The holiday season is here! Soon it will be gone but for this
blog post I wanted to capture the essence of the season in these photographs. Christmas
is many people’s favorite time of the year for many reasons including putting
up lights, exchanging gifts, drinking hot cocoa, and seeing friends and family.
One of my favorite activities to do during this time of year is looking at lights.
No matter if I stroll through a neighborhood by car or go to a local park, I
love how much Christmas cheer a string of lights can bring.
I ventured to a local park that was having a lights display to
take some photos of Christmas lights. This time I decided to use a higher quality
camera, the Canon EOS 60D. I admit I still need to get comfortable with using some
of the buttons and adjustments on this camera, but in the long run I’ll be able
to take better photos once I figure it out.
In my independent reading book, Ang says, “. . .your
versatility as a photographer improves the more you see color as a subject in
itself, not something that is only a feature of your subject. . .Try isolating
a strong color against a muted background to emphasize the shape of an object
or the perspective in a scene” (Ang 36). I kept this in mind when I shot these
photos. Since it’s currently winter time and the sun sets early, by the time I
got to the park the sun had already set and it was fairly dark. I used this to
my advantage since lights are more vibrant at night. I would be able to use the
author’s tip and isolate the strong colors emitted from the lights, while also
including the shape and backdrop. In my 3rd photo I attempted to
isolate a single light, but since it was so dark the color was washed out and
the photo didn’t come out the way I wanted. Although, I thought the other two
photos turned out pretty well since the bright colors give off a feeling of
high-energy and excitement (Ang 37).
What do you love about Christmastime? What
aspects of Christmastime would you choose to photograph?
Ang, Tom. How to Photograph Absolutely Everything: Successful Pictures from Your Digital Camera. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2007. Print.
