

Your mileage may vary, but setting your shutter speed to 1/60th or 1/80th is typically a good place to begin when shooting indoors in a home with average natural light. My house tends to be fairly dark in the winter months, so I typically set my shutter speed to the slowest speed that I’m comfortable hand-holding, which is 1/60th of a second. But every lens is different, so take some time to experiment a bit with your aperture and discover what works best for you and the equipment that you are using. I find that f/2.5 is the sweet spot when shooting two children with my 50mm lens. Try shooting one frame at f/1.8, another at f/2.0, and a third at f/2.5. Keep in mind that just because your lens has the capability to shoot at f/1.8 doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best choice in terms of settings. In order to achieve those beautiful blurry lights, you’ll want to shoot with a relatively wide open aperture, which means that you’ll probably want to shoot somewhere between f/1.8 and f/2.8. If possible, angle your subject(s) so that they’re facing a window in order to most easily achieve catchlights in the subject’s eyes. Once you’re ready to begin, set a chair or ottoman about 2-3 feet in front of the Christmas tree, and have your kid or kiddos sit down with the tree in the background behind them. So shooting in the morning or early afternoon a few weeks before Christmas is a win-win for us all. Plus, my kids are much less tired and grumpy before 2pm than they are after the sun goes down.
#Christmas tree bokeh dog skin#
I find that doing so allows me to take advantage of the available light indoors to capture natural skin tones, and still allows me to capture the blurred lights in the background as well. When taking photos of my kids in front of the Christmas tree, I prefer to shoot during the day rather than at night. For these particular images, I typically prefer my 50mm lens.
#Christmas tree bokeh dog how to#
Have you ever seen a photo of a child in front of a Christmas tree and wondered exactly how to achieve those nicely blurred lights in the background? I have good news for you–it’s so easy! In this article, I’ll walk you through it step by step so that you can create special family photographs of your kids by the Christmas tree this holiday season in almost no time at all.Ī DSLR or mirrorless camera, and a lens with the capability to shoot somewhere between f/1.8-2.8.
