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Tutorials & Tips
December 01
15 min. to read
6 steps to save miraculous Christmas scenes memories on amazing photographs
One of the classic Christmas winter scenes, a marvelous landscape full of snow and warm lights catches the eye of every photographer. But when it comes to capturing this beauty on camera, the charm disappears – and viewers evaluate the Christmas scenes as boring and unengaging. But what if they were awesome? How can you bring this magic back? Here’s a guide to capturing incredible winter scenes and preserving their attractiveness in your photos.
Cold temperatures, an inevitable part of outdoor Christmas scenes, call for appropriate preparation. Special gear and a clear understanding of how to use it will be helpful.
Use these tips for capturing outstanding winter scenes:
What’s winter without snow? The same question applies to a classy Christmas scene.
You’ll need special skills to showcase bright and clean snow while shooting outdoor Christmas scenes. Specifically, you should learn how to overcome two basic problems: underexposure and color tint.
Here are some useful tips for capturing Christmas snow scenes:
The magic of Christmas photography lies in creating a sharp contrast between outdoor cold and darkness and indoor warmth and light. A long exposure is needed if you want to capture really beautiful Christmas scenes.
This will work best with a tripod, as it will eliminate unnecessary noise. Besides, if combined with a slow shutter speed, a tripod enables a streaking effect in your images. To use a tripod wisely, work in manual mode, put the ISO to 100, and adjust the aperture to something around f/8 or f/16.
At the same time, a tripod is useful even if you only want to capture some chilly winter scenes. If you’re in a bright place (like an amusement park), the illumination will be strong enough that you can leave the tripod at home. In other words, pay attention to the circumstances.
As guides on winter photography recommend, you should search for something more than just snow in the chilly scenes of winter. For example, lights are powerful enough to turn basic winter scenes into magical Christmas scenes.
When it comes to capturing Christmas lights, the ability to create a sharp contrast between the dark background and bright light is a necessary skill. At the same time, a dark blue sky in the early evening is also among the most beautiful Christmas scenes. So use the magic of this hour in combination with focusing on lights.
Technically, making a good shot of this type is easier with the proper exposure. Here are some tips on how to adjust this setting when capturing Christmas winter scenes:
Once you have all the necessary knowledge of camera settings and equipment, space opens for creativity. At this stage, your talent as a photographer comes to the stage. Though there’s no single recipe here, check out these ideas to reveal your unique approach to shooting winter scenes:
Even if you follow all of these recommendations, your winter scenes may still contain many problems that can’t be addressed when you’re capturing the photos. To deal with them, don’t hesitate to use photo editors.
For example, if you have an image of a model with a red nose, consider using a saturation adjustment tool. Specifically, move the red saturation to around -10 and the orange saturation to around -5 in Photoshop. As a result, the red nose will be muted and the model will look more attractive.
Another useful measure is to balance the white-and-grey atmosphere that commonly accompanies winter scenes. To work on it, increase the black point in the image during post-production. Consequently, you’ll see more accurate details and sharper saturation in your images. Additionally, you can erase any haze from them.
Finally, photo editors include color editor that can change the mood of an image. For Christmas scenes, the effect is truly encouraging: with special photo presents available in photo editing software, you can easily change the atmosphere in an image from dark to hopeful, mysterious, or warm. You can make both dramatic changes and slight adjustments to your winter photos, so don’t stop yourself and start practicing!
Combining simplicity in use and Photoshop-like functionality, Luminar is the best choice at the post-production stage for Christmas scenes. Just download it and enjoy editing your winter photos with Luminar!
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