Some holiday lights at night, and brief shooting advice

A bit ago I put up a new gallery with some outdoor holiday lights shot at a local botanical garden. You can find them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/sets/72157632229246344/

I'll post a few sample below.

I wanted to add to the images though with a few thoughts after shooting specifically using the Merrill sensor, beyond the standard advice on shooting holiday lights you can find elsewhere.

I ended up shooting these a bit darker (mostly) than I should have.  I keep saying in other threads that you should really over-expose some for the Merrill sensor - well this is no exception.  Remember that a lot of what we like about the lights is the glow they give the surroundings, and if you lower exposure too much to keep from blowing out lights you will lose all that beautiful glow on trees and people.  Even f the bulbs blow out a bit that is OK if you can make out better the glow on the immediate surrounding of the light.

So that said, enjoy the images!

Red Bud

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/8265495953/in/set-72157632229246344

The Secret Life of Pine

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/8266564736/in/set-72157632229246344

iVigil

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/8266569734/in/set-72157632229246344

Soft Light

(this was one of the few I thought I exposed well for)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/8265499089/in/set-72157632229246344

The Ephemeral Tree

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/8266568284/in/set-72157632229246344

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---> Kendall
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