Tips for Photographing Holiday Lights

When it comes to photographing holiday lights, knowing a few tricks can greatly improve your chances of capturing images that truly represent the beauty of the celebration of light before you. Some people think that you need an expensive camera or an elaborate setup to photograph holiday lights, but in truth, you can work wonders with a standard point-and-shoot and a little knowledge of how to balance light.

Tracking Different Ambient Lights: Photographing holiday lights means keeping track of the diminishing ambient light—most notably, the sun as it sets. You’ll get the best results photographing lights BEFORE it gets dark. During the dusk period, you’ll find a nice balance of diminishing ambient light contrasting with the holiday lights, which means you’ll be able to see more objects in the background.

Try Tungsten: Set your custom white balance to tungsten, just as you would if you were photographing something indoors without using a flash. Holiday lights are balanced for tungsten lighting and this will give your images a warm contrast between the sky/background and the lights.

Composition Counts: When it comes to photographing holiday lights, use a good portion of the evening sky in the background. It will help to better highlight your subject and will add interest to the image.

Bring Your Tripod: Using a tripod is especially important in shooting holiday lights. It will provide stability, which is particularly critical with low-light photography, and will keep your shot properly framed as you continue shooting as the evening light transitions to black.

Take Ten Shots (Over Ten Minutes): Once you have everything set, begin taking a photograph every minute or so. Your eyes may not register the gradual changes so track the time with your watch or cell phone. Then, shoot every minute or so over a ten to fifteen minute period. You’ll see the changes in evening lighting as you scroll though your shots.

Photographing holiday lights is a fantastic way to stretch your creative skills and capture the beauty of the holiday season. Don’t be afraid to experiment; some of the most amazing images are captured when we try new things!