Hmm. If the problem is that you want more pumpkiny context instead of disembodied features, the best way to get it is to add a little ambient light. Flash adds light, but even low flash tends to overwhelm anything glowy in the picture. A longer exposure, if the only light source anywhere is the pumpkin itself, will most likely just get you brighter disembodied features.
If the whole image is too dim, though, where you can see the pumpkin but the camera isn't showing it, and adding any more external light would kill the effect of the glowiness, a longer exposure would help. There's probably a 'night' scene mode that will up the maximum exposure time, so that might be a simple thing that's worth trying, though scene modes are not terribly smart. Or you could go to shutter priority mode (I think it has one?) and try some different shots in the half second to 1.5 second range. Don't fear shutter priority, for it is awesome.
The self timer trick is just to avoid camera shake. Unless you have a really solid tripod, it's easy to blur pictures just by pressing the shutter. Even your flash shot was 1/40 second, which is slower than most people (okay, slower than I) can handhold.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2007-11-01 12:12 am (UTC)If the whole image is too dim, though, where you can see the pumpkin but the camera isn't showing it, and adding any more external light would kill the effect of the glowiness, a longer exposure would help. There's probably a 'night' scene mode that will up the maximum exposure time, so that might be a simple thing that's worth trying, though scene modes are not terribly smart. Or you could go to shutter priority mode (I think it has one?) and try some different shots in the half second to 1.5 second range. Don't fear shutter priority, for it is awesome.
The self timer trick is just to avoid camera shake. Unless you have a really solid tripod, it's easy to blur pictures just by pressing the shutter. Even your flash shot was 1/40 second, which is slower than most people (okay, slower than I) can handhold.