Peace on Earth
Well, it’s time for the annual Christmas Lights blog. This year El Paso’s San Jacinto Plaza is undergoing renovation, so the annual downtown light display was moved to the park just outside the main city library, and is comparatively subdued over years past.
Cleveland Square Park
Nevertheless, the display is still impressive.
El Paso Christmas 2013
Visitors came to gawk. If they took chill there was hot chocolate nearby.
Hot Chocolate Line
And if they got hungry there was the snack wagon.
Snack Wagon
But for atmosphere it’s just hard to resist converting nighttime people shots to black and white.
Hot Chocolate Line — B&W Conversion
Snack Wagon — B&W Conversion
Christmas lights however are made to display in full color.
Abstract Light
Most of the shots taken for today’s blog were at ISO 400 to keep digital noise to a minimum. Aperture Priority was used with aperture set to the widest possible opening. The camera was stabilized on a carbon fiber tripod (a real must if you’re serious about photography — light, quick to set up, easy to move). Shutter release was delayed for two seconds to avoid camera shake, and most exposures were taken at about one full second. Some shots were taken using Hand Held Night Scene mode, in which the camera takes a series of three shots in rapid succession and then internally combines the shots into one image. The snack wagon shot above was taken using this latter method.
For more tips (especially color balance) see my blog post from December 21, 2012: Photographing Outdoor (and Indoor) Christmas Lights
Being a former controller, I got to taxi Santa’s sleigh out to the runway:
Preflight Checklist
And then clear the Grand Old Elf for takeoff:
Cleared for Takeoff
Here’s today’s gallery of shots. As always, click on any image below to bring up the slideshow.
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 
Pingback: Anybody have any Christmas Light Photos? - WaltherForums
Awesome shots, R. Doug. Thanks for letting us share in the El Paso festitivites. Happy Holidays to you!
Thanks, Karen. And thanks for dropping by to take a look.
Just need some snow!
That ain’t happen’ this year, amigo. We got our snow out of the way in November. ;o)
Wonderful photos as usual, Doug.
American Christmas lights are quite a bit more colourful than what you’d find in Germany, plus over here that stand would be selling mulled wine rather than hot chocolate. But it’s sure gorgeous to look at.