lighting for making Christmas tree lights show up

[bryan_weaver]

Having a little issue...I have a nice Christmas portrait background setup, but

in trying some test shots, tree lights not showing up for me? Anyone have any

other ideas? I've tried stopping down to 90 and even 60, but then lights too

bright and I've got some cheaper Britek strobes that only have 1/2 or full

power...no adjustments other than that.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated?

[trw]

Use a tripod and drag the shutter down around 1/15th or 1/8th s, get the strobes as low as possible by moving them further away or bouncing off a large white object (white wall or ceiling)rather than using them direct.

[michael_madio]

Setup your shot with just the strobes at your camera's x-sync speed. Once you have that done, reduce the shutter speed until the tree lights appear as you like (use a tripod). This technique is called "dragging the shutter".

[mark u]

Consider forgetting about any flash at all. The tree lights might require something in the order of 1/8th at f/4 and 800 ISO to show up well. I'd experiment to get that part of the image right to begin with, without any flash. One problem with using flash is that the colour temperature will likely be very different from the ambient lighting, so you'd need to gel it with a warming filter to give a better match. The second problem is that you need to avoid it overwhelming the tree lights, so it needs to be dim. You might even consider using candle light for your sitters.

[drew_para]

If you cannot use long shutter times, I would look to photoshop for help. I would shoot the setup on a tripod without flash (preferably in low light). They use layers to pull the tree shot in the dark up through the tree shot with the flash. I think you should be able to get decent results this way...

[pmind]

You may want to consider a composite image. I personally would use this only as a last resort, but it may suit your needs. If this a portrait studio or school setup it would be impracticle, but for a few shots it could get you out of tedious lighting setup. Paul

[PuppyDigs]

Forget about the strobes and use an E-TTL Speedlite or two or three. Mount camera on

tripod, set ISO 100, Av mode, a mid-aperture (e.g., F5.6) and you'll get auto ambient

exposure and fill flash.

[adzy]

OK, your final image is a combination of 2- subject lit by flash and background from christmas light. u can take this as one exposure, or combine 2 different exposures in photoshop.

 

If you want to do it as one exposure, first set the aperture and shutter speed so that you have the necessary depth of field and the background is correctly exposed. Once that is done, you need to fix the output of the strobe. Even though you dont have any other adjustments on your strobe, you can diminish/increase its power by placing it at different distances from the subject. Remember, the further away the harsher the light. So, if its powerful close to the subject, put in a a diffusion layer to cut down on the power- white bedsheet and place the bedsheet right next to the subject and a reflector on the other side and you are done.

 

The other problem you will face is that the christmas light colors and the strobe colors wont match. If it sdoesnt bothe ryou fine- if it does, just get some coloured gels and change the light output colour.

 

Good Luck!

[adzy]

... and remember to white balance.

[doug_harhai]

Bryan,

as you mentioned that this is a background setup, I am making the assumption that you will have a child or a person in the photo. If so, then I think that the above advice on 'dragging the shutter' is what you want. I have had to deal with this with Christmas photos in the past too. 1/15th or 1/30th should get the tree lights to show up. The main subject will be lit up with the flash and should be 'frozen' in the photo, although they may leave a bit of a movement trail if they are very active (!).

[doug_harhai]

a follow up--just noticed that you said that your lights (tree lights?) are showing up a bit bright at 1/60--if so, then maybe you can diffuse the Briteks or bounce them into an umbrella? Another option would be to change the speed of your film. If you mean that your strobe lights are too bright at 1/60th, then that is probably not because of the shutter speed. The slower shutter speeds should only be letting more of the ambient light into the negative.

[fourfa]

with the camera on a tripod, it's pretty trivial to take two exposures (one for the portrait, one for nice saturated tree lights) and merge them using a luminosity mask

[pavel_olavich]

Most you guys making this issue way too complex....PuppyFace has it right....use E-TTL: Put flash in E-TTL mode, put camera in Manual mode, set aperture for required depth-of-field, set the shutter speed to a starting value if 1/25th, then take a practice shot....if the background (Xmas tree lights) is too bright speed up the shutter speed....if it is too dark slow down the shutter speed. Take your picture and call it ia day, and reward yourself for learning how to drag the shutter. With this method you keep the flash in full auto (E-TTL).

[pavel_olavich]

Start the ISO at 400, and then go from there.

 

I just reread many of the solutions above....I am laughing my a$$ off guys!

[maxasst]

Set both strobes at their lowest setting and position them for portraiture. Take trial shots with camera in manual mode to determine the aperture where the subject in front is properly exposed, and a shutter speed where the background is still dark. You said this was for a portrait, right? Then, with the subject out of the picture, gradually increase the shutter speed duration until the lights on the tree are looking the way you want. Note that setting and the distance of flashes to subject and camera to subject. If you find that the shutter speed is too slow for portraiture because the aperture is too small, then increase the distance of the flash to the subject, which will in turn require a larger aperture and allow a correspondingly shorter shutter speed. I prefer taking portraits in manual mode because the effects will be predictable and reproducible shot after shot. I also like using similar powered flashes in manual mode at half or less power so that pictures can be taken in quick succession and not worry about capacitors recharging. Good luck, I hope this helps.