Technique Help: Photographing Edison Bulbs (Lights)

[undercoverbrother]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to improve my technique and skills.

I would like to know the best way to shoot edison bulbs they are beautiful to look at however as seen in my photos I have not successfully captured their beauty.

 

[Fred Kingston_RIP]

Change your WhiteBalance to Incandescent

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to improve my technique and skills.

I would like to know the best way to shoot edison bulbs they are beautiful to look at however as seen in my photos I have not successfully captured their beauty.

Are you asking for tips on how to shoot these bulbs in a more artistic fashion, meaning suggestions for possible compositions and such things; or do you need help with the technical aspects or both? The technical is easy, the artistic is more complicated.

 

[Moab Man]

I'm going to guess you mean that when getting the room properly exposed the bulbs are bright and lose the detail inside that you would like to show. If I am correct, you would need to exposures. One for the room and the second at a fast enough shutter rate to capture the lights before they start to wash out. Then layer the two exposures together.

 

[Pretzel]

Bulb itself, go low exposure and find the sweet zone. With background too, it's definitely gonna take two shots, just like MM described. Either way, with bulbs, ya can't trust the camera to set the exposure, you've gotta be in manual mode until ya find the settings that work to catch those innards!

 

[hark]

Not exactly sure what type of help you are looking for. I was going to suggest climbing up on a step stool and get closer to the lights. Perhaps eliminate everything from the photo that is on the floor. And like has been mentioned, adjust your white balance. Incandescent bulbs give off a brownish color that isn't always pleasing to see in photos.

And like Moab Man and Pretzel said, you need to expose for the light because the highlights are blown out causing a loss of detail within the lights.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Shooting the bulb, in my opinion, is the easy part. For me, the difficult part is composing the shot.
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