An Illuminating Photo Shoot

An inauspicious start!

Continuing where I left off with yesterday’s blog post about taking photos of bright Christmas lights:

As you can see from the above photo, which was my first attempt snapping away in Pecan Grove, I got off to a lousy start. Remember all that practicing I had done the day before for taking photos on a ProGrad hayride? I forgot one teensy, tiny, minute detail: The vehicle would be moving.

While in my neighborhood, I was either on foot or shooting from a stopped car. I didn’t consider that the hayride vehicle would be on the go for most of its 45 minutes of travel. Which led to a bunch of blurred photos until I increased my shutter speed to compensate for how fast the car I was in was going. Duh!

Sidebar: Yes, I wimped out and rode in the car, driven by the husband of my friend Darlene, instead of in the trailer it was pulling. Hey, it was cold that evening! Can’t shoot well with frozen fingers (or so I rationalized!).

Lots to see at this house

As we drove along the lit-up streets of Pecan Grove, there was so much beauty to take in and photograph. The residents did themselves proud! The Nikon D700 and 50mm lens were up to the task, as my ISO was mostly set on 2500. I kept the exposure compensation at –.3 and –.7 (depending on how many lights there were), so I could retain as much lights detail as possible.

Here’s a sample of what we saw:

It's an Incredibles Christmas!

Santa also apparently flies a plane!

Lots of pretty lights here

Kung Fu Panda takes center stage.

This house featured a horde of snowpeople.

This seemed to be everyone's favorite: The Ho Ho Ho house.

Ho ho ho! Seems to be an apt sentiment for tonight!