It has to be said that this year has been one of the strangest and hardest I’ve lived through, but next week is Christmas, so it’s a chance to relax. Lockdown did give me the chance to improve my own skills though, and I’m pleased with that.
Over the Christmas period and the soon-to-come New Year you can also try out new photographic ideas, especially if you have some Christmas lights up.
Anyone can photograph the lights in focus, but why not think about how they might look if you deliberately get them out of focus? It’s called “bokeh”, and you get the best sharp-edged circles if you shoot with your lens aperture wide open. Use manual focus of course.
As well as photographing the lights directly you could look for their reflections. Try mirrors, picture frame glass, or in this case a brass light switch. Things that aren’t completely flat are best as they produce distorted, abstract versions of the lights.
However you celebrate, I hope you stay safe and that you have an equally safe New Year.
PS I won’t be leading any holidays for HF next year, so will have more time to offer one-to-one training. What do you want to learn?