can punch a shape in the middle and the size of the
punch does not need to be big. My heart that I cut is probably ¾ of an inch
tall. Just place the paper on the end of your lens and start shooting away :)
For better results, set your camera to a higher aperture (lower number) to
create more bokeh (the circles or shape on your paper) in your photograph.
These particular pictures were taken at F2.8. There are no other requirements
to create this effect! I happened to take these pictures at night so they are a
little darker but I have created this same photograph during the daytime as
well and you will create the same results.
There you go! I hope you will be able to successfully have a
little fun with your Christmas tree this year! The possibilities are endless
and I would love to see how your pictures turn out! Skip on over to my page, Sweekit
Photography and share your best pictures with me! Let’s share the
holiday cheer together! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ~Kelcy
