How to Get Good Photos at the Light Garden at Ward Village
HONOLULU Magazine photographers give us their pro tips for capturing the moment at this after-dark display.
Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Saoit
No question, the illuminating flowers that popped up in new Victoria Ward park are cool. “Light Garden, a 1,000-Year Bloom“ features more than 2,300 3D flower sculptures that pulse with LED lights in time to music. It was created specifically for Ward Villages and creates quite an effect. But trying to capture your child’s smile and the lights in the same photo is not easy.
Traveling with pounds of light equipment is usually not an option. So as much as we love those silhouette photos that are popping up on social media (and yes, we do love them) we asked the HONOLULU Magazine photographers, David Croxford and Aaron K. Yoshino, for their tips for getting the best photos in this tricky lighting situation.
Photo: Courtesy of The Howard Hughes Corporation
Sitting or kneeling can help with the tricky light situation.
Our 6 Tips
1. Use your flash. Your smartphone’s auto settings may balk a bit—it will sense the LEDs behind your kids and won’t go off. So Croxford says manually set the flash to fire when you take the photo.
2. Enable the HDR mode on your smartphone. Yoshino says this should reduce blowing out the background, which is what happens when your little ones faces look good, but the lights behind them just become a blurry, overwhelming bright white glow.
3. Don’t stand right in front of the garden. Instead, try standing with the lights to your side, and focus on your children, so that the sculpture does not take up the full background. Try this position with your flash on and flash off to see which works better.
4. Crouch down. Kneeling or sitting on the ground may let the LED lights illuminate your kids faces. Yoshino says when standing, the light source may be relatively far from faces or be an awkward angle behind your subjects.
5. Don’t do a selfie. The front (selfie) camera’s flash usually isn’t as good as the back camera.
6. Start at dusk. Croxford says some light in the sky will help. The LED light garden won’t be as dramatic, but chances are, you’ll get a better family photo.
“Light Garden, a 1,000-Year Bloom” is open through Jan. 31. The park closes at 11 p.m. Victoria Ward Park is located next to Ward Gateway Shops (which has Ross, Jamba Juice and ‘Ohana Marketplace) on Auahi St. wardlightgarden.com.
