How to Take Long-Distance Beamshots?

I am writing a review and want to post beamshots. The problem is I cannot see the beam in the picture when doing long-distance beamshots. In reality, it lights up the tree enough to identify it as a tree, but it is too diffused for the camera. I played with the settings, but it will take me forever to do the Trial & Error method.

I have a simple digital camera that I can change almost any setting.

Oh, I did a search and found almost nothing. JS had a nice thread about faking beamshots to show what he really saw. Even if I was willing to go through that much trouble, the shots were all close range.

I'm nothing but a rank amateur, but for these kinds of exposures I think you'd need a tripod (or equivalent), long exposure setting, high ISO setting, and a distance focus (or manual). I'm sure multiple shots with lots of fine tuning, too.

Geoff

Use a tripod and long exposure.

The light has to be set down on a stable surface so the beam dosen't move either. You will need both hands to operate the camera too.

Use manual exposure. Set the aperture to the brightest setting.
Half press the shutter so that it focuses on the object you are shining. If the AF does not work, set the focus to infinity.

Start from a 1 second exposure, and keep notching down to a slower shutter speed, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, 8..16.. until the beam shows up on the monitor.

If you want cleaner images without high ISO noise, use a lower ISO. You will need to use longer shutter speeds though.

Try shooting in a dark area without other illumination (street lamps, signs etc). The contrast of the beam will show up better.

If the above does not work, you may have to shorten the distance to the object your are aiming at.

Hope this helps, good luck.

I agree with nekomane's advice. I always use a low ISO, like ISO 100. No sense using a higher ISO and getting a grainy image since you'll be taking a long exposure either way. Just get the camera on a tripod, the light stationary, and keep taking longer and longer exposures until you get what you want.

On my camera the widest aperture setting, which lets the most light in, is f2.8. Just remember that the lower the f number the more light it will let in. So you don't want something like f8, f11, f16, etc.

Also you may want to set your white balance to daylight if you're shooting an LED. If you can manually set the focus set it to infinity so you don't have to worry about trying to get the focus right. As long as the beam is hitting something past 20-30 feet you should be fine with infinity focus.

I will try everything recommended, except for getting closer. I plan on super close, close, ~20 feet, ~100 feet. The first two worked on my attempt before I posted.

Unfortunately, I live in the suburbs and can't get away from ambient light. Hopefully the long and stable(tripod) exposure will overcome that.

Flashlight ~ in suburban areas you can usually find a golf course and the many trees make it very dark on a moonless night . You might check out Nitro's "Got Throw" beamshots for where he shot them and post # 100 for your dark spot.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2436205#post2436205

Good luck, I want to see them.

It depends on how powerful your light is. Tripod is essential, also 2sec delay before shutter opens helps. You can start with ISO-100, AWB (Average White Balance), F-3.2, then time 1 sec to 10 sec. Here was a shootout I just did with exposure settings on photos

Be prepared to take a set of test shots at different exposures, then look at them on your computer and decide which work best. Remember you can right click on your imported pix and look at the file properties summary to see what the setting was at if you forget.