advice/help for that birthday cake candle shot

[praline3001]

Tomorrow is my lovely Daughter's birthday. She will be 8
I would love getting a nice candid of her blowing out the candles on her cake... all nice and glowing and purty

I am still REALLY new to photography and I did read the candle shot article on the DPS BUT it talks about very still shots and that is REALLY hard to do with a little girl making her wishes and blowing out her candles

So what can I do to increase my chances of getting that GREAT shot?
I do have a tripod and my G10 DOES shoot in RAW (in M, AV,TV only)
I am learning RAW and I am really liking it for indoor candid shots!!!!
I can mess with the white balance and not lose anything from the photo. I haven't attempted M or RAW in low lighting and especially with a child moving around ~ of course I could take 20 minutes to get the shot just right but then she won't have such a look of wonder on her face

[dannyrich]

Originally Posted by praline3001

Tomorrow is my lovely Daughter's birthday. She will be 8
I would love getting a nice candid of her blowing out the candles on her cake... all nice and glowing and purty

I am still REALLY new to photography and I did read the candle shot article on the DPS BUT it talks about very still shots and that is REALLY hard to do with a little girl making her wishes and blowing out her candles

So what can I do to increase my chances of getting that GREAT shot?
I do have a tripod and my G10 DOES shoot in RAW (in M, AV,TV only)
I am learning RAW and I am really liking it for indoor candid shots!!!!
I can mess with the white balance and not lose anything from the photo. I haven't attempted M or RAW in low lighting and especially with a child moving around ~ of course I could take 20 minutes to get the shot just right but then she won't have such a look of wonder on her face

Good post, I have this problem.

I end up taking some with flash then some without but trying to get movement of the candles but clarity of the child.

I have taken to using a little bit of flash and a slightly higher shutter in M

[praline3001]

If I don't get it right tomorrow I have to wait a whole 365 days to try it again LOL

[dannyrich]

Originally Posted by praline3001

If I don't get it right tomorrow I have to wait a whole 365 days to try it again LOL

lol Practise tonight!

Also, setup you M then setup on A priority or whatever so you can flip between the two!!

Use a flash and a "slow" function of the flash if your camera has one.

Flash + slow shutter = proper exposure.

[praline3001]

I thought with candlelight it was better to go no flash?
I want that kind of glowy look so not sure if the flash will chase that away?

Originally Posted by praline3001

I thought with candlelight it was better to go no flash?
I want that kind of glowy look so not sure if the flash will chase that away?

Then just go with slow shutter... the problem with that is that candles don't sit still and will come out blurry.

[Gonzo13]

It took me a little bit before I could take pictures like this. I have a few things to say about it. Set up the shot and take some pictures while everyone is singing happy birthday to her, use the highest ISO that you are comfortable with (I have never used a G10 so you should make that call, I usually use 800), the largest aperture that you can, focus on her face, and don't turn off all of the lights make it dim not pitch black. And you do not have to wait a year to try again. Kid's love blowing out candles. If you have scented candles in the house that you light then have her blow them out.

This is my wife at a restaurant that I took her to on her birthday. ISO 800, f/2.5, 1/10 of a second. That was one candle you should have 8.

I think that's all the advice that I have other than practice.

~Gonzo13

[praline3001]

Ok I wrote all of that down ~ I guess we can try for a dry run tonight lmao

I can just see telling her we need to practice her blowing out the candles for tomorrow night ~ she is REALLY going to think I'm a lune

[jprime84]

Maybe you could get her to pretend to blow them out, and hold the pose. Or blow really lightly for a longer period of time for the slow shutter.