Help with Christmas Tree photo

[iriairi]

First year with a fake tree (it was a very tough call) and I refused to get green. Taking pictures of a white tree, has proved challenging. Any suggestions for how to improve these? The tree usually comes down on Jan 1, so I thought I might try a few more times before then to see if I could improve it...

If this isn't the right forum for this, let me know and I will move it to the right place.

 

[SrBiscuit]

i would definitely go with less ambient light, and expose for a longer time...
maybe close that app and see if you can get the star patterns from the lights?...
avoid the arm of that chair/couch...
try different angles...get down and shoot up it...

 

[mrodgers]

....and I refused to get green.

Ah ha! There was a huge thread on another forum (non-photography) that I am active on.

Fake trees are certainly not "more green". Fake trees are made of plastic and metal, where at the end of their usage, get dumped in a landfill.

Real trees on the other hand, I know of no one who runs out hiking in the woods in hunt of that perfect Christmas tree anymore. Christmas trees are harvested from Christmas tree farms of which they are planted specifically for harvesting. Afterwards, they can be disposed of in multiple ways that could have no bearing on being green or not. Shred them up and put them around your landscaping is one example.

So, are you being green by purchasing a plastic Christmas tree? Or would buying a real tree that was specifically planted and left to grow for a few years sucking up C02 and breathing off oxygen then harvested on a tree farm being green? With people "going green" and going with a plastic tree over real trees, the tree farms will go out of business. No business, no more trees being planted. No more trees being planted, no more trees sitting in the fields for a few years growing and sucking up that carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen.

My fake tree is on it's last legs. I think next year, we are going to "get green" and leave the fake in the basement and get ourselves a real tree :mrgreen:

 

[iriairi]

Ah ha! There was a huge thread on another forum (non-photography) that I am active on.

Fake trees are certainly not "more green". Fake trees are made of plastic and metal, where at the end of their usage, get dumped in a landfill.

Real trees on the other hand, I know of no one who runs out hiking in the woods in hunt of that perfect Christmas tree anymore. Christmas trees are harvested from Christmas tree farms of which they are planted specifically for harvesting. Afterwards, they can be disposed of in multiple ways that could have no bearing on being green or not. Shred them up and put them around your landscaping is one example.

So, are you being green by purchasing a plastic Christmas tree? Or would buying a real tree that was specifically planted and left to grow for a few years sucking up C02 and breathing off oxygen then harvested on a tree farm being green? With people "going green" and going with a plastic tree over real trees, the tree farms will go out of business. No business, no more trees being planted. No more trees being planted, no more trees sitting in the fields for a few years growing and sucking up that carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen.

My fake tree is on it's last legs. I think next year, we are going to "get green" and leave the fake in the basement and get ourselves a real tree :mrgreen:

I was actually talking about the color of the tree. Any advice on photographing it better?

 

[LaFoto]

I know of no one who runs out hiking in the woods in hunt of that perfect Christmas tree anymore.

You don't?
Well. Know me!
My son cut our tree on 21 December.
OK, it grew on a "Christmas tree farm" and not in the woods (we wouldn't be allowed to just walk into any of the woods round here and cut any tree we liked!), but it was cut for Christmas, and it is green, and primarily green (not so many ornaments in it). You can see it here (hoping that this link will take you right to the post within the theme thread on Christmas decorations over in the Photo Themes).

As to your photos of the white tree (which will be taken down today, so here's your LAST chance for a photo!) - put the camera on a tripod, choose a small (!) aperture (f11 or so), long exposure, pull the curtains (i.e. exclude that window), move the furniture, so nothing sticks into the frame from somewhere outside, and expose for long enough. Move up closer, too.

 

[iriairi]

As to your photos of the white tree (which will be taken down today, so here's your LAST chance for a photo!) - put the camera on a tripod, choose a small (!) aperture (f11 or so), long exposure, pull the curtains (i.e. exclude that window), move the furniture, so nothing sticks into the frame from somewhere outside, and expose for long enough. Move up closer, too.

I think that the close approach worked best... Just too much contrast to get anything that I was really happy with. The main focus ornament is a little soft, but part of that is the ornament itself. Thanks for the advice.