# How to take a picture of a child blowing out birthday candles



## RegRoy (Jul 8, 2010)

Hi,
Can anyone recommend the proper settings I could use (ballpark) to take a picture of child blowing out birthday candles in a dark room?

I don't know if I should use settings to vary the aperture because of the light, or worry about shutter speed because blowing out candles is "in motion".

Thank you.


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## benlonghair (Jul 8, 2010)

Well, first of all, you're going to need to a) shoot in manual and intentionally underexpose or b) shoot in Aperture priority and use exposure comp to underexpose. 

You should be able to crank your ISO settings a little and go wide open on your lens to keep your shutter speed somewhat usable. A tripod wouldn't hurt. 

Get somebody to help you figure out your settings before hand (ie dark room with some candles in a piece of styrofoam or something) because guessing in the moment probably won't work. 

On second thought, don't use styrofoam and candles, they don't mix well. But you get the idea.


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## RegRoy (Jul 8, 2010)

LOL! 

I understand aperture priority but what is "exposure comp"?

Thanks.


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## OrionsByte (Jul 8, 2010)

benlonghair said:


> Well, first of all, you're going to need to a) shoot in manual and intentionally underexpose or b) shoot in Aperture priority and use exposure comp to underexpose.



I might add that if you plan on intentionally underexposing the shot (which would minimize camera shake and motion blur at the expense of exposure), that you make sure you're recording in RAW so that you can pull some more exposure out in post without destroying the quality of the shots.


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## mrpink (Jul 8, 2010)

A list of your gear would help.

Based on what I own.... Full manual settings, proper exposure set to the childs face, f 2.8 and as slow of a shutter speed as I can go without blur, add in a OCF only if needed for fill.




p!nK


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## KmH (Jul 8, 2010)

Underexposing in low light will add deadly amounts of noise. 

If anything you need to get the exposure as close to correct as possible, rather than underexposing.

That however means cranking up the ISO to get enough shutter speed to stop motion and cranking up the ISO also introduces deadly amounts of noise, unless you are shooting with pro gear. Are you shooting with pro gear?

Consequently, you need to use flash to introduce enough light so you can use a low ISO setting and for a correct exposure. The duration of the flash of light and rear/second curtain sync can handle the motion stopping task.


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## RegRoy (Jul 8, 2010)

I'm a hobbyist -- so I have a digital rebel xti with the 18-55mm lens that came with it.  I also have a tamron telephoto but I'm in the office now so I don't have the specs on it right now.

And how do I set exposure to the child's face?

And what is OCF?


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## benlonghair (Jul 8, 2010)

OrionsByte said:


> benlonghair said:
> 
> 
> > Well, first of all, you're going to need to a) shoot in manual and intentionally underexpose or b) shoot in Aperture priority and use exposure comp to underexpose.
> ...



If you don't underexpose, the dark room will go gray. Remember that your exposure meter is dumb. I agree with mrpink about exposing for the face, tipping.

I might be wrong, and I know KMH is right about noise. If you expose as your camera wants to (especially if you're using matrix) you're going to get a very overexposed shot. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Exposure comp is exposure compensation, basically telling your camera that it should take it's settings when using either shutter or aperture priority and either under or over expose from where it thinks it should be. Good for taking shots you want very dark or very bright.



> And what is OCF?



Off Camera Flash.


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## Robin Usagani (Jul 8, 2010)

just keep it simple and use shutter speed priority around 1/100 of a sec. Bump up your ISO if there is not enough light.


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## KKJUN (Jul 8, 2010)

Spot metering? Might work, but I was never in a similar situation.


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## Josh66 (Jul 8, 2010)

Is it even going to be dark?  Everyone is assuming that it's going to be pitch black in there...

Some people turn all of the lights off when they blow the candles out, some don't...

If the lights are on & the blinds open, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.  You just have to decide if you want a slow enough shutter speed to show motion in the flames, or not.  Set everything else to make that shutter speed work.

If it's going to be dark, with the candles as the only light source - well, you better get the picture before they all are blown out.  

This was shot on a 350D (XT) with the 85mm f/1.8 at ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/80th sec, handheld:





bigger

You are going to have to raise the ISO pretty high to shoot only by candle light with your lenses.  Here, a fast prime was just barely fast enough.  I did leave the ISO at 100 though...  Going up to 1600 or so would have helped, but I would have a lot of noise too.

