Flickering Lights

Creative Corner - Holiday Series #2

Festive Photography Series Part 2

Hello Reader,

Welcome back to Part 2 of our photography tip series! This week, we’re diving into one of the most magical effects you can achieve with your camera: bokeh (pronounced boh-kay) and shallow depth of field. These techniques are perfect for capturing the beauty of flickering lights, like holiday decorations, candlelit scenes, or cityscapes at night.

Tip 1: Open Up Your Aperture

The key to creating bokeh and a shallow depth of field is using a wide aperture. This means setting your f-stop to a low number, like f/1.8, f/2.8, or f/4. The wider the aperture, the more those background lights will blur into soft, glowing orbs.

📱 iPhone Tip: On iPhones with Portrait mode, switch to it and position your subject close to the lens for an automatic blur effect.

Tip 2: Create Distance Between Your Subject and the Background

The farther your subject is from the flickering lights, the more those lights will blur into beautiful bokeh. Position your subject closer to the camera and let the lights in the background take on that magical softness.

Tip 3: Flickering Lights at Night

To capture beautiful lighting and Christmas decor at night use Night mode on your iPhone camera automatically turns on in low light, but you can also manually turn it on or off. A moon icon in the top left corner of the screen indicates that Night mode is on.

You can adjust the Auto and Max timers by dragging the slider left or right.

Do you have questions or want to share your photos? Hit reply—I’d love to see what you create!

Until next time,
Lori
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