Contributed by Lisa.
There is nothing worse than a Christmas tree photo taken with your FLASH, yuck! I have been dreaming of this photo since last year. Elle and her dog Kai in front of the tree, as we see it in real life. After a a little practice, I finally achieved it! This photo make me so happy.
This photo was taken with a Canon Rebel XSI and 50mm 1.4 lens. The only editing I did was sharpen it up and increase the contrast just a bit. My settings for the above photo were:
ISO: 1600 (which is as high as my camera will go)
Aperture: f/2.5 (you can go lower if you want)
Shutter Speed: 1/50 (After I took this photo I actually lowered my shutter speed to 1/30 which I liked even more, but at that point I couldn’t keep the dog in the photo. Next year!)
I used a tripod to keep the camera still. If you don’t have a tripod you can use the back of a couch, table, chair, get creative if you have to! You will need the camera to be very still to avoid blurry photos. You will also need still models. I told Elle to show the dog an ornament and say there’s a cookie in there and then snapped away. You don’t necessarily need posed photos, you could give your child some books to read or toys to play with under the tree.
You will want to take your photo at night and turn all of the lights in the house off so only the tree is glowing.
Now on to the camera settings. You will be working in Manual Mode:
Now focus on your subject and snap away! You might need to play around with your settings, and with photography practice makes perfect so practice, practice, practice!
*Be sure to refer to you camera manual if you need help adjusting shutter speed, iso and aperture on your dslr.
Thank you! I can’t wait to try it!
Love this. I am taking pictures tonight. i only have one lens right now, but I will use what I have.
can wait to try this! Thank you!
Thank you thank you for the settings!
THANK YOU THANK YOU 10 TIMES OVER, CANNOT WAIT TO GET OUR TREE THIS WEEKEND SO I CAN PUT IT INTO PRACTICE!
Oh, wow. That is one of the LOVELIEST Christmas tree photos that I have ever seen!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lovely photo ! We have a Christmas photo with the tree every year , i have to check out this trick.I looks amazing. Thank you for sharing
Amazing! I would be soooooooo happy to have that camera…
I’ll keep on trying with mine… If I’m optimistic my pictures will be 10% of wonderful of yours.
I cant wait to try this! I hope it works. My camera only goes up to 800 ISO, hopefully it will work. Thanks for the tip
LOVE it but scared to try because i wouldn’t know how to change the settings back…?
thank you! i’m going to try it with my 3 and 1 1/2 year olds…….even thought i don’t think i’ll be able to keep them still. but worth a try!
Gorgeous photo! Can’t wait to get a tree!!! I NEED to snap this pic asap, lol!
You’ve given me courage…I’m going to give it a try!
Thank you so much! I’ve not been successful during my previous attempts at capturing the holiday & Christmas tree lights. So, I very much needed this.
My only question would be: What if we don’t have as fast a lens, as a 1.4? My only 2 lenses, right now, are just kit lenses….my 18-55mm, 3.5-5.6 & my 55-200mm, 4-5.6.
Thank you so much, again, for an awesome article
superglueing my 2 year olds bottom to the ground is in humane right?? lol, thanks for the great tutorial!
Thank You!
Cool.
Any tips for a point & shoot camera?
Okay, you know what, I really like your caption shots….and the one about ignoring the meter was good to know!!! I’ve been making it balanced every time I try! Thank you!
You are a rockstar. Thanks for this!!!!