Upon arriving home each evening, I hit the switch to turn on the tree lights and am struck by the simple beauty of lights reflected in the window.
So, of course I reach for the camera … and I’ve taken 25 fairly awful pictures.
I’m told I have a decent eye … so why can’t I capture the image that I visualize?
Any suggestions for this rookie photographer?
Life on the Bike and other Fab Things 
This image looks great to me!
Well, thanks! It frustrates me to not be able to capture what I see! I look forward to checking out your blog!
Hi Laurie:
It looks like you want the tree as is in the foreground and the reflection of the tree in the background of the night, its reflection as the image you’re after. There’s a big differential in the amount of light with both and I’d experiment with one or two things. But, if you’re really after both being in the shot, I’m thinking an HDR image might be what you’re aiming at – taking three photos … one underexposed, one average exposed and one over exposed and combining them with HDR software (e.g. photomatix). Unfortunately, your real choices in the shot may be an image of the reflection in the window by itself or to focus on creating bokeh of the lights reflected behind the tree in the foreground. I’ll think it through.
Lumens
Thanks so much for the suggestion! and for the trial with your tree … I can’t wait to see what you come up with. I hope to play a bit with this tonight!
I love this image the way it is. It’s unpretentious. Spontaneous. But if it is the details of the tree in the reflection that you are after, you can try putting your camera on a tripod and using a slow shutter speed–1/30 and under. Just play around with it until you start to see the trees details in the window. You will want to adjust your ISO so that you do not blowout the details of the actual tree and to reduce noise. Experiment with F stops to get the depth of field and amount of detail that you want by checking your viewer.
I had another person suggest a tripod … I’ll play with it tonight and see what I can do. Thanks so much for the suggestion (and the follow)
I like this reflected image. May your nights be merry and bright.