Shooting People with Holiday Lights — Fixing Dark Faces and Vanished Lights

A winter evening at the illuminations. Shoot someone in front of them and you usually get one of two results: a pitch-dark face, or the lights gone black. The cause: the camera can’t handle the brightness gap between bright lights and a dark face in one go. Here’s how to strike the balance on a phone.

A seasonal subject — the lights are typically up from November to February. Use this while they’re on.

Tap the face to make the person the reference

Left to itself, the camera exposes for the brightest thing — the lights — and faces sink. Tap the person’s face so focus and brightness lock onto it, and if it’s still dark, swipe the sun icon up a little (→ Adjusting brightness). Even if the background lights bloom a bit, a visible expression wins.

Use position to get light onto the face

Better than any setting: where the person stands. Have them stand where the lights actually reach them — near a light source, facing the glow — and the gap between face and background shrinks so both photograph naturally. Borrowing light from a street lamp or shop window works too. Save the flash as a last resort; it tends to leave faces floating white (→ Fixing dark indoor shots).

Turn the lights into bokeh with Portrait mode

Portrait mode focuses on the person and blurs the background, turning the light points into round bokeh balls — instant atmosphere (→ How to use Portrait mode). The farther the person is from the lights behind them, the bigger the bokeh, so have them step two or three paces forward from the display.

When Night mode kicks in, call “hold still”

In real darkness, Night mode may activate. If the person moves during those few seconds, they blur — a quick “three seconds, hold still!” before the shot raises the success rate a lot (→ How to use Night mode). For composition, place the person on a rule-of-thirds intersection with the lights flowing behind, or surround them with a light arch or gate (→ Framing). For shooting the illuminations themselves, see the night-view article (→ Night views and illuminations).

Composition guideRule of thirdsSee the full guide for this composition → Composition guideFramingSee the full guide for this composition →

BeforeAfter

Start with just this

Have them stand where the light reaches, tap the face, swipe up if dark. For atmosphere, Portrait mode for bokeh lights. During Night mode, call three seconds of stillness. That alone mostly prevents the pitch-dark face.