Homework - Christmas Lights Pics

I promise a new lesson later today - how to take better pictures with your point and shoot camera - but there is actually a lot of information on the topic and I did not get enough sleep and/or have not had enough coffee to decipher it at this point. I'm sure several cups of coffee today and I will be back at it this evening. In the meaning, I did some of my own homework - taking pics of Christmas lights at Disneyland. (click here to review that post) Keep in mind Disneyland was insane the day we chose to go (day after Christmas - never doing that again), so some of the techniques like using a tripod were not an option.

That being said, I saw an improvement in my Christmas lights shots. I used the Tungsten white balance setting on my fancy camera, and even though I missed the really optimal lighting (was trying to feed the kids), I managed to get some shots before it was pitch black:



These are obviously out of focus and not the best composition, but I was attempting these shots with the massive crowd on Main Street. I tried to steady myself against a wall while taking these shots - if there weren't so many people bumping into me I think I could have taken a steady shot of the lights. That being said, I do love the color of the sky in the background. I took one final shot after the sun had set:


Not nearly as pretty or interesting as the first two - thanks to Strobist for the tip!