How to photograph your Christmas lights Part 2 | Wilmington NC Family Photography

So on Friday I talked a little about how to photograph your house Christmas lights. You can read that post here. Today I am going to teach you how to photograph your Christmas tree. My absolute favorite Christmas tradition…. decorating the Christmas tree! I just love reminiscing every year about where we got that or this ornament. We have so many sentimental ones. John still has his baby's first Christmas ornament and there's my favorite snowman ornament my parents bought me when I was in middle school. This year we have a few new ones… our new house key. I saw a pin on pinterest and fell in love with the idea! Click here for the pin. And this year we bought Olivia's Baby First Christmas ornament, its pictured below.

So lets talk shop.. how to photograph your tree…

Step 1: Use a tripod. So I talked about this on Friday also. You will get the sharpest photo by using a tripod. You will not be able to hand hold a low shutter speed. Believe me.. Ive tried… Ive also messed up a hell of a lot of photos because of it. :( Flash will not work in this situation. This brings us to step 2...

Step 2: So typically in a low light setting I would recommend an off camera flash. However, in this case you want the lights of the tree to illuminate the photo. So turn that flash off!

Step 3: Close and open your aperture. So, you are probably scratching your head right now and saying "huh". We talked a little about closing your aperture on Friday. You can see in the first photo the lights are little starbursts. I used a closed aperture of f/10 for that photo.  I highly recommend closing your aperture down to do a full length photo. The photo will be nice and sharp and you get those pretty little starburst. When you open your aperture nice and wide you will get that blurry back round and fuzzy lights effect. My aperture was f/1.4 in this photo. You can see the blurry lights right behind Olivia's Christmas ornament in the second photo. I highly recommend opening your aperture up when doing close ups of your tree.

Check in next week. I will be talking about how to photograph your kids better in front of the Christmas tree! Visit www.lesleyveronikaphotography.com for more family photography.

How to Photograph Christmas Lights Part 1 | Wilmington NC Family Photographer

I've been a bit behind on posts lately. With the arrival of my nephew, Ive been back and forth to Durham in the last 2 weeks. So its been a little nuts for me trying to get ready for Christmas and finish all my client orders they purchased as Christmas gifts.

I just love this time of the year. And now that we are officially a family, with a little one of our own, John and I are even more excited to pass on our childhood traditions and start some of our own. Decorating our new house is one of my favorites, John and I planned out how we were going to decorate the house together and then of course, John decorated the outside…. I did the wreath on the door… ok John helped a little! lol! So, I am going to tell you how I photographed the photos below and how to get the best photos of the Christmas lights on your house.

Step 1. Use a tripod. You will get the sharpest photo if you use a tripod. Because it is dark outside you will need to use a low shutter speed. There is no way you can handhold a shutter speed of an eighth of a second. Its too slow. You will get motion blur.

Step 2. Turn your flash off. You want the lights of the house to illuminate the house. The flash will over power everything and you will end up with a washed out photo.

Step 3. Close your aperture. So with aperture the smaller the hole the less light that will be allowed into your lens. With the aperture the bigger the number the smaller the hole. I would recommend using at least f/10. In the photos below I used a f/10 aperture and in the close up photo you can see the little burst of lights. I just love it!

Step 4. Go out 20 - 30 minutes after the sun has set. Most people think that they need to wait until it is completely dark outside. However, it is actually best when there is still a little light in the sky. You can see in the first photo below, it looks dark, however you can still see that blue sky! You will also see more of the surrounding details.

Next week I will tell you how to photograph your Christmas tree! Visit www.lesleyveronikaphotography.com.

Ella's Christmas Portraits | Wilmington NC Children Photographer

I was so excited to photograph Ella this year for her Holiday Portraits! Her mom, Jamie came to me last year for their Holiday portraits also! Check out her images from last year here. Ella was so shy last year. A lot of her photos last year were her being timid. They are some of my favorite images I've ever taken, however this year she really opened up with me and I loooove all these images! Here are my favorites from this year! 

I love this series of photos of Ella and Jamie. What a great moment they are having! 

To see more Wrightsville Beach children's portraits visit www.lesleyveronikaphotography.com. 

Holiday Family Portraits | Wilmington NC Family Photographer

The Holiday's are almost here! Thanksgiving is only 5 weeks away! Time to start thinking about your holiday family portraits and holiday cards! Book your Holiday portrait session with Lesley Veronika Photography and receive 25 Holiday cards for free! That's a $59. value! Call 845.532.5870 or email lesley@lesleyveronikaphotography.com to schedule your session today!

Visit www.lesleyveronikaphotography.com for more details!

Holiday Portraits | Wilmington NC Family Portraits

It seems crazy doesn't it! Christmas is only 3 months away! Now is the time to book your holiday family portraits! Book by November 22nd and receive 25 holiday cards for free! A $59. value! Visit www.lesleyveronikaphotography.com or call 845.532.5870 to schedule your session today! 

Holiday Cards and gifts | Wilmington NC Holiday Portraits

Ok, so I know it seems a little early to be thinking about Christmas but it will be here before you know it! Book your holiday portrait session early and receive 25% off your holiday card order! Holiday Portrait sessions must be booked November 1st and orders placed by November 20th!

 Call 845.532.5870 or email lesleyv31@gmail.com to schedule your appointment today!