Look at me, Caristy, I actually tried the challenge! :)

OK, so I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing with my camera on this challenge! :) Now, I don't have a tripod and my F-stop only goes to 8, so my best pictures are a little different than yours, Caristy. It took me forever to weed through the photos. (I took a couple hundred photos!) Oh, another thing - in addition to not having a tripod, I'm a little lazy when it comes to playing with my camera (especially when it's midnight), so these were taken with me sitting in a chair, not changing my position, with a light on in the "dining" room, which is a ways away so it's not completely dark. (Caristy, your tree is decorated so pretty - I had a little help from 4 munchkins, so there wasn't a particular ornament I really wanted to zoom in on!) So, here are my results:

Focal Length: 16.4 mm
F-Number: F/5.6
Exposure Time: 1.3 sec.
(I like the way the lights look like little stars.)
Focal Length: 12.9mm
F-Number: F/5.6
Exposure Time: 3/5 sec.
Focal Length: 8.4 mm
F-Number: F/8
Exposure Time: 1 sec.
(I know it's not completely in focus, but I kinda like the whole tree view with the "twinkling" lights.)And, just for fun:

Focal Length: 72 mm
F-Number: F/5
Exposure Time: 1/60 sec.
Focal Length: 72 mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/20 sec.
Focal Length: 72 mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/25 sec.
Focal Length: 18.6
F-Number: F/4.5
Exposure Time: 4/5 sec.
(Tried this one after reading how to do it on a thread specifically about my camera.)

Caristy Christmas Tree Challenge Pictures

Picture 1: ISO 400, Aperture: F/13, Shutter Speed: 1 sec. Picture 2: ISO 400, Aperture: F/11, Shutterspeed: 1 second
Picture 3: ISO 100, Aperture: F/8, Shutter Speed: 10 sec.
Picture 4: ISO 100, Aperture: F/8, Shutterspeed: 6 sec.
Picture 5: ISO 100, Aperture: F/8, Shutterspeed: 4 sec

Caristy's Christmas Tree Challenge

Let's see those lit up trees! Doing this is a little harder than you think. If you want your pictures to "look right" and really want to show off your lights, it's going to take a little work. My understanding is that in order for you to have a "good" pix of your lit up tree, you have to shoot wide open and use a slow SS to capture the lights. If you have a tripod, this is probably going to be easy for you or something that you can rest your camera on so that it will take the picture. You might also want to try using your timer so that you don't worry about camera shake from pushing the shutter. SO, if you have your Christmas tree up and ready for pix, light 'em up and let's see them. I want to see your tree lit up in the dark, so we want the light source to come from the beauty of your tree. Try to have your f stop between 4.0 and 8.0 (play around with that to see what happens at the different stops - F stop is your aperture....which will help with the how much of a picture in in focus.) and try to have your shutter speed between 1 second and 10 seconds.....which is why it would be helpful to have your camera on timer and on a tripod....because it's hard to have your body still for that long.

No example because I don't have a Christmas tree yet! Hopefully I can find one when we got shopping hopefully soon!! (I hope that it's not a bad storm this weekend!!) You have until December 25th to finish this challenge! (That way if I can't get a Christmas tree at least I can steal my mother-in-laws tree to take pictures of!