6 Tips For Photographing Your Family and Holiday Lights

1. TURN OFF AMBIENT LIGHT AND FLASH: Use the light solely from your holiday decor to illuminate the scene. This means make sure your flash is off! When you use just the lights from your tree, menorah or other decorations it will give your images a magical mood.

2. POSITION YOUR CHILDREN CLOSE TO THE SOURCE OF LIGHT: When you use your holiday lights as the main source of light in your photos, you are working with very low light conditions. This can work, you just need to be mindful of you child’s position relative to the light and your composition. If you want to see some detail of your child’s face, it is important to have your child face the source of light  - Menorah, Christmas Tree or other holiday lights. This will illuminate your child’s face with a nice glow and gives a magical feel to your images. Experiment with the distance between your child and the source of light to find an image that best highlights your child’s face

3. CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE: Move around the scene and shoot from a few different angles.  Not every shot has to be the perfect portrait of the kids looking at the camera. Get on a step stool and shoot from above your kids. Lay on the ground and take a different shot.  Finding a new angle can add a lot of interest to your images. Use a mixture of portrait and landscape shots. Take a picture of the entire scene and then get in close for some details. For example, an ornament on the tree, a feature of the menorah, a close up portrait of your child.

4. REFLECTIONS: Look for objects that will give you reflections and use them to add a creative element to your images.  Windows, puddles, mirrors, and table tops can provide a great surface for reflecting the holiday lights.

5. BOKEH - Do you love when the background of an image is blurred out and has a dreamy quality? Use your Christmas tree or decorative lights outside your home as the backdrop for your holiday images. If you are using a DSLR camera:

a) shoot in aperture priority mode or manual and make sure you are at a low aperture. A low aperture is f/1.8 - f/4.0.

b)Place your child in front of the lights.

c)Make sure there is space between your child and the background lights.

d)Focus on your child

e)Take the picture.

If you are not satisfied with the amount of blur, put more distance between your subject and the background. You can also enhance this feature by moving yourself closer to your child to take the pictures. Experiment with the distances between your child and the background and the distance between you and your child.

6. SILHOUETTE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTS: This can be achieved if you use the holiday lights illuminating your scene to set the exposure for you image. Place your child between you and the lights. By exposing for the holiday lights, the rest of the scene will be dark and it will put your child into shadows. This will result in very little detail on your child and create a silhouette.  Here are a few situations in which you can experiment with creating silhouettes. In your home, use the Christmas tree, menorah or string lights. In the community, experiment with lights at the zoo, neighborhood lights or Botanic Garden exhibits.

In this picture, I used the light of the trees to set my exposure.  This resulted in less light on my daughter and created the silhouette.

You can have a lot of fun with these tips and suggestions. Experiment with distance, perspective and placement of your child in the pictures relative to the light source. Some of the images might not turn out as you expected, but keep trying new and different techniques to add variety to your family pictures.