Webshots Blog

It’s beginning to look like the holidays here at Webshots. Here in Cleveland, the snow is falling and our editors were shouting “yoo-hoo” with this week’s entries for the Creative Challenge: Season’s Greetings Around the World. It was so very interesting to see the variety of ways our members across the globe celebrate the season.

#1.Photographer dickbendele captured a holiday memory that millions visiting Disney World have enjoyed since 1995. With Over 4 million lights, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights began as a family labor of love in Arkansas, but was eventually moved to Orlando after being banned by the Arkansas courts. Whether a light display is large or small, from coast to coast, we just love the holiday tradition of Christmas lights. It’s not easy to capture a sharp image of Christmas lights in a crowd either. Congrats to member dickbendele —we’ll feature your photo on the homepage tomorrow!

#2. Member jeffj69′s spiritual image of a church bathed in moonlight reminds us of the Biblical story of the Three Wise Men following the North Star. Congratulations on capturing this image rich in the iconic symbolism of the birth of Christ.

#3. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas this year? Member lavender_dawn captured a very eloquent image of an frosty ornament hung in a snowy forest. This photo is simply a classic capture that exemplifies Season’s Greetings!

Thank you to everyone who entered this week’s challenge. To see all the festive entries in the Creative Challenge: Season’s Greetings Around the World, visit the DISPLAY PAGE.

 

If your Christmas tree is decorated, then it’s time to take pictures and share them with your friends and family. But before you do, follow these handy tips to make sure your photos have that classic holiday feel—hey, you could even make photo books and cards with them and send them out this year!

#1. Be mindful of the ambient light in the room. If you desire to include details like tree ornaments in the photo, be sure to turn on a lamp or two in the room. You may also want to turn off your flash as it will typically wash out the warm and cozy color in the room, though it might be necessary to include a fill flash if you’re also taking a portrait of someone in front of the tree.

#2. Whether you own a point-and-shoot camera or a digital SLR, use a tripod, use a tripod, use a tripod—yes, it’s that important!

#3. If your lens has a switch to turn off image stabilization, turn it off. The vibration of the lens will cause the camera to move slightly during a long exposure.

#4. If you’re photographing the tree by itself, turn off your flash and use a longer exposure. Set your camera’s ISO to 400 and then take some test shots on Manual or (M) mode instead of Program (P) or Automatic (A). Adjust the shutter speed and/or f-stop until the exposure looks right. As a place to start, try setting the ISO to 400, the f-stop to 8 and the exposure to 1/30th of a second. If the image appears too dark, increase your exposure to 1/15th or 1 second. Using an f-stop setting of 5.6, for example, will achieve a more shallow depth of field but require a shorter exposure than higher settings, such as f/16.

#5. If you don’t own a cable release or shutter remote for your digital camera, use the camera’s self timer to avoid shaking the camera during exposure.

#6. If your photo appears too orange for your taste, in the camera’s menu, adjust the white balance settings to tungsten.

#7. For capturing outdoor light displays, use the same exposure theory as you would for indoor shots, but switch the white balance settings to outdoor. I prefer to photograph outdoor displays around 30-40 minutes after sunset so that the camera can still record ambient light and capture some color that remains in the sky. For a shot like the one above, switch to aperture priority mode, set your f-stop to 5.6 or 8 and let the camera determine the proper exposure for you. Don’t forget to use the exposure compensation button (that’s the +/- button) to tweak the exposure: Use the (+) settings in increments to lighten the image and the (–) settings in increments to darken the image.

#8. Want to get this effect with the Christmas lights in your photo? Place a star filter in front of your lens and twinkle away!

You’re all set to snap some amazing pictures of your Christmas tree and all the wonderful outdoor displays. Happy holidays!

Click to enlarge

Want to make sure your photo gifts and prints from the Webshots store arrive in time for Christmas morning? Then check out our shipping deadlines chart. We have standard, 2-Day and Overnight options available.

Happy Holidays!

Photo walks, a popular activity among photo-sharing communities, let us all be a part of something no matter where we are in the world. By taking a walk this weekend and sharing the pictures with us, you’re contributing to a global mural of life.

So put on your walking shoes, grab your camera and go for a walk. You’ll be surprised at the photographic opportunities that present themselves. We’d love to see all of your photos as you can submit as many as you like!

Please tag your photos with Weekend Photo Walk 54 and then post your links in the comment section. Your entries won’t be judged—this is just for the fun of it!

What do the holidays mean to you? I love finding traditions from around the world to incorporate into my holiday celebrations. Tell us a photographic story of what makes this season so special in your country, neighborhood or family for this week’s Creative Challenge: Season’s Greetings Around the World.

OFFICIAL ENTRY RULES
To officially enter the Creative Challenge, you must tag your three submissions with creative-challenge-greetings. You can then view them and everyone else’s submissions on the DISPLAY PAGE (it updates about every hour). To find out more about this, read the Using Tags on Creative Challenges post.

Submission Guidelines
1. Our editors look for sharp, clear horizontal images that are at a minimum resolution of 800×600 (submissions can have larger resolutions than this). Currently, vertical images cannot fit in the homepage template. Therefore, we cannot publish vertical or narrow panoramic images.

2. Images with added text or images, including watermarks, logos, copyright symbols, graphic borders, frames and time stamps, will not be considered. Collages, however, are acceptable.

3. Please do not submit pictures that have already been featured on the homepage.

4. The Creative Challenge runs from 12:01 a.m. on December 3 to 3:00 p.m. on December 8 (all times EST).

5. 3 pictures per member tagged exactly (including hyphens) with: creative-challenge-greetings

*Note:Images that don’t meet the exact guidelines can be submitted and viewed for everyone to enjoy, but please understand that we cannot publish images that don’t meet minimum guidelines on the homepage. Also, now that you’re tagging your entries, you don’t need to post links in the comments section anymore.

NEXT WEEK’S THEME: Jack Frost With winter fast approaching (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) it’s a great time to shoot the changing weather. There are so many great “frosty” images on Webshots, I thought this would be a fun challenge. For those of you in a warmer climate, you can explore other frosty icons, maybe a frosty beer mug or a chilly drink. Whatever you do, have fun! — and thank you to the members that gently nudged me to update “Next Week’s Theme”

From national monuments to statues of hometown heroes, landmarks surround us in everyday life. In this week’s Creative Challenge: Landmarks, we asked you to show us these symbols from your perspective. We enjoyed learning about the landmarks and where they’re located, and these three wonderful entries really stood out.

#1. What a rare and beautiful moment member lorrainemx captured: a glorious rainbow over the Stones of Callanish in Scotland. The dark, looming clouds are a perfect contrast to the vibrant colors of the rainbow, which gracefully arcs above the stones in the foreground. Congrats to member lorrainemx—we’ll feature you’re photo on the homepage tomorrow!

#2. We enjoy the close-up perspective of Ireland’s famous Giant’s Causeway taken by member noraquick as we can see the weathered detail in the interlocking basalt columns that are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. The use of black-and-white worked wonderfully to further enhance the details. Nice job!

#3. Ahhh, Venice! Member bfryxell submitted a classic image of the beautiful water ways for which the city is famous. We loved the engaging perspective as it made us feel like we were in a gondola ourselves, traveling through the romantic scenery of Venice. Congrats!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Challenge and shared their photos with us. We really enjoyed viewing all the entries and hope you had fun as well. To see all the entries in the Creative Challenge: Landmarks, visit the DISPLAY PAGE.