Day 5 - Christmas Photo Countdown

Day 5: Gingerbread houses

Photo Info:

50mm, ISO 500, f/2.0, 1/50th sec.

Photo Tip:

I've gotten some great questions from several of you about how to take certain pictures or how achieve a particular effect. And many of you are interested in how to take pictures indoors, without a flash. SO here are some tips on taking indoor pictures...

1- turn off all of the overhead lights as it will make for a funky color situation. Only rely on light coming from the windows. see examples below.

photo taken with the overhead light on causing an orange hue.

The lights were turned off using only the light coming in from the window behind me.

2- If it's nighttime, there are no windows or it's just plain cloudy and dreary outside then of course keep the overhead lights on but make sure your white balance is set on incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Or if you use a manual white balance put the number very low such as 2700K.

3- Use a lens with a very low aperture (f/1.4, 1.8 ...) in order to let in as much as possible.

4- If needed, (as in you are not getting a fast enough shutter speed even though your aperture is very low) start to increase your ISO until you gain a sufficient shutter speed.

5- If all else fails, try to hold VERY STILL while you take the picture to reduce camera shake causing blurriness.

And a few more pics just to finish it off!

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