This group of night time
photographs of Christmas lights and store fronts may give you ideas for this
year. The photos shown are from 2009
through 2012. Three lenses were used: 1) Nikon 18-200 VR f/3.5-5.6; 2)
Sigma 30mm prime f/1.4 and 3) Tokina 11-16mm, f/2.8 wide angle. There was a tradeoff between having vibration
reduction and using the Sigma and Tokina with more open aperture. Even with aperture getting closed down with
zoom* on the 18-200mm lens, the
steadiness allowed with vibration reduction was highly appreciated in hand held
photos over the faster lenses without vibration reduction. The Tokina was fast enough for most home shots and the wide angle was very helpful in getting the large view.
*Zoom lenses with an aperture range such as 3.5 - 5.6 limit the maximum opening as the zoom changes. At 200 mm, the max aperture would be f/5.6 while at 18mm aperture opens with up to f/3.5 available. Remember, the higher the f/ number, the smaller the opening for light through the lens.
While a couple of the store front images were
shot with camera on tripod, most photos were handheld and sometimes braced for steadiness. The storefronts were an
afterthought after doing yard light photos. Do you agree the storefront photos are neater
overall than the yard shots? Hindsight says we should have found more decorated
store fronts to photograph! Perhaps this year...
These photos may be classified as better than average snapshots, yet snapshots none the less. The photographer had no say in lighting or arrangement of the scenes and could not control traffic flow when photos were taken form a slowly moving automobile! Photos in this post are the result of fun evening drives around a small town, camera in hand with a wish to get a few better snapshots of how the enthusiastic and talented folks decorate and we have the chance to enjoy it . You might find a short drive or walkabout just before or after Christmas a fun family event. Take the camera! If you have a camera capable of user controlled exposure, the suggestions in this post can help produce better photos.
These photos may be classified as better than average snapshots, yet snapshots none the less. The photographer had no say in lighting or arrangement of the scenes and could not control traffic flow when photos were taken form a slowly moving automobile! Photos in this post are the result of fun evening drives around a small town, camera in hand with a wish to get a few better snapshots of how the enthusiastic and talented folks decorate and we have the chance to enjoy it . You might find a short drive or walkabout just before or after Christmas a fun family event. Take the camera! If you have a camera capable of user controlled exposure, the suggestions in this post can help produce better photos.
In writing the post, comments
from the author are left to a minimum. You are asked to comment all you want
and your thoughts are encouraged and appreciated.
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Time for a small commercial break..after all, we do want to
generate photography business!
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Time for a small commercial break..after all, we do want to
generate photography business!
If a business contracts us to
photograph their store front, planning includes arrangement of lighting, staging
of the scene, time of day and custom white balance as totally necessary. Also,
cameras and lenses would be chosen along with distortion correction to provide
the cleanest photograph possible. That
is not what happens in this post, although we might demonstrate our
professional marketing style photos in a future posting. Contact us about photography you need, personal professional photography or for your business. Use the email box at the right. We will get right back with you and open the discussion and planning, face to face as needed.
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Commercial Over
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Shown is the ISO, aperture
and shutter speed of each image and if important any other editing used. One
form of editing used on a few photographs is noise reduction. This is because
two cameras were used from 2009 and 2012 with the most recent scenes taken with
a Nikon D7000. The other camera is a
D200 and is a fine camera but does not handle high ISO or slow night time
shutter speed as well in regard to digital noise. The D7000 showed essentially no noise in the
night photos while some of the D200 captures needed slight noise reduction
applied to get grainy noise spots out of the photograph.
The same store front is shown as below. The lamp post turned out to be distracting rather than a strong element in the composition. Background of the upper post spoils it in my opinion.
5. Use a tripod or other support when possible for a steady shot at slow shutter speed. Walking around the antique stores in this town, the more dimly lit shots were done with a tripod to minimize shake, even with vibration reduction on the lens. The wider lenses do not have VR and the tripod was very welcomed.
When shot, the intention of these photographs was to tell a piece of the story of Christmas lights and outside decoration found in an older small town. Often the older and smaller homes boasted the most elaborate lighting schemes.
6. Notice the camera settings used in these photos. The settings are a balance between depth of field and shutter speed. Depth of field determines what is in focus. At a distance, you can use a more open aperture and still have good focus form the front to the back of the photo. Up close, a wide open lens will leave some areas out of sharp focus...that is the nature of rules of optics. The settings used allowed a reasonable ISO combined with acceptable depth of field and shutter speed. Slow shutter speed calls for resting the camera for support, using a tripod and or using a lens or camera with vibration reduction.
Following are photos from 2009 and 2012. Enjoy the snapshots and notice and notes and hints. That is it, essentially. So, we at Thomas Haynes Photography wish you a wonderful holiday season, Christmas and New Year's are left to celebrate. God Bless and Joyful Peace to All.
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If you get some neat holiday decoration photos email us and we might post your image on this blog. Use the email box here and we will write back with an email address you can use to attach a photo, or email us with a safe link to your photo. Please include description and approximate location( country and state or province).
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The street of stores at night. Notice color from street lights. Since lighting in store windows was different, auto white balance was use and did ok. The warmer color was suited to the evening scene on a cool night.
A walk down the street revealed Christmas in almost every window, done nicely in what was expected for antiques stores...nostalgia.
The front yard was quite small so they lit the roof !
All the following photos were shot at the same settings of 1/40 sec., f/3.2, ISO 500 and camera steadied on the auto window ledge.
This older neighborhood always takes pride in presenting a fun display of Christmas lights. There is a lot of traffic on the street where these homes are located, one next to the other or across the street.
