An attempt at Candlelight photography

[ravishankar]

My first attempt at candlelight photography with my daughter as my model. I used a 50mm 1.4 manual lens on a tripod. I'm not sure if this shot is alright. I'd appreciate if any of you could tell me about the white balance and any other setting on the camera that could render a candlelit shot better.

Thanks in Advance,

Ravi

Camera; Nikon D90
lens:Nikkor 50mm 1.4 manual
shutterspeed:1/10S
aperture:1.4
White Balance : Auto

[ctcook]

Candeligh photography would be tough, probably why I haven't attempted it and therefore can't really back any of this up. The white balance might be a little on the warm side, but maybe that's what you're going for. There is a litte bit of motion blur, not sure if that can be avoided. The pose seems un-natural. I love the catchlights in the eyes, curious how many canles were used? The overal mood of the image is nice and soothing. Hope you keep it up I might have to give it a go myself.

[ravishankar]

Thanks ctcook for taking time off to see the image. The white balance was set to auto. I'll try with other WB modes to see if the image changes substantially. I had mounted the lens on a tripod. So, am not sure why the blur. Thanks for the inputs. I'll try and better my shots the next time.

As for the candles, I had lit two candles for this shot, both of which were placed to her right.

Thanks,

Ravi

[katia]

1/10 seems too slow. your model probably moved a little bit, causing the motion blur.

or perhaps since you used an aperture of f1.8 it just wasn't enough depth of field. it looks like her shoulder is in sharper focus than the rest of the photo.

[ravishankar]

Thank you Katia for your observations.

Will try again with different combinations of shutter speed and f-stops. Also, could any of you please let me know, from your experience, if it's better to go with auto white balance or try and look at other possibilities.

Thanks,

Ravi

[ctcook]

There are a lot of variables in answering that question such as: Are you shooting in RAW/JPG? Do you have a means of setting a custom whitebalance (grey/white card, expodisc, whitebalance lens cap, etc.) Are you using mixed lighting (natural & artificial, differnt gels, etc.).

IMHO - In this example if you're shooting in RAW and you have no means of setting a custom white balance you could try setting it to 1,850K and then adjust in photoshop as needed.

[ravishankar]

Thank You very much for your suggestion. Most of the times, I seem fixated with a certain thought which refuses to go away. A suggestion like this will help me think differently. Thank you once again for having suggested this.

Thanks,


Ravi

[Sammie2]

Very good photo - I've been working with candle light photography off and on for about 2 years and I'm now feeling confortable enouth to add them to portfolio for sell.

Keep up the good work.

[SwissJon]

I wonder if maybe you should be using a reflector to the camera's right of the model? It would lighten a little of the deep black shadow on her nose without taking away any of the mood of the photograph.

[ravishankar]

Thanks Sammie2 and Swiss Jon for your comments.

This was my first attempt at candlelight photography and I'm sure I have learnt a lot after posting the image.

I'm dying to implement these suggestions and see if I could better the results.

Thanks,


Ravi