Christmas is coming to the village

Christmas might not have arrived in our house yet but it is definitely coming to the village. One of our neighbours has put up their outside Christmas display, which I've always thought of as two Santas. Being very stuck for a blip tonight (I never seemed to get around to it today - it's been a very funny work day) I decided I'd try photographing them. I've tried with both my Canon and Panasonic cameras and finally settled for the Panasonic G1 as the magnification on the manual focus makes it so much easier to see if the image is sharp (though this cropped image is certainly far from pin sharp). I either ended up with too much light and a double image effect or too little, as in this shot, where there is no evidence of the French windows behind the figures.

I've learnt quite a lot tonight and I might have another try if I'm short of a blip later in the week. In the end I under exposed by three stops, which is probably a stop/ half stop too far, but it seems to be a compromise between getting the exposure right for the Santa and Snowman (not two Santas) and also showing something of the interesting light in the doorway.