I would try to talk them into leaving the lights on, if they don't normally do that.


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## benlonghair (Jul 8, 2010)

O|||||||O said:


> Is it even going to be dark?  Everyone is assuming that it's going to be pitch black in there...



The OP specified a dark room.


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## Josh66 (Jul 8, 2010)

Oh.  Lol.

I just saw the 'blowing out candles' part.  

Turn the damn light on.  

If you're going to use flash, what's the point of it being dark?

-----

If you have to shoot it in the dark, good luck.  It's going to be difficult with slow zooms.

That 18-55 probably only opens up to 3.5 - max.  I'm guessing that the Tamron isn't far from that either.

In the example I posted, you can see how fast candle light falls off...
You'll have a little more light, since there will be more candles - but not much more.

To get a hand-holdable shutter speed, you're probably going to have to go to ISO 1600 or higher and shoot wide open.

Actually, if I had to guess - I would say ISO 1600, 1/125, f/3.5 would probably be pretty close.


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## RegRoy (Jul 8, 2010)

> That 18-55 probably only opens up to 3.5 - max.  I'm guessing that the Tamron isn't far from that either.



The Tamron is an:  AF55-200mm F/4-5.6 LD MACRO

And I'm still learning what that actually means...:mrgreen:


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## Josh66 (Jul 8, 2010)

That's the _maximum_ aperture.  It can still stop down to f/22 or f/32, or maybe even f/45...  Remember - smaller "f/#'s" are bigger apertures - it's a ratio.

On some zooms, it'll have 2 apertures listed.  That means that at the wide end (55mm) the max is f/4.  At the long end (200mm) it's f/5.6.


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## Josh66 (Jul 8, 2010)

If you're not comfortable with manual settings (I don't think I would try auto mode for this) Aperture Priority (Av) would probably be best.

Dial it in to the largest aperture you can (smallest number), and crank the ISO up.  1600, maybe higher if it still looks clean.  That will give you the fastest possible shutter speed.

*If you have a UV filter on your lens - take it off.*
This is a situation where it will ruin the photo.  You'll get reflections of the flames on it, and it won't look good.


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## shaunly (Jul 8, 2010)

Put it in Shutter mode and try: ISO800, spot meter, shutter speed at 1/100th. Use your kit lens at 18mm to get the max aperture. If it's not bright enough, lower your shutter speed one step at a time. Just play with it ahead of time so you'll be ready.

Also, try not to have your shutter speed lower than 1/30 if your taking pictures handheld. If you need more light, try raising the ISO.


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## RegRoy (Jul 8, 2010)

Thank you for all of these tips.  I guess what makes photography so awesome is all of the different methods to try to get the "right" shot.  One with aperture priority, one with shutter priority.  I don't expect the room to be ask dark in the picture that was posted above, but it will be a little dark.

But I'll play around with these settings (maybe with a SAFE bathroom candle) and see what comes out best.


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## RegRoy (Jul 11, 2010)

Here are the settings that worked.  The room was DARK and I didn't use flash.

18mm, 1/60, f4.0, iso800

I got exactly what I wanted (kind of by accident but I did cycle through the ISOs quickly to see what worked) -- I have a picture where the child is in the middle and the picture is lit up only by the candles -- the rest of the image is dark but it's a good level of dark. You can still see the other kids but the glow from the candles clearly is lighting up in the correct place. 

And just for kicks I tried one with flash -- and it lit up the room waaay to much.

Now only if that bleeping party hat and juice boxes didn't mess up my composition.  Though it's easy to blame the party hat, right :mrgreen:?

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.


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## Josh66 (Jul 11, 2010)

Well - let's see it!


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## RegRoy (Jul 11, 2010)

I'm not comfortable posting a picture of the kid  -- but there's a warm glow that's nice.  Maybe I'll get the styrofoam and candles  and recreate the picture with a stuffed animal (and a large bucket of water and a fire extinguisher on the side just in case).


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## fokker (Jul 12, 2010)

Booooo just put the pic, there's no rapists on here!


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## KmH (Jul 12, 2010)

RegRoy said:


> I'm not comfortable posting a picture of the kid -- but there's a warm glow that's nice. Maybe I'll get the styrofoam and candles  and recreate the picture with a stuffed animal (and a large bucket of water and a fire extinguisher on the side just in case).


I'm scared by many things that are happening in this country.


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