Photographing LED lights

[photong]

I want to take pics of houses, and maybe even someone wrapped in a string of lights. What would be the better choice to use, LED lights, or the traditional?

Could a ND filter help at all with LED brightness?

I will be using digital.

Thank you.

 

[nossie]

My guess is that you're gonna have to play around and vary the intensity of the lights.

 

[Big Mike]

An ND filter will darken the whole scene...so unless you want to use a longer shutter speed to get some sort of blur...it would be pointless.

You might be able to find a good exposure level that exposes for the house without blowing out the lights too much...but the darker it gets, the harder it would be.

You could try to set the camera to expose for the lights, then use flash to light up the house. On-camera flash may not work well...so if you could have some flash units placed around the house, that might work well...but it's getting to be a lot of work.

 

[nossie]

adding to Mike's response... you could shoot at dusk with the lights on

 

[The Phototron]

If you're using digital, consider HDR, or even just blending two shots together, one exposing for the house and one for the light.

 

[Sideburns]

use traditional lights. they're not as bright usually...and they aren't as harsh on the eyes...those things are really bad for "omg those hurt my eyes" lol. Also, they just look nice...traditional and all.