Sometimes when people see me out photographing, they ask me how I know when I’ve captured what I wanted in a photo. They’ll often see me try several compositions for a photo and then all of a sudden realize I’m done and ready to go look for something else.
Most of the time I do know which of the compositions I’ve photographed will be the one I share and often I even know which image I’ll be editing even before I download the photos from my camera. I know this because as I’ve composed my photo – I think about what it was that caught my eye as I looked at a scene. And by reviewing my photos in the field, I know I’ve got what I want.
I recently recorded a video that talks about how I use traditional photographic concepts to show what interested me as I took a photo and how I use them to share the beauty with others.
If you find the information in this video helpful, then sign up for my monthly series of photo tips which are designed to help you take better photos with the camera gear you already have. You can sign up at FantasticPhotoTips.com. When you sign up, you’ll be able to download my report on Understanding Your Camera Dial, which explains the four basic exposure modes available on most cameras.
I don’t know about you – but I love seeing and photographing Christmas Lights. It doesn’t matter whether it’s lights on houses in my neighborhood, lights in downtown Washington DC or a light display at a local botanical garden – I love seeing them.
One thing I have noticed over the years as I’ve photographed various light displays is that I’ll see people taking a picture – looking at the back of their camera – and realizing that they aren’t seeing what they hoped to see on the back of their camera.
I also wanted to let you know that I’m launching a series of free monthly photo tips to help you take better photos with the camera gear you already own. You can sign up for the series at FantasticPhotoTips.com. When you sign up, you’ll be able to download my report on Understanding Your Camera Dial – which explains the four basic exposure modes available on most cameras.
If you find the 3 Tips for Photographing Christmas Lights helpful, please share the video with your friends.
I really appreciate all the comments and compliments I received last month when I sent out my 3 Tips for Taking Better Flower Photos video. What I didn’t expect was that I’d get so many more questions about how I take my photographs!
One of the most frequent questions is – how do I get my photos to look the way they do – strong colors, lots of details, etc? One of the answers is when I take most of my flower photos – early in the day. Here’s a video talking about why I love photographing in the magical light of early mornings.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my video and that it helps you with your photography.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about how I create my flower photographs. So I created a new video 3 Tips for Taking Better Flower Photos. I hope it helps answer some of the questions people have been asking.
Here’s a repost of one of our earliest blog posts written last December. At that point, we only had about 5 subscribers, so figured it was worth reposting it this year. – Patty
Outdoor Christmas lights can be one of the toughest scenes to photograph well. All too often, photos come out too dark, too light, blurry, fuzzy or just plain don’t work. The combination of bright lights and dark backgrounds can make correct exposure a challenge.
One of our neighbors puts up an extensive display of lights each year, which made it easy for us to take several photos for us to use as examples.
Here’s a few tips that will help you take better photos this holiday season.
1. Turn off the flash. Most on-camera flashes are designed to light up the area 4-6 feet directly in front of the flash, and then darken down hat is beyond that range. Most holiday light displays are more than 4-6 feet away. So what happens when you don’t turn off the flash is that you light up whatever is directly in front of you (a wall, a tree, the lawn, or people) and put the holiday lights into darkness. Your camera may complain with a bunch of beeps) about not using the flash in the dark, but this is one time when it’s best to override the automatic functions and turn off the flash.
As you can see from this photo, the flash lit up the street sign and the license plate on the car while darken down the rest of the photo.
(c) 2007 Patty Hankins.
2. Increase the ISO or film speed. A higher ISO will let you have shorter exposure times. If you are using a film camera, try using ISO 400 film. For a digital camera, reset the ISO setting to at least 200 or 400 (on some digital cameras, setting at ISO 400 or above results in very grainy pictures).
At ISO 100, the shutter speed is way too slow, resulting in a fuzzy photo of the lights.
(c) 2007 Patty Hankins.
At ISO 400, things are looking a little better.
(c) 2007 Patty Hankins.
3.Brace Your Camera. Even with a higher ISO, you’re likely to be shooting exposures longer than a person can easily hold a camera perfectly still. And any camera movement shows up in the pictures as blurry lights. The best thing to use is a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod, place your camera on a table object, like a wall or a table, and use the self-timer to take the picture. If there’s nothing available to put your camera on, try leaning against a tree or a pole to help keep yourself steady.
Here’s the neighbor’s lights photographed with the camera on a tripod.
(c) 2007 Patty Hankins.
4. Set Your Camera Before You Go Out. If you’re just planning on photographing lights one evening, adjust your camera settings before you leave home. It’s much easier to set everything in the light, when you have your manual close at hand if you need it – rather than in the dark somewhere, with gloves or mittens on (or with very cold fingers).
5. Dress Warmly. It’s easy to get cold standing around taking photos at night. Remember, photography is supposed to be fun, and it’s hard to have fun when all you can think about is how cold your fingers and toes are.
6. Take Lots of Photos. Be sure to take lots of photos of the lights, including some from different exposures and compositions. Your first shot may not be your best one. Besides, if you’re shooting with a digital camera, you can always delete the ones you don’t like.
We hope these tips will help you take some photos that will help you remember the holiday season with joy rather than frustration over bad photos.
