Parade of Lights - Settings?

[royey123]

Which settings would you start with to take candid shots of a Christmas Parade of Lights? Obviously it will be low light - and moving. So, difficult to shoot I would assume!! But where would you start your settings off?

[quekbc]

Tough one. Taking flash photography out of the picture, add in a pinch of movement and a dash of darkness.

I can only think of high ISO + high aperture + maybe black & white. Of course this would mean that the pictures won't be as sharp and there'll be grains/noise. I guess its better than blurrs.

Slower shutter speeds with tripods might work though.

P/S: I have close to 0 experience with dim/dark situations with movements. So take my suggestions with 2 (maybe 3) grains of salt.

[Jim Bryant]

Last parade I shot for AAA magazine in 2004 was the Farm parade in Sunnyside, Wa., I wanted to combine the ambient light with the flash output. I set the ISO 400, camera on shutter priority, f-stops - 2.8 - 5.6 and shutter speeds ranging from 1/8th to 20th second, depending on how much blur I wanted or not. I think I had the flash output set around +0.3 output.

Date: 12/4/04
Time: 6:58:17
Latitude:
Longitude:
Model: Canon EOS-1D
Serial #:
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh
Frame #:
Lens (mm): 17
ISO: 400
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/20
Exp. Comp.: +0.3
Flash Comp.:
Program: Shutter Priority
Focus Mode:
White Bal.:
ICC Profile: Adobe RGB (1998) (embedded)
Contrast:
Sharpening:
Quality: