If I shoot a candle light dinner in a dimly lit room then either A) I set exposure for the whole room, in which case the candle is way to bright and washed out, or B) I set exposure for the candle, in which case the room is too dark.

I also tried shooting this in a very well lit room so that there wasn't as much contrast in light between the candle and the rest of the room, but in post I couldn't get the room to look dark. Does any one have any tips please?

Thanks,
Scott

scott,

Add some light to the room and manually adjust the exposure and see if that will do it for you. I think finding the right amount of light and exposure combo will do it.

scott,

Add some light to the room and manually adjust the exposure and see if that will do it for you. I think finding the right amount of light and exposure combo will do it.



Thanks Michael. I will try that again...except to turn down the exposure I think i should have increased the shutter speed instead of descreasing the aperture. When I descreased the aperture it started showing those lines of light coming out of the candle, like a " + ", if you know what I mean.

This is exactly what a Neutral Density filter is for. Your camera may have one built in (look for ND) or you can add one to the lens. The point is to darken the exposure by a fixed amount so you can open the iris (aperture) to avoid the effect you are seeing as well as improve depth of field effects. You can also reduce the gain on your camera. All my cameras let me go down to -3db gain.