Use White Balance to Create the Mood

This photo was taken the year before.  Notice how the tree branches are much more green?  In the previous photo, the color of light is more warm.  Both results are fun and beautiful, but it’s fun to play with White Balance to see what you like best when you photograph Christmas lights.  In the previous photo, I was using the Shade setting for white balance which gives it those warmer tones.  In this photo, I’m using Auto White Balance which keeps the color of light more cool.

ISO 3200, Aperture: f/2.0, Shutter Speed: 1/60th of a sec

One more note:  Notice how high my ISO is…3200!  And yet, there isn’t much grain in the photo.  Investing in a better camera body will give you the ability to go higher in your ISO without getting horrible grain.  You can see what’s in my Camera Bag and my suggestions for a Beginner’s Camera Bag.  The Sony camera bodies listed in both groups will give you great results when using a higher ISO.

Fun side note:  Every year, I would buy Pascaline and her friend a Christmas dress.  Those girls would beg and beg to wear them before Christmas.  And when they put them on, you’d think we were in a royal court.  So darling.  I was Christmas shopping the other day, and I saw a display of Christmas dresses for little girls.  My heart smiled wide.  Feeling like a princess on Christmas is one of the cutest things to capture.