Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Twinkle Lights

On Monday, I attended the monthly Mamas with Cameras meeting. Knowing the speaker's topic was holiday photography, I was like a kid on Christmas (no pun intended) waiting for the meeting and walked away with so much great information! The speaker (Lindsay Kennedy) was wonderful and provided amazing tips for getting keeper holiday photos.

Most months, we're given a photography assignment and this month's assignment was to take "twinkle lights" photos. Instead of digging through our stored Christmas decorations, I picked up a string of white lights at Target and promptly stuck my family members in a dark room. Unfortunately, I bought lights that twinkle (instead of offering steady light), which created a less-than-ideal setup, but not bad for a first try. They twinkle lights were out (depending upon where they were during the on/off process), which left me with a few dark bulbs in some photos. The twinkling also (I think) created a few instances of lens flare, which I definitely don't want in the photos.

I definitely plan on trying again... but with the kids on a more reflective surface—probably our wood floors or our granite counters (although that might not offer enough room)—instead of the tile floor in our bathroom.

Conor had a great time playing with the lights, which made that portion of our 5-minute photo session incredibly easy! He liked watching the lights make his fingers glow and noticing how some of the bulbs (much to my chagrin) blinked on and off. I'm sure the fact that I willingly provided a string of lights was pretty exciting for him, too!

Camera Settings
Aperture: f/1.8
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 1600
Lens: 50 mm prime




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