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I thought it was about time to try a few new things with my D200, so i thought i would see if i could get the lights visible without the rest of the shot looking way too dark with my bike after i made it look like a Christmas tree for the toyrun

I think you have done quite well with it. The lights aren't 'popping' out, but nonetheless, I think you have achieved your objective.

It looks better full size than the thumbnail made me expect. And it doesn't look PP'd at all. I assume you did one low-light shot and one with an extra light on the subject?

For comparison, I just did it by resting the camera on the ground somewhere dark, and that didn't work nearly as well:

So I might try stealing your idea

thanks for the feedback
I set the camera up on a tripod took the 1st shot about 7:30pm and the 2nd at 10pm. I don’t have any extra flashes etcyet so had to use natural light for the 1st and wait till it was dark enough to really bring the lights out

By the way, I was going to apply the same or similar technique to photograph our Christmas tree with all its purdy lights. Good to see it works.