Anvil Loc: Loveland, CO

My challenge was to capture the lighted Christmas tree, in all its glory. We'd just finished decorating it, and I wanted to capture the image, but make it pop.

The lights on the tree are LED lights. They are pretty, but not particularly bright. If I were to take a shot of the tree, using a Speedlite, the tree would show, but the lights would not be seen. If I were to take a shot using only ambient light, I'd see the Christmas tree lights, but the tree would be quite dark. What does one do?

Combine the two approaches, but in the same shot. Take a flash shot, to illuminate the tree, but drag the shutter (leave it open) long enough to allow the LED Christmas tree lights to have their impact on the camera's sensor. In this particular case, the shutter was open for a full twenty seconds.

The time of day was just about 4PM, and the day was very cloudy and rainy. I mention that just to set the scene -- the room was fairly dark, and no room lamps were lit. The camera was on a tripod, and the single Speedlite was off camera. The Speedlite was in TTL mode, and was diffused by means of a Gary Fong Lightsphere.

I wanted a large depth of field, so I went with f/10, using a 24mm focal length on a full frame camera. ISO was set at 100.

The camera was in manual mode, and the camera's metering said I needed a shutter speed somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 seconds. I wanted the LED lights to pop, so I chose a shutter speed of twenty seconds.

One more thing about the setup. The star on top of the tree is basically a wire frame, coated with gold flecks. It doesn't really pick up that much light, so, while the shutter was open, I shined an LED flashlight on the star, for a few seconds.

Even with all this, some touch-up was required, in post. With a twenty second exposure, even on a dark afternoon, plenty of light will come through those blinds. I had to deal with that. White balance is always a compromise, in a shot like this, but I shoot in raw, so I had complete control. In Lightroom, I highlighted the lit areas of the trees, and turned up the saturation, a bit.

The end result is a shot that shows the details of the tree, but also the colors of the lights.

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photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Nicely captured details.

lowkick Loc: Connecticut

Nice effect, but I think it would have been better had you waited until dark.

leftj Loc: Texas

Very Cool! How may exposures did you take in order to get the one you wanted to work with in post?

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

I don't know what you use for PP, but if it's available to you, maybe lighten up the bottom third with a touch of graduated filter. Nice detail though!
I'll only mention because it's the type of thing I would overlook... with all the work you put into this, you should have (physically) removed that white extension cord. It looks like it's not even being used.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

Old school techniques are alive and well! Thanks for outlining the process for our less experienced members.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Anvil Loc: Loveland, CO

Thanks, all!

I don't recall how many test shots I took. The challenge was getting the Speedlite just right. In the beginning, I was overthinking it, and using the Speedlite in manual mode. Once I realized that the six inches between my ears were my biggest problem, I put the Speedlite in TTL mode, and it clicked right away. One shot with that setup, and I realized I needed a little highlight on the star, so I grabbed a little flashlight to paint it.

I actually wanted to do this in the afternoon, rather than at night. I've taken these shots at night, before, and I wanted to see what extra challenges might pop up.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

a great deal of planning and the wonderful image displays it.

Spudwheat Loc: South Central Idaho

Did ya have to say it??? Now, he's cursing himself! :-)

MtnMan Loc: ID

Thanks for the explanation!

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

The fun is in the learning.

MtnMan Loc: ID

One of the classes I attended called that boarder patrol. Easy to clone out.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Yes, night would have worked better. I'm surprised the windows aren't blown out.

Anvil Loc: Loveland, CO

Ah, the extension cord. I knew it was there. There is more to this story.

This was a small part of something that was inspired by this thread -- http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-428945-1.html, posted by alissaspieces. Alissa had posted what I thought was an excellent, comical shot of her family. That photo had a treatment that I've never attempted using. I thought I'd try my hand at something similar. I didn't post it, because it seemed a bit derivative, but it does show why the environment was not pristine.

I wanted a chaotic scene, but there are only two of us -- my wife and me. I wanted it the scene to look like a comic book scene in which the husband is trying to get the finishing touches on the tree, but does something stupid. The wife, of course, is horrified. Here is that shot. (The lights don't show up, in this shot, even though they were lit. That, indirectly, led to the shot that opened this post.)

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