Christmas Glow

Christmas at The Forks

Christmas Tree Lot

Christmas Tree Snowflake

I found a Christmas Tree snowflake today.

That was pretty sweet.

Christmas Reflection

I love playing with reflection in photography. Throw Christmas in as a subject and it only gets better!

I shot this reflection image at a speed of 1/25 sec with an aperture of f/2.8. My focal length was 70 and my ISO was 400.

This is a reflection of our tree in a grandfather clock casing's glass (no actual clock yet). With the f/2.8 aperture, the depth of field was pretty shallow, not allowing both the reflection and the casing to be in focus (my focal choice is obvious). This worked well for this particular image, especially once I added a texture layer and increased the contrast and saturation. It all came together quite beautifully.

Christmas Light

Let's open our curtains and doors and hearts and allow light in and light out this Christmas.
Let us love one another.

Christmas Bokeh

I love how the bokeh echoes the shape of the Christmas ball. Include bokeh. Look for bokeh. It can add so much to your image. Its light and form are positively magical.

I shot at a speed of 1/80 with an aperture of f/2.8. My focal length was 45 and ISO was a whopping 800. 

Tree Trimming

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree

We had such a wonderful time together yesterday evening as our family trimmed the tree, ate some good food, listened to carols and even played a game. Good old fashioned fun.

Photo tip: Including the lights' reflection in the window and avoiding the use of a flash add a little magic to a Christmas tree photo.

Oh Christmas Tree

I made it to the store right around opening this morning. I was on the hunt for a tree, a Christmas tree. The one we've had over the past years has been dying a slow death and it was time to replace it.

Spotting a tree about the size we've been looking for in the flyer yesterday, I decided it was time to get serious about replacing the tree. At half price, there was even greater incentive.

There were still a few of the trees I was looking for. They hadn't been snatched up yet. At first I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not but decided in the end it was very good. I loaded it into the cart and bought it.

The tree remains in the box, unopened. We won't put it up for awhile yet but at least we have it. It makes me think about our Christmas ornaments and decorating the tree together with the family while listening to Christmas tunes and eating some great food. It is a special time together.

Here are some shots of our ornaments taken over the last couple of years.