You’ve decked the halls with miles of tiny bulbs. Your front lawn is a gleaming monument to electric lighting. Even the neighbors have taken to wearing sunglasses 24/7.

It’s the Christmas wonderland of your dreams… now if only you could get a good picture of it.

Photographing holiday lights is no easy task.

Luckily, we’ve had the Photojojo elves round up the best tips and guides to taking successful Holiday photos. Call it our gift to you… now go make Clark W. Griswold proud.

Shooting the Holidays

The Photojojo elves have come back with what we think are the best guides and tips for photographing the holidays — and all the lights and yuletide that come along with them. Here we go…

Christmas Lights Photography Video Tutorial From Patrick Kunzer, night photo editor at the Daily Herald This quick video is a great way to get started. Our favorite tip? All those Christmas lights are tungsten-balanced, so set your camera’s white-balance’s to tungsten for ten-times-better photos.

How to Take Great Photos of Holiday Lights From the New York Institute of Photography This comprehensive guide is the next step up – it starts with the nitty gritty, but includes some a history of holiday lighting.

Photographing Christmas Trees and Lights From the Webshots Blog We like what this guide has to say about using a tripod: “Use a tripod, use a tripod, use a tripod.” We’d guess it’s probably a good idea to use a tripod while you shoot.

20 Christmas Light Photos – With a Twist From the Digital Photography School Well, we suppose wrapping people in Christmas lights and taking photos of them is one way to spread the holiday cheer. :)

How to Photograph Ornaments From the Dream of Photography Blog All the shiny baubles and pretty trinkets, reflections, colors, and glitter. These tips are especially for shooting ornaments, but the ideas and techniques are useful all-around.

The Flickr “Christmas Lights” Group Got the most perfect Christmas lights shot ever taken? Upload it to the Flickr Christmas lights group and show it off!

That wraps it up – get out there, shoot a bit, and have a merry Christmas/happy Hanukkah/jovial yuletide season!

Photos by Phil Peck, Princess Fancy Hen, Alysha, Artist Melissa, and Michael DeHaan (used under a Creative Commons license).

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