Indoor Christmas pics of kids - Photography?

A

angela

New member
I was wondering if someone could give me some tips?

This year I was going to try to do my own Christmas pics at home, since we’re on a tight budget right now. However, I just don’t know enough about my camera to get the shots that I’m looking for.

Last year I tried a bunch of things and the tree was just always washed out by the flash. If I would turn off the flash, then I couldn’t see the kids.

How can I get a good picture of them in front of the tree that shows the beautiful lights, yet still be able to see the kids faces clearly ? I’d love to be able to do the blurred lights in the background too. Just something that makes the lights really stand out but able to see the kiddies well too…. Help… What settings?

I have the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSI

Thanks for your time!
Thanks for the suggestions! The one problem I see if that my aperature will not go below 4.0 ??
 
Teri has given you some great advice. Just in case you think the tree lights won't show up, here is a link to one of mine from a couple of years ago. Made in early afternoon, there is north facing window behind them to camera left, with southern facing light opposite. You can see the amount of light streaming in from both sides, but the tree lights and colors pick up wonderfully. This one was shot with a 50mm f/1.4 wide open, but you should be able to get some background blur with the slower kit lens. Just move them as far from the tree as possible (mine were just a couple of feet away) and zoom in using aperture priority.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12604020@N05/2197612979/

Best of luck, and keep trying if you are not as successful the first time as you hope. Happy Holidays!
 
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