Okay, confession first. I don’t have a single reflective glass ball on my Christmas tree. There is no color scheme to go by, no theme to the Christmas decor. Wait, I take that back, there is a major theme to the way I decorate for Christmas–tradition. Not in the “must-only-use-green-and-red-and-holly-berries” tradition sense, but rather “each-piece-of-Christmas-in-our-home-has-either-a-purpose-or-meaning.” Long-winded enough for you?

Instead of reflective glass balls, sparkly snowflakes, or coordinating ribbon, I have a keepsake from last January’s cruise and a glass duck for our extended family duck race tradition.

And how could I resist putting these lovingly made ornaments up each year in favor of coordinating, perfect decor?

And as a sweet reminder of last year’s trip to see the Nutcracker in Sacramento with cousins, grandma, and GG, Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy are prominently displayed (and almost caused World War III in my home this December).

We’ve got ornaments that my great-grandma made (yes, that’s baby Jani),

one my grandma made,

and each kid has one made by my sister. We also have been blessed to receive an ornament every year of our marriage from my in-laws, and I love pulling those all out and finding a place for them.

Now, do I admit that all the carefully designed and decorated trees around the blogosphere this time of year are beautiful? Of course! But that’s just not what my tree is about. Or my Christmas in general. After all, that cute girl playing with her Little Pony below would much rather participate in the decorating than just look at it from afar. (No, that’s not kid clutter you see in the fireplace reflection. Must be something wrong with your screen.)

On to the tips–I always have to photograph my tree two ways each year. The first way is in glorious natural light–how could I not take advantage of those windows flanking my tree? So, to photograph your tree during daytime, you’re going to need to know a little bit about getting out of auto mode. There is a ton of information I could share, but I’ll keep it simple for now. Take your camera, and set it to Aperture Priority mode (AV on Canon) and select a low aperture number (anywhere between 2-3.5 will work). Make sure your ISO is set high enough that you can hand-hold your camera without getting any shake from a slow shutter speed. A good rule of thumb is to always make sure your shutter speed stays above double your focal length. So if you’re using an 18-55 mm kit lens, you want to make sure your shutter speed is never slower than 125. 200 is even better. Take a few test shots and up your ISO if the shutter speed is too low.

Once you’ve got your camera set, snap away! All the ornament shots were taken using natural light. With the settings like this, you also get lovely Christmas twinkly light bokeh (think blur) in the background if you get far enough away.

(exif info: 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 800, f 1.8, ss 1/160)

Here Bailey is at the coffee table working on a project, about 8 feet from the tree. By focusing on her and using a low aperture number, I get lovely results.

My other favorite way to photograph my tree is at night. I know there are tons of tutorials out there about this, but I’ll show you how I do it.

First, turn off the light in the room your tree is in, but keep the lights in the adjoining rooms on. You need some ambient light bouncing around.

Next, set your camera on aperture priority again and select a high aperture number–at least 8-12. Your ISO will also need to be high, and you’ll want to use a tripod or steady your camera on something since the shutter speed will be low enough to show plenty of shake. The higher aperture number does this:

(exif info: 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 4000, f 13, ss 1/5)

See how the lights all turn into minuature stars? That’s the high aperture. I don’t recommend going “wide open” with your aperture at night–your Christmas lights will just be blobs of light.

(exif info: 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 4000, f 13, ss 1/5)

I did not use a tripod for any of these photos (too lazy to pull it out) but I braced myself on the coffee table, my desk, our pass-through, etc. The shutter speed for each of these images is listed below them–and it’s slllllloooooooow. Could they have been sharper if I’d used a tripod? Absolutely. As Pioneer Woman says, don’t be like me!  Another tip for handholding is to take a quick breath and hold it while you snap. Conversely, if you’re using a tripod, many people swear by using the self timer on it to take slow shutter speed photos, to avoid moving the camera while you press the shutter button, since you’ll do that before the shutter actually opens.

Have you taken any Christmas tree photos this season? How did they turn out? I love to see them–link up in the comments so I can take a look!

Linking up with Not Just a Housewife, Home Stories AtoZ, and Tip Me Tuesday!