Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Twinkly Light Christmas Tree Tutorial

I already posted a picture (and a tutorial) similar to this a couple of years ago but, it has now become a tradition of mine, to get a twinkly light, nighttime picture of my tree each year.  I'm sure you already know how this effect is captured but, in case you have missed it or if you are eager to try it out yourself...Basically you need a super long shutter speed and a very small aperture (which means a large f-number).  The settings can vary but, I chose an aperture of f16, my ISO was low, below 200 (though last year I had it at 800) and my shutter speed was so slow  that I literally got bored waiting for it to fire.  In all reality it was only a handful of seconds but, in the world of portrait photography that is a very long time. lol  Because the shutter speed is so slow you will want to use either a tripod or other very steady surface to prevent hand shake, which will blur your image.  For this shot I actually set my camera on our kitchen counter/bar because my tripod is broken and then set the timer at 10 seconds.  Whalah.  

Yeah for another thing that I can check off of my holiday to do list!