How do you take beamshots? Mine are no good...

KDOG3

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I'd like to know how to take good beam shots. Mine don't come out very well, the flash engages and you can't really see it. I have a Nikon digital camera (CoolPix 3100). Any suggestions?
 

Lurveleven

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If your camera is a fully automatic one, then it is not good for taking beamshots because you will get different exposure on different lights. Check the manual of your camera to see if it has manual settings and if you can turn of the flash.

Sigbjoern
 

Owen

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I use a Coolpix 3200.
Go to "scene" mode, select the "party/indoor" setting, and turn off the flash. Sometimes I'll try a couple of different settings to get an image that is representative of what I'm actually seeing.
Here is one I took last night that has not been touched up, just saved as is. Adding a little brightness, and sharpening the image would make it look better, but I think it captured the relative brightness, color, and beam characteristics quite well without modification.
 

jtice

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If your camera does not have a fully manual mode, you cant really take beamshots.
The camera will adjust itself differently to each beam, therefore making the beams not comparable.

If you do have a manual mode, turn off the flash, and set the shutter speed to what ever brightness looks good.
Make sure its on that same setting for ever beam you take a photo of, that way they are comparable.

If your camera will not so this, the only thing you can do is turn off the flash, and take a shot of two beams you are wanting to compare, at the same time. Shinning them side by side on the wall.
 

Codeman

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There's a relatively easy way to do this, if the 3100 has a panorama mode. If it does, then your first shot should be of the brightest light. This will set both shutter speed and aperature. Then take the rest of the shots. Ta da!

I've used this technique with my Nikon 5200 while my 5700 is in the shop. It works just as well as using manual settings, except you don't have to fool with finding the correct manual settings for the first picture.

Credit for coming up with this approach goes to tvodrd! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For those with full manual cameras, it's best to set exposure from the brightest light. This will mean the others are underexposed, but that gives more meaningful pictures than a bunch of overexposed images, which will result if exposure is not based on the brightest light.

Also, I recommend verifying that you have white balance set correctly and avoid any post-processing. I suggest the later since changing the sharpening via NikonView or Adobe's un-sharp mask, or changing the contrast, brightness, tint, etc, is really modifying what you're trying to capture - the light's actual beam. I also leave in-camera sharpening set to auto. Nikon's in-camera algorithm does a decent job, but errs on the conservative side. All of these suggestions are based on wanting to capture the most objective pictures possible. If you want the images to look their best, giving up some of their usefulness in regards to comparisons, ignore these suggestions. Of course, the usual YMMV applies. These suggestions are generalizations and don't always apply.

One last tip. If your 3100 has trouble focusing, pick up a $10 laser pointer. I've taken images with my 5700 (with no low-light focus assist) late at night under a new moon and it works very well. Just put the laser's beam in the center of the light's beam, half-press the shutter to set the exposure values, turn the laser off, and fully depress the shutter. This little trick works just as well as most of the consumer cameras with low-light assist, at least until you get into the DSLR class of cameras. With my 5700, I usually get focus lock in less than 2 seconds using this technique.

Hope this helps!
 

Kiessling

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Some basic rules:

If your camera operates in auto-mode only, always use a second beam in each pic for comparison purposes, e.g. the well-known LionHeart vs. all the other lights you want to show. Like this, the viewer will be able to make a mental comparison of the beams even without manual settings.

If you can use a manual mode, always use the same settings for each pic, and before starting, make sure your settings do cover what you want to see. The problem is the big dynamic range between the horspot of long throwing lights (bright!) and the sometimes weak corona. Often, cameras can't take both, meaning you will either have an overexposed hotspot or no corona in your pic. For really bright lights this cannot be overcome most of the times, so you have two choices:
1) do two shots, one with the corona and an overexposed hotspot and the second with no corona and a nice hotspot.
2) focus on what you want to see in a certain light and do not talk about the rest. Reduces the workload /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The flash of course, is your enemy.

Next, avoid reflective targets and choose the colors of your targets wisely. Keep the selected settings and distance as well as angle during the whole shooting to assure at least an approx. comparability.

bernhard
 

Kiessling

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Well ... it is a very good and useful shot without a problem. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Why did you ask if you knew how to do it anyway? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif
bernie
 
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