Do you want to learn how to take pictures of your christmas tree lights at night? Taking a photo of my kids on Christmas Eve has become a fun tradition. However, taking a photo of your Christmas tree at night can be difficult if you don’t know the correct settings.

 

Should you leave on the overhead lights?         Use a flash?           No flash?

 

Hopefully this simple tutorial will help you photograph your Christmas tree and lights at night!

 

What you need:

Camera

Tripod (or something stable)

Christmas Tree 🙂

My settings for this photo were ISO 1000 | f/2.8 | 1/25

 

To get started:

Turn OFF any lights inside the house other than the tree lights

Turn OFF the flash on your camera

 

In order to get the lights nice and bright you want a slower shutter speed. Change your camera setting to Manual (“M”).  I set my ISO at 1000. Depending on your camera, you’ll want your ISO around 1000-3200.

Change the shutter speed to 1/25 or slower (1/10, 1/4, 1/3, etc).

Set the camera on the tripod, or other stable surface in front of the Christmas tree.

 

Focus on the tree, and click the shutter! Your camera will probably tell you the photo is going to be too bright, but that’s what we want! We want a nice bright tree.

 

Kid tip: my kids were NOT all that interested in the tree & ornaments. I asked them to go peek inside the tree to see who could find the spiderman hidden inside. That got them over to the tree digging around long enough for me to snap the photo 🙂
If you live in the Oklahoma City area and you’re interested in learning MORE about photography – check out my upcoming in-person workshop!

 

Leave me a comment below and let me know if this worked for you!