Streaky Xmas Lights...Help!!!

[mjsnikon]

Some of my shots with my Nikon D3000 came out streaky like this (but not all)... I had it set to the night time portrait setting...

[RichardTaylor]

It looks like your shutter speed is too slow for hand holding.
You need to place your camera on a tripod.

Edit:
The flash has illuminated the person ok, however the shutter stays open for a long time to record the xmas lights. If the camera moves during this time the lights will be blurred.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

It looks like your shutter speed is too slow for hand holding.
You need to place your camera on a tripod or shoot at a higher shutter speed, like 1/20 second at the minimum.

I think there is a little more going on here than just to slow of a shutter speed. I'm not sure what though. If it were from camera shake do to a slow shutter speed, you would see the child all smeary looking also.

[RichardTaylor]

The short flash duration is keeping the face relatively sharp.

See page 31 of the camera user guide.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

The short flash duration is keeping the face relatively sharp.

See page 31 of the camera user guide.

After further review, you may be correct. I don't know why I didn't think about the flash part. My bad.

[TBrown00]

When cameras are set to night portrait mode they usually slow or "drag" the shutter to expose for the background behind your subject - this is what caused the streaky lights. If it is on P, A, or the green auto mode and the flash mode isn't changed, then your camera will use a faster shutter speed with the flash to expose for your subject (probably around 1/200), but the background will probably be black because the shutter won't be open long enough to capture it. The advantage of this is that the lights won't streak across the frame because of the faster shutter, but the disadvantage is that your background will not have any detail in it.

[RichardTaylor]

A slow shutter speed does not mean "streaky" lights if the lights are stationary.
Camera movement means "streaky" lights if the light are stationary.