![]() Camera Settings – f/2.8, ISO 1600, 1/80 secįor this shot, I started by setting my ISO to 1600 because of the low light in the room. And this time of year, I love how they reflect the lights of the Christmas tree which basically doubles the magical effect. Like I’ve shared this many times over the years, one of my favorite things about our old house are the east-facing French doors in our living room. Christmas Tree Magic // Twinkle Times Two Finally, I added in a fairly strong vignette in Lightroom to draw the eye toward the center of the frame. Then I went with the standard exposure since it was still somewhat light outside with no significant backlight. This kept the bushes in the front of window somewhat blurred. I went with a large aperture for a shallow depth of field (DOF) and chose one of the ornaments near the center of the tree as my focal point. My camera settings for this shot were fairly straightforward. Similarly, the wavy glass of the window panes offers a fuzzy reflection of the bare tree branches beyond the window. Also, I like how this perspective places the tree in context with its surroundings, because all joking aside, the peeling paint helps to tell a certain part of the story. Next, I like this perspective because it’s almost like it forces the viewer to mentally step away from the tree, offering a more pedestrian and less intimate relationship with it. First, I like that it’s just a different view of the tree than I typically get from walking around inside my house. I like this perspective for a couple of reasons. ( Right now my mom is nodding her head saying, ‘See sis…aren’t you glad I made you put ornaments on the back side of the tree when you were growing up?’) I loved walking up to the front door and seeing the tree lit up from the other side of the window ( please ignore the peeling paint – #oldhouseprobs #nextyearsproject)…even getting a glimpse at some of the ornaments on the tree. Yesterday evening I was coming back from walking Daisy and our Christmas lights had just turned on. I decided on the middle version below because I guess I’m like the Goldilocks of Christmas tree bokeh.Ĭhristmas Tree Magic // Outside Looking In I took a few shots with varying degrees of out-of-focus to find the size of the blur I liked the best. To achieve the blur, I simply adjusted the focus ring on my lens to take the scene out of focus. To get this intentional blur in my photo, first I determined my exposure settings based on the light from my tree and any ambient light in the room, then I composed the image in my viewfinder. ![]() Plus, without a selected focal point, the entire scene becomes almost abstract and you tend to notice the tones and movement more than any one object on the tree.l Camera Settings – f/3.2, ISO 800, 1/80 sec I love how the intentional blur and bokeh gives the tree a mysterious or ethereal vibe. If I had to pick only one, this might be my favorite way to capture a Christmas tree. ![]() Sidenote #2::All of the photos that I will share in this post were taken with my Canon DSLR camera using my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and all were post-processed in Lightroom. I’m also including some of the more techy stuff in case you might like try some of these techniques for yourself. <<insert wink here.Īnyway, since the Christmas tree is one of the most iconic subjects of the holidays, today I thought I would share with you some of my very favorite ways to photograph my Christmas tree and capture all of the light and the sparkle and the magic of the season. ![]() I mean that’s a lot of photos…even for me. Sidenote #1::I’m always a bit hesitant to when I use an exaggerated number like that in case someone actually thinks I’ve taken 2000+ photos of my Christmas Tree in the past two weeks. Since I put the Christmas Tree up at home a couple of weeks ago, I’ve taken approximately 2,387 photos of it.
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