How to Take Pictures of Your Holiday Lighting Installation

This time of the year, everything from houses to businesses are lit up for holiday festivities. Look around your neighbourhood – do you notice any residences that boast a little extra “oomph” in terms of brightness and beauty?  Chances are good that our Oakville holiday lighting service have been in the area spreading festive cheer! Right now your neighbourhood probably looks lovely; too bad the holiday lights will soon come down and the memories will fade away. Or will they? Now would be the perfect time to capture the magic of the season and the festiveness of your holiday lighting installation with a few pictures.  Below are some tips for picture taking, as well as what to do with the pictures once you have them developed.

Tips on Taking Pictures of Lights

The first and foremost rule of taking photos of lights: turn off your flash!  You will be diminishing the effect of your holiday lighting installation if you take a picture this way.  Why? Generally, leaving your flash on will result in a light bounce, as the flash ricochets off the lights. Not only will your eyes hurt from the light, but your picture will turn out to be one big flash of white. So when in doubt, dial down the flash. The light from your holiday lighting installation is all you need.

Here are some additional tips for using the flash:

• If you turn off the flash, you will need a slower shutter speed.  Put your camera on a solid, unmoving surface to avoid camera-shake. Better yet, have a tripod handy.
• If you don’t have enough light to see whatever it is you’re trying to capture, use flash.
• If you’re unsure about using a flash, shoot the photo both ways and select the better image. 
• Rule of thumb: decide what it is you want to capture and meter the light to draw attention to it.  If there’s enough light available for a well-exposed photo, then take it.  If not, use the flash. 

Advice for Taking Pictures Outdoors

If you want to snap a few outdoor photos of your Oakville holiday lighting service installation, follow these guidelines:

• If you just want to capture the lights themselves, don’t use the flash.
• For best results, shoot at twilight, you’ll get some colour in the sky.
• If you want to shoot photos of people and lights, there is a happy medium that allows you to get both.  On many point-and-shoot (digital and film) cameras, there is a setting that looks like a person with a star in the background.  This setting tells the camera to flash, but also have the lens open long enough to record the lights.  This setting also requires a steady hand.  If you can, use a tripod.

What to Do With Photos of Your Holiday Lighting Installation

So you have all of these photos…now what?  Here are some ideas:

• Make a Christmas photo album
• Upload them to social networking sites like Facebook or Tumblr
• Use them for next year’s Christmas cards
• Send them to far away relatives – they will always appreciate getting to “see” you, even if it’s just in photo format
• Send the truly spectacular ones to your Christmas Decor holiday lighting service to use in their portfolio!

If you’re unsure about all the ways you can photograph a truly great lighting display, take a look at our site for examples! Christmas Décor specializes in holiday lighting installations with the “wow” factor everyone loves.