Feedback please & have a question

[crashgirl]

We decorated our tree this weekend. My daughter had her own little tree to decorate plus she helped with the big tree, so I snapped a few pics. There is no overhead lighting in the room so the lighting conditions were not ideal. I would like some constructive feedback. (see attached)

And, now for the question. How can I create the affect where she would be in focus but the tree, more specificly the lights on the tree, are blurred a bit to give that twinking light effect?

[timmciglobal]

To do that you need to posistion her infront of the tree and have a wide apature lens (F1.8 for example) so that what's in focus, namly your daughter, is quite narrow of an area and everything behind her is out of focus.


Tim

[24Peter]

In addition, I think you'd also want to lose the flash. Use a tripod and a slower shutter speed to let the ambient light gather upon your sensor (think of it as the longer the shutter is open, the more photons pile up on the sensor. This will make it easier to see the tiny tree lights.) Just make sure your little cutie stays still - otherwise she'll be blurry. Also - she seems shy, but you may want to have her look at the camera (at least once) ;)

[RebelRat]

I've noticed you have taken this series of pictures zoomed to about 34mm. I just picked up a great lens in that focal length that is great in lowlight situations. I picked up the Canon EF 35 f/2. It is capable of pretty decent shallow depth of field. I would recommend this lens over the longer 50 mm variety lens for that family type setting shots. I've found the 50 mm lens too long for many indoor situation.

Here is a sample taken with the 35mm lens. Taken about 2 feet from the subject at f/2.8.

[adam75south]

I've noticed you have taken this series of pictures zoomed to about 34mm. I just picked up a great lens in that focal length that is great in lowlight situations. I picked up the Canon EF 35 f/2. It is capable of pretty decent shallow depth of field. I would recommend this lens over the longer 50 mm variety lens for that family type setting shots. I've found the 50 mm lens too long for many indoor situation.

Here is a sample taken with the 35mm lens. Taken about 2 feet from the subject at f/2.8.

i don't know if it's just me, but that picture came out all pixellated on my screen.

[RebelRat]

Hmmm, might not look the best. The photo was resized from full size and compressed to 0 quality to get the file size tiny.

Yup, you are right. It looked like heck compared to the redone pic.

[crashgirl]

oops sorry for the double post

[crashgirl]

Like Tim said, use f1.8 or so.
Here is an example of a photo I took of someone sitting accross the table from someone, so maybe 6 feet off, at 35mm f1.4. If I had used 50mm it would have been more extreem (of course, the Field Of View would have been much narrower, although half of this photo was cropped out). My point of focus was her jacket button, of course it should have been her face. Does this approximate that you're attempting?
http://FLASHME.smugmug.com/photos/94174392-S.jpg

That's very close to the affect I would like to achieve.

[crashgirl]

In addition, I think you'd also want to lose the flash. Use a tripod and a slower shutter speed to let the ambient light gather upon your sensor (think of it as the longer the shutter is open, the more photons pile up on the sensor. This will make it easier to see the tiny tree lights.) Just make sure your little cutie stays still - otherwise she'll be blurry. Also - she seems shy, but you may want to have her look at the camera (at least once) ;)

Actually she is anything but camera shy. I have thousands of pictures (literally) of her "cheese-ing" it up for the camera. I wanted some natural, candid shots of her trimming the tree. I will probably take some posed shots later... which is why I was asking how to do this particular effect/style.

Thanks so much... I'll try some of the things mentioned and post some pics later.