Capturing and Editing Holiday Lights

It’s that time of year! The streets are filled with holiday decor, lights, and magical scenes. Capturing the season can be fun and sometimes challenging. Here are some quick tips for photographing holiday lights. 

Get outside right after sunset, during the “ blue hour.”  This time of day is a prime time to capture the lights of the season. The sky turns a beautiful deep blue, and during winter, the cool of the sky makes the winter lights pop. 

A tripod is needed if you want your subject, lights, and background to be in focus, sharp, and full of detail. You can hand shoot if you are shooting small details up close or getting creative with out-of-focus bokeh images. 

I recommended shooting in manual or aperture priority mode. This setting will allow you to manage your shutter speed and ISO as needed to get great exposure. Shoot with your F stop between 8-16. As you increase your F stop # to get a greater depth of field, you will want to increase your ISO. 

Use your shutter speed to not only get a good exposure of the light but to darken or lighten your background. You are bringing more emphasis to the holiday light vs. busy locations. 

Capture some images with the light intentionally out of focus. Shooting out-of-focus is a creative way to add some fun bokeh to your holiday images. Take the camera to manual focus and then turn the focus ring until the lights are out of focus. 

Think about your composition. Walk around the scene, shoot from different angles. Capture the overall holiday scene and fine details up close. 

Shooting at various shutter speeds can help you reduce the detail and darken the busy background scene. The first image was shot at F18 and half of a second. The second was shot at F18 and 1/4 of a sec. The third was at F18 and 1/8 of a sec.  

While out capturing the light, take a minute to shoot the scene out of focus. Flip the camera to manual focus and use the focus ring to convert the image into fun bokeh lights.   

Capturing images in focus and the out of focus method will allow you to edit creatively. This image is a combination of the two images. The out of focus/bokeh shot combined in photoshop with an in-focus second image. I masked the tree to bring out the detail and left the background of the scene blurry and out of focus. This is a creative way to bring emphasis to the subject and add some of that fun holiday bokeh. 

I hope you will take some time this holiday season to grab your camera, tripod, and get out and have fun capturing the lights of the season. Head out an hour before sunset, find a great spot, think about your composition, and get all set to shoot during the blue hour. Play with your shutter speed, ISO, and try shooting intentionally out of focus. Have fun and Happy Holidays!