How do I take this pic?

[GirlWithOneEye]

I want to recreate this picture for my photojournalism class but I don't know how

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/4f/de/86/4fde869bdf51e6ede16839ec5f6ad2e9.jpg

Like what settings on the camera and what lighting? I've tried to take it but it always turns out too dark....

Help? I'm a total noob XD

 

[weepete]

Partial or spot meter on the arms, not the lights with a single af point should get you near. I'd suggest that you want to be careful you don't go too black with the hair and end up with a black blob. You could also try dialing in some exposure compensation. I think this is shot with just the fairy lights so that's how I'd go about it.

 

[Derrel]

Looks a lot like mini-lights wrapped around the woman's head, and a cell phone capture that's somewhat underdexposed. I think the big shift toward the green in the underexposed area is what gives it that iPhone 4/iPhone 5 look. One thing about using a cell phone, like specifically the iPhone 4 or 5 in a situation like that: the camera has an f/2.8 or an f/2.4 maximum lens aperture, and a shutter that will go very slow...so, if you support the camera, and keep it very steady, it CAN actually shoot in that kind of low light level, but the big issue is camera shake, so, you need to support the camera.

On of the problems when shooting a shot like that with either a regular camera, or a cell phone camera, is that the LIGHTS are very bright, compared to the remainder of the shot, so you might need to turn on the flash OR, use an add-on like the VSCO camera application, which gives you a pretty bright constant light, and that brings the "rest" of the subject closer in brightness to the lights themselves.