The holidays were certainly made merry and bright with friends of pictureline at our inaugural photo walk on December 14. Sponsored by Canon, a small group of photographers, joined by pictureline employees, braved the cold and traveled around the City Creek area to shoot the sights of the season.
Seasonal Shoppers at City Creek Commons
Prepped with our various cameras and tripods, we began our holiday walk by reviewing some low-light photography techniques outside at City Creek Commons. After, we headed over to the Skybridge to capture the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Working with slower shutter speeds in order to show motion in a still photo proved to be easy, as a steady stream of seasonal shoppers paraded past. Almost every attendee came equipped with either their own or a rental Canon camera. There were cameras like the Canon M50, M6 Mark II, 5D Mark IV and even the EOS R. It was easy to demonstrate how to work certain settings within the camera when everyone was using a familiar user interface.
Finding the Bokeh at Main Street Plaza
We walked over to Main Street Plaza, where we focused on special effects when shooting holiday lights. We discussed how to get a blurry background or "bokeh" with a wide-open aperture and how to easily achieve that festive starburst look. We again used a slow shutter speed and a tripod to capture the motion of the trains as they passed by. As the sun began to go down, we trekked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to take a break from the cold and take a group shot in the middle of the room by the Christmas tree while carolers sang Christmas songs on the floor above us. It was also a perfect time to shoot indoors in low light.
Capturing the Temple Lights
With the sun setting, the holiday lights finally started to come on. We walked over towards the temple lights where we covered how to most effectively light a subject with a flash while keeping the background festive to create the perfect holiday portrait. Afterward, we took some great shots of the Salt Lake City Temple surrounded by the festive lights.
Working with Reflections at the Nauvoo Cafe
Lastly, we made our way over to the Nauvoo café where we took some photos of the windows with the temple lights in the reflection. By the time we wrapped up, we had learned a lot, made some new friends, and the warmth of the season had helped keep away the cold.
If you’re interested in joining the next pictureline photo walk, keep an eye on our Events page for one coming up in the next couple of months.