If you're like me and leave your camera in auto mode more often than not, now is a great time to do a little experimenting. (Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking auto mode. For the most part it does a great job, but there are definitely times to take advantage of some of your cameras other features.)
These shots were taken at night, hand held with only the tree lights and one table lamp on in the room. Both shots are shown as they came straight out of the camera - no editing. I can hold a camera pretty steady, but in the dim light with auto mode I came away with the shot on the left. I then went to "Scene" mode and chose "Hand-held Twilight". In this mode the shutter fires off quickly several times and then combines them into one shot. You can definitely see the difference. (My camera is a Sony Nex-5N, so yours may have the same or similar feature but call it something else. My little point & shoot Canon has something called "Hand-held NightScene" which basically does the same thing.)
I included a snippet from the same area of the tree from each shot, so you can really see the difference close up.
So now with some minor editing (slight levels & brightness adjustments and lightened the shadows just a bit), I've got a shot I'm pretty happy with.
If you've got a photo of holiday lights you'd like to share, please feel free to leave a link in the comments. Your tips are also welcome.
Enjoy the season and capturing those special moments!
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