Three tips for capturing holiday lights this season

It’s getting close to that time of year again. Everywhere I go, Christmas decorations are appearing in shops and even houses. To me, nothing quite says Christmas like twinkling lights. Some people go all out and that is so much fun for everyone, no matter the age. So, I thought I’d put together some tips for capturing those beautiful lights.

Use a tripod

Where ever possible, use a tripod. In high-traffic areas, that can be difficult, but if you hang around a little later, or even arrive a little later you may find the crowds have dispersed a bit.

As you are often shooting at night, you will need to use low light settings. Using a tripod will allow you to capture long exposures. This is twofold. Longer exposures can eliminate or at least blur any people that may get in your shot. They will also allow you to capture the lights. Unless of course, you are going for intentional in-camera blur…and that can be fun too.

Don’t forget to capture the atmosphere

Just because the lights are the story, they are not the whole story. Try to capture the atmosphere as well. Christmas lights shining on children’s faces. Ornaments or individual pieces of the overall scene. Families and kids having fun. Crowds. Car lights. Is there snow (or even fake snow)? Are there festivals or Christmas carols?

Capture the nuances that make up the holidays in your area. Different areas often have different customs, traditions or even fun little quirks. Don’t forget to capture them.

Some settings to consider

Decide what it is you wish to capture — the emotion, the lights, the blur? Then, choose your settings appropriately. Using a tripod, you can keep your ISO at 100, try an aperture of around f/11 and a 2–2.5 second shutter speed, which should be long enough to catch the twinkle, but you can always go for longer. If there is lots of ambient light, try f/9 for one second.

Hand-holding your camera? You may need to raise your ISO, perhaps to 3200 or even 6400 and use a wider aperture to let in more light. An aperture of f/2.8 may be too much (depending on the ambient light), so try f/5.6–7. Try locking your elbows to your side to steady the camera. If possible, try even leaning on a fence, wall or railing to steady the camera.

Don’t forget to enjoy the festivities as well as capture them. Often, we get so caught up in the technical facets of capturing the event that we miss just being there and enjoying ourselves. This especially applies to family outings. It’s worth spending time with them, as well as capturing their joy of the festivities.