Thought I enter this post for I Heart Faces Holiday Bokeh and also as a tutorial. To get an amazing Christmas light photo first you need to increase your ISO. I know many people said wouldn’t your picture turn out really grainy? The answer is yes, but if you have a software like Lightroom or Photoshop you can remove the graininess.
The picture below was shot handheld at ISO 2500, 1/160 sec F1.4. All the lights were off since I wanted the Christmas tree lights to stand out a little bit. If you shoot at 1/150 or above most likely your picture will turn out sharp. However, I did open the aperture really wide intentionally at F1.4 to achieve the blurry effect and of course bringing in more light.
ISO 800, 1/15 sec F1.8. Personally, the outcome of the picture tends to be blurry if you shoot at 1/60 or lower. Always try to keep your camera as steady as possible. This photo was shot handheld.
ISO 1250, 1/15 sec F4.5. My first plan was to shoot the beautiful and colorful fall leaves outside the house. Unfortunately it was too cold so I decided to break off a couple branches and put it in a flower vase. As you can tell there was a lot of ambient light indoor. I set the shutter speed at 1/15 so the Christmas tree lights sparkle really big and beautiful in the background. Again, make sure your camera is as steady as possible to achieve this effect. You can use a tripod or anything to steady your camera. This picture was also shot handheld. I had to shoot this angle multiple times to get the leaves in focus.
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