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HOW TO TAKE BEAUTIFUL AND CLIMATE PHOTOS DURING CHRISTMAS?

tips – photography

HOW TO TAKE BEAUTIFUL AND CLIMATE PHOTOS DURING CHRISTMAS?

Holidays are a great time for family gatherings, a beautifully laid table, romantic decorations and colorful lights sparkling on the Christmas tree. We would like to capture this time in pictures, but when we reach for the camera, it turns out that it is too dark, and incandescent lights do not reflect this atmosphere at all. So how to take photos to keep the atmosphere of Christmas for longer and be able to share the captured frames with your loved ones? Here’s my Christmas photography tutorial.

Forget flash

I know that you are sometimes tempted to use a flash. It gets dark quickly outside and the house is semi-dark. Incandescent lights don’t look so glamorous anymore. The flash only illuminates the foreground, which makes the image flatter and begins to lack dimensionality. Instead of using a flash, focus your attention on properly illuminating your subject by extending the exposure time.

Check the white balance

Remember to properly set the white balance. When daylight enters the apartment, set the white balance to daylight / shade / cloudy day, if you are taking pictures with light bulbs on, set the white balance to incandescent light. If you forget about this parameter, set the automatic white balance. You can also set the white balance manually. We take a photo of a white sheet of paper within the photographed frame and set the manual white balance in the camera menu, indicating this photo as the reference photo. If you are taking photos in RAW format, you don’t have to worry about the white balance, you will adjust it during the post-production of the image.

ISO – camera sensitivity

If you have read our earlier articles, you will certainly remember that ISO is responsible for the sensitivity of the matrix to light. The higher the ISO, the brighter the photo will be, but also more noise will appear in the photo. The lower the ISO, the less noise and grain in the photo. If we immobilize the camera using a tripod or put it on a table, we will be able to set the ISO value to 100, and the brightness of the image will be adjusted with a longer exposure time. Sometimes, however, we cannot immobilize the camera, or we need to have shorter exposure times, because we take photos of people who are in motion, then the ISO value must be increased, e.g. to 800-1600. You can also experiment with high sensitivities to deliberately get grain in photos (e.g. black and white), which gives quite interesting results.

Aperture settings

The aperture allows us to achieve truly fabulous effects. The smaller the f / 1.8-2.8 value, the more blurred the background. The higher the f / 7-11 aperture, the greater the depth of field, making the foreground and background sharper.

Play with perspective

Combine as much as possible. Take photos from the top, bottom and angle. Look for Christmas details that create a fairy-tale atmosphere. Pictures of Christmas gingerbread, centerpieces, Christmas trees, set tables do not have to be taken as a whole. You can only catch a fragment, a structure, a special touch. Try to capture the festive atmosphere and most of all have fun with the camera. Do not be afraid that the photo will not come out, by trial and error, we learn the most!

I hope that your Christmas photos will be unique and will become a wonderful memory next year.

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