Capture the season.
 Everyone shoots pictures for the holidays, if you’re like me, some shots you have to take. My wife has the cloths already laid out for the kids to wear for our Christmas card. You now the kids in front of the tree in winter sweaters. I try to turn it up a notch with strobe lighting and maybe some ambient tree lights but regardless of the work that goes into the lighting the kids better be smiling.
 
I like houses decorated with lights, nothing like driving around with the family looking for the coolest neighborhood with the wildest lights. At the Ledger we will run a page of pictures of the wildest houses. Shooting pictures of Christmas lights has its challenges. One challenge is color balance. Christmas lights come in a wide variety of colors and types, you have incandescent, LED, and fluorescent as well as tungsten lights. If you start shooting you will find that many lights will not record either on film or file in the real color they were at the time you shot the image.

 
 
 
That’s OK there is very little you can do about it. If you select the “Auto White Balance” on your digital camera you may get the best results. I like to shoot lights with some ambient light in the sky, not total darkness. This allows for better detail on the house, trees and more depth in the overall image. If you can, get the homeowner to put the lights on early, just before sunset. Using a tripod is a must since you need to shoot at longer exposures than you can hold the camera steady. Some places like Edaville Railroad in Carver and LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro give you plenty of opportunity for night shots. The Kingston luminaries on Christmas Eve are also very nice to photograph. Snow covered ground can add another great element to outdoor light displays.
 

I’ve gotten a few emails about talking at camera clubs. I am happy to talks with photo groups. Once I’m back from vacation after the holidays I’ll start to schedule them. If you have an idea for a blog topic feel free to post a comment.