In my opinion, there are three annual events that occur every year that scream for picture taking: 1. Birthdays 2. Halloween and 3. Christmas. Sure, we have weddings and all those other jazzy fun events that are important to document, but these the three that I mention happen every year, you know they're coming and you know how they make you feel. I say that because it can help you take better pictures. Knowing what you're in for, having an emotion attached to it and seeing it in your mind's eye can help you pre-compose the images you want to get before they happen. Now...how do you put the camera (or phone) in your hand and put what's in your head on the hard drive?
This post is meant for the folks that aren't carrying around soft boxes, Ice Lights or speedlights. You can be just as successful getting great Holiday pictures with your under $2500 DSLR and $500 worth of other equipment! Here's how.
Turn off that darn flash!
Whether you're using your Powershot or your phone, turn off the flash. I know, it's scary. "but Robb, things get blurry" or "but Robb, it's dark!". I know. And that's okay. You see, if you want to get the Christmas lights to look good in your picture, spraying them with artificial light only causes competition. So now I've convinced you to turn off the flash, now what? Brace yourself. Literally.
For this shot, I wasn't carrying a tripod, and it was just after dusk, so I knew I had to slow things down to get the right exposure and it would have been impossible to not get a blurry shot just hand holding my camera, so I stood up on a brick wall and braced myself against a light pole. If it was much darker, the scene would have been right, but the people would have been blurry or there would have been what we call "ghosting". "but Robb, you know all that fancy stuff about speed and ISO and f-stops..." You're right. But your camera does too. If you don't want to get into learning all that stuff, set your camera to "A" or "P" (Automatic or Portrait). Then focus on something in the middle of the contrast of what you see. In the image above, there are the lights and there are black coats. The brick on the wall seems to be a good middle ground for light between the two, or even the guy with the brown coat. Brace yourself and take the picture. You can even buy one of those tiny tripods at the $5 store. The trick is to brace the camera.
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| Again, braced up against a lamp post with enough light to show the subjects, but still dramatic. |
"But Robb, I want the family in the picture and it's dark". Okay. This requires a little more planning. There are two ways to accomplish this. First, without the flash:
Let's say you're on the street in the shot above. There are street lamps, tree lights, store fronts all with possible light sources. Try finding this light and have your family stand close enough to illuminate their faces. The trick is to make sure your camera's focusing point (again, if you're just setting up in A or P modes) has selected a face to expose for. Newer point and shoots have a "face detection" mode. Your iPhone allows you to touch the screen to decide the focus point. Get an app that has a timer (Gorilla Pad was one of my faves), set up your shot and go!
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| You can see that it's still daylight outside...I just positioned my subject to take advantage of the lights hanging in the dark corner. |
Turn on that darn flash.
1. You may not have a street light in your living room to give you a light source. Turn on the flash. It's okay. Now try this: Instead of putting the kids right next to the tree, try setting up your shot with some separation. Light falls off fast, so if you can create some distance from the pretty lights, you can still light your subject and retain the lights on the tree. You'll have to experiment with your distances, but give it a try.
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| copyright McKindles Photography 2013 |
In this shot, Ian and Brit were standing at the front of the barn and the lights were hung about 12 feet back to create the bokeh. I would have preferred a non-white string, but you use whatcha got and since the hero was not the lights, I think it's a good shot. The flash didn't over expose the lights because I created enough separation between the subject and the lights.
2. Whether it's Amazon or some other gadgety site, you can purchase diffusers for your point and shoot. This can be helpful for your Christmas party shots. Something to diffuse the light will soften the light and help you create better pictures. For phone cameras, this can be a little trickier since the flash is about a millimeter away from the lens. This might be another good time to find light to illuminate faces, but if you need flash, take a few steps back from your subject to avoid the harsh light. Another trick that has worked for me is this: take a small piece of Scotch tape and tape it loosely over the flash. Experiment with both the frosted and clear versions. You should have some lying around since it is the wrapping time of year!
Shoot at dusk! It's Purty!
You've worked hard to hang those lights, decked those halls and saved to pay for your electric bill! You deserve a good picture of your hard work! Or maybe you're thinking of walking around downtown Brighton Michigan and would like to take a beautiful picture of the downtown holiday glow. Get there before dusk. The sky is still a bit visible and usually at this time of year, a spectacular blue color. The dusk hour is also a great time to shoot because it's not too bright to over power the lights and not too dark to under expose the rest of the scene. Your camera will thank you for the help and not yell at you with a bad picture saying "you want me to take a picture of THAT in the DARK?!?!" And with a little practice, you may even be able to pop up that flash (using the tricks I mentioned) and expose for the sky, the lights AND your rosy cheeked faces!
So give it a try. Give them all a try. Above all, have patience and have fun. If you try any of these tricks, feel free to post them on the Facebook page! I'd love to see if any of this helped!
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