How to properly photograph New Year's decorations

Published: 21.12.2021

New Year is the most favorable time for creating bright and magical photos. The lights from garlands, decorated Christmas trees, ornaments, delicious treats - all of this looks beautiful in photos and captures the festive atmosphere. Even the most ordinary photo can become more interesting if you add some New Year decorations to the shot. Decorations can be made at home and photographed without even leaving the house. You can also go on a photo walk in the evening or at night in a city decorated with lights. The main thing is to prepare and know in advance how to correctly capture New Year lights to convey the magical atmosphere in the photo. Let's consider how to properly adjust the camera settings to get high-quality shots and what techniques can help improve the photos.

"How to adjust the camera settings for shooting New Year decorations"

To shoot New Year's decorations, you will need a mirrorless camera with good optics. Even the most advanced smartphone camera will not be able to capture the full beauty of the New Year lights. To achieve a blurry background with a bokeh effect, you need to shoot with a long exposure, so it will be difficult to do without a tripod. It is also useful to have a remote shutter release to avoid blurring the image when shooting in manual mode. Use the following tips for photographing New Year's decorations:

Remove the New Year garlands in dim light or without it. In bright light, you will get a blurred image where the lanterns will not stand out.

Switch the camera to night mode.

Do not use automatic settings, always use manual mode. Even the most advanced optics cannot fully adjust autofocus with a hundred blinking lights.

Take photos without the flash, if you additionally illuminate bright garlands, the photo will turn out overexposed.

To achieve a bokeh effect in a photo with beautiful twinkling garlands in the background, set the aperture to the highest value possible.

If you want to capture the sparkling rays of New Year's lanterns, use artistic filters for the lens and reduce the aperture size. In addition, protective filters that allow you to control the amount of light penetration will also be useful.

Correctly compose the frame. The New Year tree does not necessarily have to be in the center of the frame. Experiment, shoot from the side, at an angle, from above or, on the contrary, shoot from below, lying on the floor. The angle of view makes a big difference, look at things in a way they are not usually looked at. For example, very impressive shots of a city Christmas tree can be taken from a drone at bird's eye view.

"What to pay attention to when shooting New Year's decorations"

To create stunning photos with New Year's decorations, we recommend paying attention to the following points:

Approach the choice of location for shooting responsibly. If you are shooting at home, remove all unnecessary items from the frame, choose a plain wall that does not distract attention from the decor. If scattered items around the apartment will be in the frame, it will definitely not add attractiveness to your photos. When shooting outdoors, choose late evening or night time, so that passersby do not get into the frame and distract you from the process.
Take photos of unique decorations that you can make yourself. Standard ornaments and garlands look ordinary. Try to decorate the Christmas tree with something original, for example, hang photos on it or decorate it with apples and bananas instead of pine cones. Use your imagination and interesting shots are guaranteed.
You don't have to photograph the whole Christmas tree at once, try using the macro mode to capture the details of the patterns on the ornaments or snowflakes. You can also focus on a single branch of the tree or its lower part with Christmas presents and plush toys.
People are always interested in observing the process of creating something. Capture the process of creating New Year decorations, show the Christmas tree without decorations, in the middle of the decorating process, and the final result. You can create several different variations of decorating the tree and ask viewers to choose the most beautiful one.
New Year's mood in photos can be created not only by a Christmas tree with garlands. You can capture children's letters to Santa Claus, the process of wrapping gifts or preparing New Year's dishes. All of these photos will be interesting to look back on years later and remember family New Year traditions.
Create interesting compositions. For example, take off a few ornaments from the Christmas tree, lay them out on a beautiful fabric, add some rain, candles, and you will already have an interesting shot.
Pay attention to New Year accessories. Santa Claus hats, Christmas socks, warm scarves, and sweaters with reindeer look great in photos and create a festive atmosphere.
Be sure to take photos of the New Year's gifts. Capture the moment when children unwrap them, as they will be interested to remember what gifts Santa Claus brought them in their childhood.
Take photos in different lighting conditions. A city Christmas tree looks completely different early in the morning, in the bright sunlight of the day, and in the evening lights. Having several photos with different lighting options will make it easier to choose the most successful shot.

Create a Light album from cool photos. You don't need to print the photos separately. We will print your photos directly onto the pages of the Light album. Upload images to the free Mapi7 editor and create a themed Light album. You can upload photos from your phone.

Make a Light album

The most important thing when shooting New Year's decorations is to enjoy the process. Remember your childhood and how eagerly you awaited the holiday. Try to convey the childlike sense of magic and fairy tale in your photos. And the best shots you take from New Year's can be preserved by ordering a Light album or photo book from Mapi.