 Frank P. Luongo |
Photographing Trees with Holiday Lights At night when shooting photos of trees decorated with lights (all white), how should one accomplish this? F/22 with slow shutter speed? Wider aperture, say f/5.6 with faster shutter speed? Where do you meter from - one of the lights itself? Do you open up a stop? Etc. Thanks.
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Bob Cammarata |
Use a tungsten-balanced film (or proper filtration), and meter off the lights. Your aperture setting will depend upon how much DOF the scene requires. Keep in mind that a smaller aperture (f-22) will create little starbursts off each light source. You should consider this if you want that effect to show when choosing your f-stop. It's always wise to bracket these types of exposures to get just what you want.
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Frank P. Luongo |
Thanks, Bob. I appreciate it.
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Steve Warren |
Hi, This is kind of a question for Bob ... By metering off of the lights, won't the scene underexpose? I mean, if it's a high-contrast scene such as a lighted tree at night, wouldn't the meter read the lights as a mid-tone rather than the bright part of a high-contrast scene and treat them as such??
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Bob Cammarata |
Steve, You are correct, but this type of exposure usually calls for multi-second exposure times ... which doesn't always "play well" with some films. My advice should have recommended metering off the lights to get a starting point, and to bracket OVER from there. Thanks for pointing this out. Bob
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David Robinson |
Take an integrated reading of the whole scene. Take a spot reading off the filament of one of the lights Under-expose from the spot reading by one stop. Compare this new reading (ie. the minus one stop exposure) with the integrated reading to ensure that the scene will not be hopelessly underexposed. If ok then use the minus one stop reading for your exposure.
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David Robinson |
Take an integrated reading of the whole scene. Take a spot reading off the filament of one of the lights Under-expose from the spot reading by one stop. Compare this new reading (ie. the minus one stop exposure) with the integrated reading to ensure that the scene will not be hopelessly underexposed. If ok then use the minus one stop reading for your exposure.
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David Robinson |
Take an integrated reading of the whole scene. Take a spot reading off the filament of one of the lights Under-expose from the spot reading by one stop. Compare this new reading (ie. the minus one stop exposure) with the integrated reading to ensure that the scene will not be hopelessly underexposed. If ok then use the minus one stop reading for your exposure.
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Kristen |
This isn't really about exposure, but just a side note...if you use a 6x filter when shooting Christmas lights, it creates cool stars from the lights and has an awesome effect.
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David Robinson |
Take an integrated reading of the whole scene. Take a spot reading off the filament of one of the lights Under-expose from the spot reading by one stop. Compare this new reading (ie. the minus one stop exposure) with the integrated reading to ensure that the scene will not be hopelessly underexposed. If ok then use the minus one stop reading for your exposure.
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Frank P. Luongo |
Thank You All for your suggestions! How about a street lined by rows of lit trees, in which you want some detail in the shadows,AND you want to stop down to f/22 to get starburst effect? How would your metering strategy change? Thanks
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