Digital cameras 101

[Grimo]

Whenever I try to take pictures of bright lights whether they are lights in a city or Christmas lights, they always come out blurry. What settings do I use to straighen this out and what shutter speeds and ISO should I use. I have tried almost every combination I can thing of. HELP!

[Deb]

Hi there, photographing Christmas lights is a great idea. What you need to do is set your camera on a tripod or brace yourself so that there is NO camera movement. The shutterspeed required to capture these lights is slow. If you have a self-timer on your camera, use that. This way you won't blur the image by pressing the shutter. Then, just let the auto-mode adjust the exposure for you. If you find the colors of the lights washed out, decrease the EV setting (try a -1) OR use a manual mode and increase the shutterspeed (from the auto setting) OR reduce the size of the aperture opening (from the auto setting) OR reduce the ISO (from the auto setting). It might take a few shots, but you'll get just what you're looking for. Have fun!

PS: Don't use a flash!