Christmas Lights

[ashtones]

I just put the lights up on the house. I wanted to take a picture of them for my mom but I have a crappy digital camera. I keep getting a very blurred result. The only settings the camera has is ISO from auto to 100,200,300,400. THen it has an exposure setting that goes from -3 to +3. And white balance. I have tried a bunch of combinations with no success. Are there any photographers here that know if it is possible for me to get a half way decent pic.

[ashtones]

I posted the picture but it didn't show up in the post.

[yoda313]

Did you remember to use the [img]https://www.videohelp.com/forum/images/guides/p1419027/ tags?? Also if your filename has a space in it it won't be recognized. There also is a file size limit as well.

[ashtones]

What do you mean img? Is that a file extension? You link does not work.

[ashtones]

[ashtones]

Ok that worked.

[garman]

You'll need a tripod and longer exposure times, like 3,4 or 5 seconds to get what you want. I'd set the ISO to 200, maybe a bit grainy, pending on the quality of the sensor. If you can get very long exposure times over ten seconds, try ISO 100 and 4/5 seconds. -garman

[ashtones]

This was another try.

[ashtones]

I have a tripod but my crap camera does not come with a remote so just pressing the button causes some shake. Maybe I should just shoot some video then do a frame grab.

[garman]

set the auto timer.... -garman

[ashtones]

Of couse that makes sense. I will try that tomorrow. Thats for the info.

[BJ_M]

and/or lay off the coffee ... that is some shake

[Guest]

do you have a timer on it?

[ZAPPER]

Start shooting just before sundown so that there is some fill light to help out. You would think that something as simple as taking a picture wouldn't cause so much hair pulling huh? Use a tripod and the timer to help avoid the shake. Try the highest iso you have and the longest exposure and then work backwards from there. I would say that the flash is a no no because of the distance and the subject, but if it can't be turned off try masking it off.

If they ever invent a camera that will take a picture of what I see over what the camera sees I am gonna buy two of them!

Hunt down Lordsmurf, I think that he may have a grip on these things.

[ashtones]

Well I had to use the neighbors mailbox as I do not have my friend is using my tri-pod. But the timer did work to eliminate the blur but the colors are all messed up. Kind of a red haze over the picture.

[Guest]

That looks much better.

[ZAPPER]

Hey hey! Looks like you are getting there! now start playing with the white balance

[gll99]

@ashtones

So when are the lights and decorations going up?

[garman]

Little on the red side. Looks like the camera picked the readings from the street lights on the right. It can be corrected in photoshop. See Below.
BTW it looks like I can see the address # and the TV inside the house.. -garman

[ashtones]

I messed around with it in Photoshop but coudn't get the red out. Your right about the street light. The lights on the house are white while the two rope lights wrapped around the pillars are red. As far as the tv, no my tv is in the back of the house it must be a reflection. The address is 126 AnyStreet USA.

[ashtones]

Well I figure with my camera this is probably as good as I am going to get. Thanks for the tips!

[garman]

howz this. I like the kid in the window?

[ashtones]

Nice. I see now that I have a lot to learn about Photoshop.

[adam]

If you can't get it to work you'll just have to buy a new house. Only solution.

[ashtones]

garman I put the picture you doctored on my desktop no one but my seven year old noticed the baby in the window and noticed it was not indeed her little sister.

[sacajaweeda]

That's when you look at her very seriously and tell her.....

Aww jeez....and to think, I really liked you, too.....but now you know too much....

[garman]

garman I put the picture you doctored on my desktop no one but my seven year old noticed the baby in the window and noticed it was not indeed her little sister.

Yeah that was BJ_M avatar.....

[ashtones]

Yeah I showed her. Now I'm getting all the why is that baby smoking questions. I told her because it's a bad bad baby.

[garman]

Yeah I showed her. Now I'm getting all the why is that baby smoking questions. I told her because it's a bad bad baby.

I suspect that BJ_M likes his kid to smoke