Interior Pictures and Light Burn

[Architective]

I shot an interior of an office yesterday to practice with different lighting conditions. I have come across a troubling problem that I hope you guys can help me fix. The lighting in these spaces require that a long exposure be used, but when that happens, the track lighting overexposes and "burns" the lights out.

Also, I was using an aperture priority setting, using between f/3.5 and f/5.0 for most. ISO was between to 100 and 320 as I practiced, and I used Manual focus on all. Exposures averaged between 1-3" and 5 seconds. I don't have the exif data on these particular pictures with me to give specifics.

Can anyone recommend a kindof a guideline that I should be using for interior shots similar to these? Should I investigate underexposing one shot and merging with the properly exposed version to reduce light burn?

My gear used:
50D
Tamron 10-24mm wide angle
No external lighting

Thank you!



http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-Mp8nfBQdjs/S2xiIy15K4I/AAAAAAAAGd8/IZclin1jJGc/s720/ReSource-2.jpg


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-Mp8nfBQdjs/S2xiJWe3NnI/AAAAAAAAGeA/L4LahTrFrII/s720/ReSource-4.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_-Mp8nfBQdjs/S2xiK18rWbI/AAAAAAAAGeI/T3urQoisUSY/s720/ReSource-12.jpg

[Architective]

Also, I was using Live View and no shutter release for these. On the shots longer than 1 second, I did a 2 second timer.

Will the use of Live View degrade the images? I believe I have the mirror lockup setting is On.

[Tweet]

I think the lights look cool... Your Idea about merging the two photos would correct that imho.

[zagiace]

Typically the way I handle situations like these is to go ahead and light the room. Put a gel on your lights to color balance with the interior lights.
To get it right in camera that is really the only way to do it.

[Architective]

Recommended aperture or ISO settings?

[zagiace]

There are no moving subjects so I would go with iso 100 and probably around f8-11 at the minimum.