How to get that twinkle on a Christmas tree?

[heathermarie]

So I have a family shoot tonight. 2 adults and their 1 year old. We're going to be doing it in front of the Christmas tree. How do you all get that awesome twinkling from the Christmas tree lights? I'll be using off camera lighting. Or is that done post processing? Thanks for your input!

[StanNJ1]

Heather pull your subjects away from the tree, underexpose the background by 1-2 stops, and use a large aperture to blur the tree.

[joedlh]

How do you all get that awesome twinkling from the Christmas tree lights? I'll be using off camera lighting. Or is that done post processing? Thanks for your input!

If you blur the tree, you won't be able to get twinkling lights out of the camera. Otherwise, use a specialty filter, like a star filter.

There are loads of Photoshop plugins for this purpose. Google: "star filter photoshop plugin".

[highbarger]

Check out the technique demonstrated at this page (http://www.escrappers.com/starfilter.html). It doesn't use a plugin, but a flare overlay. Might be faster than a plugin.

[R_Metzel]

If you are using off camera lighting shoot at f11 or smaller and adjust lighting to fit the aperture.

[tonylong]

So I have a family shoot tonight. 2 adults and their 1 year old. We're going to be doing it in front of the Christmas tree. How do you all get that awesome twinkling from the Christmas tree lights? I'll be using off camera lighting. Or is that done post processing? Thanks for your input!

It depends on what exactly you're after. One approach is to use Flash Exposure Compensation to lower your flash power and then to expose for the background, maybe a bit of a slow shutter speed (use a tripod). Your typical flash photo will have the Christas tree look like it's in the daylight and the lights will be pretty dim. If you keep the flash power low and the exposure emphacising the ambient light, you should bring the brightness out of the lights themselves.

You might want to run some test shots before getting the people formally together so you can get a feel for things ahead of time.

[Ook]

Using a narrow aperture (such as f/11 as recommended by Rob) emphasizes the trails around a small light source. If I recall correctly, making a "X" in front of your lens with two pieces of wire (and tape them to the rim of your UV filter or lens) will make the effect even stronger.