Help with night shots. - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

04/08/2005 02:45:29 PM · #1

I love night shots, and I love taking them even more. Now, I understand that my camera has limited abilities, but I think I can get better results with a little help. In a recent challenge, skiprow left a good comment suggesting I try imagineer's technique for editing night shots. I'd love to, but I'm not sure exactly how to get the best results. Anyone care to have a go at this image and see if you can bring out the lighting a little better? Any help or suggestions would be great, and I promise to submit nicer night shots in the future. I took a few more recently, and right now, they don't look too far off from the one below.

here is the shot I submitted for stock photography:

//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=156397

I'd like my night shots to look a little closer to this beauty by imagineer.

//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=125627

RulerZigzag

Nikon D750

04/08/2005 02:57:10 PM · #2

Perhaps I can Help you. what do you want to achieve?

Message edited by author 2005-04-08 14:57:31.

04/08/2005 03:01:56 PM · #3

Hey, thanks for responding. I'd like to create a better balance between the museum, and the walkway, without ruining the glow of lights off to the right. Basically, I ordered a print of it, and the whole damn thing is brown. Same thing on my monitor at work. I realize that the photo could have better composition, but it is a landmark in this town, and that includes the whole view. I want to bring out the view of the buildings, and the highway, without having such a muddy sky. Make sense at all?

Grigolly

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/08/2005 03:03:15 PM · #4

Your shot is just great. His shot is great too. Difference is - his shot is better edited. with your camera, try not to use digital zoom at all, and close aperature as much as posible, and of course ISO100. when I take night shots, I try to pay attantion to photo center. your photo is not concentrated on anything, it just lets us see what you saw, but if you will try to concentrate on one specific subject, photo will be much more interesting. (I always do like that and I think it works:))

And one more thing I forgot: don't try to make exact exposure, let it overbright a bit, you can edit it easy, but if have dark photo, you cannot do anything with it

Message edited by author 2005-04-08 15:07:53.

w24x192

Canon PowerShot S50

04/08/2005 03:04:35 PM · #5

It could be a hardware issue. Imagineer has a camera that allows basically unlimited exposure times via bulb operation and a very low amount of noise considering. It is possible that there is also more ambient light where Imagineer shoots, and that could give him brighter, sharper photos.

Maybe you could photograph right after dusk and right before dawn when it's dark out, but not too dark. The more you experiment and make adjustments, the more you will be able to see what it is that you can and cannot do.

04/08/2005 03:08:20 PM · #6

Originally posted by Grigolly:

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

04/08/2005 03:11:37 PM · #7

Originally posted by w24x192:

good idea. That shot was taken just after the sun went down, and I missed a lot of the good ambient light that had passed minutes before I got there. Plus our city has such a filthy atmosphere, that street lighting can make the sky brown on a cloudy night. Maybe I'll wait until the next clear sky sunset, and have another go at the same shot. