Oh, how I love the Christmas season. I begged JD to decorate our house with lights and after much debate (Jasmine, why don't we just put lights around our front door instead of the entire house?), we're officially the first on our block to glow at night. I still have to work my St. Nick charm because JD is determined to find a Christmas tree less than two-feet tall. Not only is that very Grinch-like of him, foliage under two-feet is a BUSH, not a tree.

He claims the two-foot Christmas tree/bush is better because he doesn't have to string more lights. His comment was so unseasonal I told him somewhere in the North Pole an elf lost his ears.

Speaking of lights, I received a few emails asking me to clarify the lighting I use to photograph wedding receptions. The answer is two-fold:
1. I use an off-camera light (I breakdown the exact set-up in this post) and my mounted Canon 580 EX II flash for dancing, speeches, candids, cake cutting, and most of the events through the course of the evening. To see an example of how I worked at a recent wedding, you might find THIS POST helpful.
2. I use the DotLine video light for detail photos. JD will stand to the side and illuminate the details exactly how I like them…he uses it like pin lighting if it's not available or fill light when pin light is available.

Occasionally I'll use my mounted speed light and video light, but more often I'm using the ambient light and the video light to illuminate the details.

I prefer to shoot wide open, so it's very common for me to photograph details at f/2.0 or wider. This allows me to leverage ambient light (even if there's very little) and use the video light to illuminate, say, a centerpiece just the way I like it.

In light of the Christmas season (I worked hard for that pun), the lovely folks at Adorama are giving away a DotLine video light to a lucky winner!! Ho-ho-hop on over the comment box and let us know the best Christmas gift you received and the winner will be announced this Saturday. The deadline for the contest is this Friday, November 30, 2012 @ 8pm PST.
*******THE CONTEST IS NOW OVER**********

Happy Thursday!

Edited to Add
Big Congrats to JEN SHANNON for winning the DotLine Video Light!!! 🙂