Shooing into lights?

[Lautermilch]

My city of Sebring Florida has a small park in the center and they have added lights all over. People would like images.
Tonight I tested my D7000 with a 35MM and saw my first problem was the focus area was too large and it was locking onto the wreath.
The second problem was the ISO was auto and I need to update the spot metering.
Any suggestions for best images?

 

[BF Hammer]

It has been some years since I used a D7000. I believe I would turn off the auto ISO and try manual mode. The auto exposure algorithm is going to get fooled a lot in this situation. Use the image review with the histogram on, take test photos and adjust. If you set a reasonable ISO at 400, set f-stop at perhaps f/8 then just try to move the shutter speed to get the histogram to be centered. If the shutter speed gets too slow to hold steady, open the aperture to a lower f-stop. I bet you could shoot into lights most of the session without changing the exposure up or down much.

Alternately in an auto-exposure mode you use the exposure compensation to brighten or darken, but you are still taking test shots to find the right amount.

 

[Lautermilch]

Thanks, that worked. I am using a lower F stop to keep the flash lower as I already overheated and ruined one a few months

After the changes I took some shots on 'Tigger' in my home studio in darkness created by only having a light from another room lit.