Photographing busy Christmas markets

[carmen_m]

Hello,

 

I'm going to Vienna in between Xmas and New Year's and I wanted to get some tips on photographing the Christmas

market at evening time. It will probably be (fairly) busy so I thought I'd take a few shots on tripod with a

shutter speed as long as possible (@ F11 ISO 100 and polarizer to act as an ND filter) to blur out the people.

What do you think? The downside is that setting up tripod in a crowded space isn't that easy. Other ideas? Oh, I

have the 350D plus the 24-105 L

 

Thanks!

[rainer_t]

Carmen, most chrstmas markets close at or before christmas. So, if you're not there _before_ christmas, you might be out of luck. Also, tripods on busy christmas markets is not really a good idea.

[carmen_m]

Oh, I didn't know that they close at Christmas. Bummer.

[guido_h]

Why blur out the people?? That's what christmas markets in Europe are all about!

[rachelle_m.]

Carmen,

 

A quick search on google confirms that the Christmas markets close on December 24th, which has been my experience in France and Germany as well. That's not to say that there won't be other activities worth photographing in that time period, especially around New Years. In my experience, most of shots were handheld using high iso film. I saved the tripod for wide shots, where it's possible to get out of the way and not have people bump into your tripod.