KB B |
Shooting Subjects Next to Fireplace I am trying to take a Christmas picture of my children next to the fireplace. I have a Canon Rebel. I am wondering what I should do to get a clear shot of the kids but not use a flash so that I can get that nice "fire glow" effect.
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W. |
Have the kids stand still long enough to allow you to use a slow shutter speed. Set ISO 200, and Shutter Speed priority. Do a series of exposures at progressively slower shutter speeds. Starting at 1/30th sec. Add a couple of lit candles to the scene. This all presumes you shoot from a tripod! Have fun!
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KB B |
Thanks!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
You can still use a flash if you up the ISO a little (400) - low power flash - and keep the slow shutter speed. Getting a flame to show is much different than getting something to show from the light from the flames. The light falls off very quickly.
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Bernard |
Experiment with the white balance set to 'shade'. The warm hue may add to the mood of the light of the fireplace.
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Devon McCarroll |
Have you tried using the rear-curtain sync on your flash? This works for me when trying to capture tree lights. The flash fires right before the shutter closes, so first your sensor picks up the ambient light--in this case the fire--and then the flash illuminates your subjects.
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Bob Friedman |
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Bob Friedman |
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W. |
And are you now going to post the result of your efforts, Bob?
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Maria Patrice |
Bob please explain, you mentioned at first that you used manual mode, later you stated you uses spot meter on the subject, wouuldn't manual mode make spot metering useless. excuse my inexperience. Maria
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
He didn't explain it well, but what he did was first use the camera meter to see what it read for the fire. That got a starting point for what to set the shutter speed for getting the flames to show in the picture. But you wouldn't want to use that because the flames would look weak in the picture. It just like metering off something white like snow, the results come out too dark or dull. That's why he bracketed. He used spot, probably TTL flash metering, so that the flash power would adjust for only his subject and the subject distance. He spots for the subject, the flash exposes for the subject. The shutter speed that is slower allows the light of the flame to have a good brightness to it, also maybe adding some orange light cast to the subject. Like around the edges. Reducing the shutter speed also adds blur to the flames. If you've ever shot a sunset just based on aperture priority or shutter priority, you'll find that it will come out too dark, the colors won't be as vibrant as you'd expect. The same principle here.
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Bob Friedman |
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Bob Friedman |
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David E. Chinn |
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W. |
Wow, Bob! Where can I get the DVD?
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David E. Chinn |
f8 1 second spot meter 32mm focal length in manual mode.
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