Give a Twist to Christmas Photos with Creative Photography Skills

Give a Twist to Christmas Photos with Creative Photography Skills

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Give a Twist to Christmas Photos with Creative Photography Skills

Malls and buildings in Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay are all glamorously lighted up during Christmas time every year. These gorgeous and dazzling Christmas lights and decorations make the perfect backdrop for family, couples and friends to take photos. Fancy for more special looking Christmas photos this year? You can create one-of-a-kind photos with these simple photographic techniques and props!

Bling Bling Christmas Light Painting

Light painting has been a popular photographic technique for a while. It’s about writing texts or drawing patterns with light using long exposures. Here is how it basically works: Set your camera on a tripod. Switch to Manual Mode and adjust the ISO to its lowest setting (e.g. ISO 100). Small aperture such as f/11 or below is recommended in order to prevent the background from over-exposure and achieve a longer exposure time. If necessary, use Bulb Mode to manually adjust the exposure time.

When you have the patterns to paint in mind, press the shutter and start waving the colored cellophane paper-wrapped torch in front of the lens to paint. Below are some little tricks to help you paint with the light beautifully:

1. Beginners can start with simple texts or lines. Hold the torch in a reverse position (with flashlight facing the camera), and turn your back to the camera when drawing. This allows you to draw freely in the air - just like how you write with a pen on paper without having the texts flipped
2. Note that the camera will capture all the flashlight that go into the lens. Cover the torch with your palm in between lines so that the patterns will not be linked up altogether
Title: 《Seeking for Christmas Tree》 Club Canon Member:Samson Luk
EOS 5D Mark II.EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM.25s.f/10.ISO 200
Photo Courtesy of:Warren Adrien Tang
EOS 60D.EF 17-40mm f/4L USM.85s.f/9.5.ISO 100

Zoom Burst to Make the Decorations Come Alive

To make the otherwise ordinary Christmas decorations look more dynamic in the photos, we can try zoom burst photography. Prepare a zoom lens and a tripod, set the camera to Shutter-Priority (Tv Mode) mode and adjust the shutter speed to around 1/10s.

Now you have your subject in front of you. First zoom in by turning the lens to its tele-end and have your subject located at the center of the frame. After getting the framing done, press the shutter button and zoom out to wide-angle by turning the zoom ring immediately after the camera starts to expose. Through this technique, the light dots will become lines in the photos, creating special effects like a radiation. Christmas decorations with more colors will create more spectacular effects.
Title: 《Motion》 Club Canon Member:Aoa Bobo
EOS 100D.EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM.2s.f/11.ISO 100

Multiple Exposure for Dreamy Result

Many people like to use large aperture lens to create beautiful bokeh. When used with the in-camera Multiple Exposure function (e.g. EOS-1D X, EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 6D, EOS 7D Mark II, EOS 70D), the sharp and blurry images can complement each other and add a magical touch to your Christmas photos!
1. Press “MENU” button. On the setting page, select “Multiple Exposure” and then press “SET” to enter into the setting page for Multiple Exposure. On the row named “Multiple Exposure”, select “ON” to turn on Multiple Exposure function
2. According to your preference, you can set the method for “Multiple Exposure Control” and “Number of Exposures” to anything between 2 and 9 on the same page
3. When shooting, the image captured will be displayed on the camera’s monitor after the first exposure is done. The remaining number of exposures will be shown in brackets on both the viewfinder and the monitor. If you choose to continue with the shooting, the image captured later on will be superimposed on the previous image until the “Number of Exposures” set goes down to 0

Tips!

If you are using Live View Mode, the image captured will be shown in half transparency on the LCD monitor to help you do the framing for your next shot!
After the setting for Multiple Exposure is done, first take a photo with normal focus and sharp subject. Then, you can adjust to a larger aperture and turn the focus ring purposefully to achieve out-of-focus effect, transforming all those light dots into attractive circular bokeh. When superimposing two images, the result will be dreamy.
By superimposing two images of the ferris wheel taken from different angles, the composition is enriched and a romantic Christmas mood is added

Title: 《Christmas x Central Ferris Wheel》 Club Canon Member:Edison Lo
EOS 6D • EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM • f/4 • 1/4s • ISO 200
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