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2012 Christmas Lights trip

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M38A1

M38A1

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Scott
For the past several years around Christmas, the Mrs. and I gather up with some friends and head out for what we call the Special Hot Chocolate Christmas Lights Tour, or something like that.... In a nutshell, I make up several thermos bottles of hot chocolate with both peppermint and cinnamon schnapps, toss in some water and snacks, and we hit the road. They all get to have fun as I'm the designated driver, but hey - it's still fun for me.

We typically leave Austin about 4:00pm or so and drive an hour to Marble Falls where we eat dinner at the Bluebonnet Cafe.
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We all know what the Bluebonnet is famous for, right?
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From the Bluebonnet, we head the half-mile or so over to the Marble Falls trail of lights. Before we dive in however, we must fuel on the purpose of the trip - special hot chocolate.
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The Marble Falls display is quite impressive and always packed with spectators.
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Next, we head back down South to Johnson City and the Pedernales Electric Co-Op light display. There, our friend Audra always asks to have her pic taken by the same tree. Flash, night and Christmas lights are tough to shoot. More special hot chocolate is consumed.
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Feeling left out, Berengere' also wants her piccie taken. Again, really tough to get the WB and lighting right with a single flash.
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We take a quick drive around the Blanco County courthouse all lit up, then continue South to Blanco where we take a quick spin around the original Blanco County courthouse.

From Blanco, we head over to Wimberly to the Emily Ann Theater and their trail of lights. This display is quite impressive, growing every year. This is where the special hot chocolate is finished off.
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And a re-do of the shot from last year.
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From Wimberly, we head back to Austin to call it an evening. Leaving about 4:40pm and arriving home about 10:45, we cover 135 miles and only in the last 30 or so do we see a dozen deer and three racoons tempting fate.
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FYI, Black Friday is when Johnson City lights the town square and they do fireworks and music. Lots of fun, we lucked into it this year on the way back from Enchanted Rock.

Nice pictures. As much light as those thousands of lights at the PE display put out you'd think you could shoot a normal shot, but it is tricky.
 
It's a WB game with the little lights. They are white appearing, but are actually casting yellow/warm. Then toss in the flash and doh!
 
Well done Sir!.

Not sure what the RAW images looked like but I think your WB is very pleasing in your finished products displayed here.

Have you played with putting any gels on your flash to help equalize or counter the ambient lighting WB?
 
Hadn't tried the gels yet, Duke. From what I recall of your niece's 'train depot' shots, those gels really put the color cast out in full color. Not sure how that would work on a person, vs a background as you did. :ponder:

It's funny... a couple times I shot w/o flash and said, "oh, i need the death-ray for this one". lol....
 
I was thinking of the supplied gels that come with the flash when you purchased it. These look almost clear when looking at them with the naked eye, but have a slight color to there.

The gel that I used for my nieces photo shoot I was using a funky full on "red" gel that you could not see through with the naked eye.
 
Cool series, Scott. WB looks good to me in all of them. I'm at least hoping you had some special hot chocolate when you got home for editing. ;-)
 
M38A1 said:
It's a WB game with the little lights. They are white appearing, but are actually casting yellow/warm. Then toss in the flash and doh!
Click to expand...

Wait, I think my camera has a Christmas Light setting. I was planning on taking some, and playing with the temp on the computer back home. I guess one could get a light meter to measure the color, but is that considered cheating?
 
I wasn't aware a light meter would calculate WB. I thought it was just exposure metrics.....
 
:tab The exposure on ALL of them are amazing! :clap: I really like the one with Berengere' against the tree and the one with Audra looking through the window, again, well done!!
 
I too shoot RAW. I suppose that color correction is so the pro gets it right the first time, or their intended WB desired as they shoot so they don't have to spend time in post after the fact. Maybe a time-saver in the end for them?
 
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