Want to know how to create this starburst effect with your Christmas lights????
It's fairly straight forward. And fairly simple to achieve.
Firstly your fstop must on it's narrowest setting which would be f22 or higher. When the f number is set at the highest number, the gap in the lens that the light passes through is at its tinie tiny narrowest. (think of your pupil when its very small).
The aperture blades closed so tightly within your lens work in your favour to create the starburst pattern.
But, (lol there is always a but) in order to get this effect, the amount of light entering your camera and hitting your sensor is very little, so the shutter must remain open for a long time to expose properly. Meaning to get enough light to see the picture details properly.
Tripod or a steady surface is essential for this. Even a stack of books will do. I had my camera on a milk stool and tilted upwards by placing my son's socks and my hanky (it's all I had within reach at the time) under the lens. I was laying on the floor looking up through the camera.
A remote trigger to trip the shutter is very useful, but your two second timer will do. If you have IS (Image Stabilser on Canon) or VR (Vibrtation Reduction on Nikon) or similar on your lens/camera - turn it off. As soon as you have your camera on a steady surface you don't need this device. In fact the continual working of it while not needing it, will be enough to blur that picture you are trying so hard to get sharp.
Similar with your mirror within your SLR camera. Read your manual on how to lock it up. When you press your shutter button the mirror lifts out of the way for the light entering the lens to hit the sensor. This 'mirror slap' is again enough to blur your pic.
If you are using your 2 second timer with mirror lock up, you'll need to press the shutter button twice. Once to lock up the mirror, and again to start the 2 second count down.
Set your white balance to tungsten (lightbulb) to get the correct tone of light to capture the lights on your tree. Take a few shots when you are set up and going, and then try a few on auto white balance. You may prefer one or the other.
Set your camera to AV. This is the setting to control your aperture. Your depth of focus. Remember f22.
Now have a look at your shutter speed. Most cameras wont expose for more than 30 seconds without going into another setting called bulb. (I'll leave this one for another time). Use your ISO to adjust your shutter to 30 seconds. You may need to adjust your ISO up if your pic is too dark, or down if your pic is too bright. The changing of your ISO will change your shutter for you. Start on ISO 400 and see what happens. I wouldn't go higher than 800 for fear of too much noise and grain in the final image.
Now compose your shot carefully. Your focus needs to be sharp on the important object. **hint - our eye will naturally travel to the colour of red so rearrange a bauble or light or whatever so its the primary subject. ** This will also usually be near the centre of the image and sometimes nearest the camera.
If you have liveview on your SLR this is a good time to learn how to use it. There is a magnify abilitly on your camera (check your manual) and you can zoom in up to 10x (canon) to really get the subject pin sharp
Point shoot cameras. Tripoding and vibration reduction as above are the same for you. I'd have a go with your night setting, or fireworks if you have one.
Share your images up here so we can see the Christmas festivities in your home. And put them in the Dec/Jan All things Christmasphoto challenge folder to be in the running for a $25 Scrap Therapy Voucher very generously donated by Danny and Lee-Anne. This will be open until the end of January to give you plenty of time to capture it during the festive season, and play with it at your lesiure after all the Chrissy decorations have all been packed away.
Failing everything else the streetlights will do this, or the lights on a jetty. they look great too. just remember f22 or higher and a tripod and delayed timer.
well done HelenP. I do like the angel being off center so she is more interesting.... and the starbursts look great. All is really needs is just a touch more light on the angel so she becomes more important than the starbursts within the image. If you turn on a light in an adjacent room that might work. or even have the kids stand back a fair way with a torch to light her up (not too close or the angel will become overbright) maybe if they stood on the other side of the room. Or have a few folds of tissue over the torch to diffuse the strength of the beam of light, then maybe you can shine it on her when you are standing by the camera.
thanks Tiff. I'll see if I can have another go. I forgot about the torch trick. We were trying to use other fairy lights to get the light on the angel right, but the equivalent of a spottie should do the trick.
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