Tip 3: Shoot holiday lights at twilight

3. Shoot holiday lights at twilight. One of the best things about winter is that many people adorn their houses and trees with holiday lights, which are great subject matter to photograph during the season.

My favorite time to shoot is at twilight. The perfect time is when your exposure renders the lights bright against a deep-purple sky. Wait too long, and the sky goes dark; shoot too early, and the lights don’t show well. Don’t limit yourself to shooting houses with lights—create your own scene to shoot. I like to add holiday lights to glowing tents, skis, snowshoes or anything else that will be interesting. If you don’t have an extension cord to reach your string of lights, try using a portable generator to give you power.

Another fun activity photographing holiday lights is using long exposures and zooming during the exposure. Also try rotating your camera during the exposure. You can produce an endless kaleidoscope of colors and motion blurs.

Source: Digital Photo Magazine

 

 

Tip 2: Use bounce flash indoors

2. Use bounce flash indoors. Remember the last time you went to a party, broke out your camera and started shooting candid shots of friends and family, confident that you were creating some fantastic images? But when you browsed the images on the computer, you had overexposed faces, black backgrounds and red-eye reflections in grandma’s eyes that reminded you of a horror movie. Next time, try using bounce flash to eliminate these problems.

Bounce flash works by aiming your TTL flash head toward the ceiling or other reflective surface and bouncing the light back onto your subject. Many rooms and buildings have white ceilings, perfect for bounce flash. Just remember, your flash will pick up the color of the surface it’s bouncing off of.
 
TTL speedlight flashes still read bounced flash output via TTL, so your exposures should be about right. But the quality and direction of light from bounced flash will create softer light and eliminate red-eye reflections. Bouncing flash off ceilings also brightens up big rooms, reducing dark backgrounds. Next time you’re at a party, try a test bounce-flash shot and see what you get; you might be surprised.


Source: Digital Photo Magazine
 

Tip 1: Make the Snow White

The holiday season is quickly approaching. It is time to start buying presents, selecting the holiday menu and also start charging your photo cameras. I would like to share with you a few tips on how to enhance your photos this holiday season. I found them very useful and hope you use them to create memorable images. Courtesy of Digital Photo Magazine - your #1 guide for better digital photography.

Here goes the first tip for all those who are lucky to have some snow out there:)

Tip #1. Make the snow white

The easiest way to make snow white is to check your histogram after you take the shot. The histogram represents the amount of specific tonalities in a scene, with the right side representing the bright tones and the left side showing dark tones. When reviewing your histogram, make sure it’s pushed to the right side so the snow is white. Do this in manual mode by opening up (choosing a wider aperture) or slowing your shutter speed, both of which let in more light in the exposure. In program, shutter and aperture modes, add light by going +1 stop or more with the exposure compensation button. Your histogram should push right up against the right side to make the snow white.



Winter scenery




Christmas Decorations 2010

This is how we decorated for Christmas this year! Enjoy and get ideas:)

Thanks "Michael's" for having everything for a perfect holiday season!

Lightened up tree

More light

Go Canes!

Snowflakes remind me of cold Russian weather

Love donuts, even on the Christmas tree

Nacimiento de Jesus

My creation: some ashberries and  pine cones all covered by snow

It's beginning to feel like...

With such cold days here in Miami, the only thing I can think of is Christmas, decorations, trees, and presents. These two pictures are old but give you an idea of how Russians decorate trees for the holiday season. They are truly gorgeous every year!

P.S. The picture of my beautiful Christmas tree to come soon!

Town of Sergiev Posad. Main plaza tree.

Moscow's most beautiful tree at the GUM (fency department store).

Find Anna

Click here to see one of my photos featured on ePhotoAwards.com.

Did you find me? No? I'm the one with the flower...

Welcome back, Winter!

Winter is one of my favorite seasons, partly because of the holidays coming with it. When I lived in Russia, I always looked forward to the winter season because I could play snowballs and ice-skate. Now that I am in Miami, I am still a winter fan, although without snow and the cold it doesn't feel the same. Today in Moscow it's 15 degrees F below zero and in Miami it's 71 degrees F. What a difference, huh!

I took this picture from my apartment in Russia, couple of years ago. It was a really cold morning, but absolutely beautiful! Trees stood still all covered by white frost. I hope this picture brings some freshness and winter sensation into your housholds as it did into mine when  I saw this picture this morning. 

 Happy Winter!

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