Christmas Tree Pictures | Baton Rouge Family Portrait Photographer

This year I really wanted to get that iconic Christmas Tree picture of my girls.  Then reality set in, my girls weren't going to want to cooperate.  Their tree facination is intense, and has one objective, get everything you can off.  LOL.  So it was going to be tricky.  Christmas Eve I managed to get them in their Christmas PJs and in a good mood.  It was my chance.

I think they turned out great!  Since my kids have taken everything off our tree, I decided to do a close up so it wouldn't be noticed that much.

So how to pull it off?  Well, in order to get that beautiful tree glow here are some key steps.

One - Lights.   Lots of lights.  The more the merrier!  Pun intended.

Two - Turn off your lights in the room, leaving only the tree lights on.

Three - High ISO.  I mean high.  I was around a 2000 ISO for these images.  I honestly could have gone higher, but knew I wanted to under expose and then use Lightroom to enhance it a bit.

Four - Shutter speed, keep it fairly quick.  I mean they are kids after all.  Remember that 1/250 sec tip from my prior post?  Yep, stick with it so you don't get blurry kids.

Five - You will probably need an aperature that is larger.  I used an f/1.8.  This not only creates a beautiful bokeh or background blur, but helps let in more light.

Six - If you have it, you can bump up exposure a bit in editing.  

There you have it.  You should be all set.  Questions, let me know?  Have you tried it?  Join t.h.e. VIP Facebook Group and post your image.  I'm always happy to help answer your questions posted in the group page.

Tricia is a family photographer based out of Baton Rouge.   You can ensure you always get updates and posts to your inbox by joining t.h.e. VIP list.  Also, be sure to follow T.H.E. Photography's Instagram page!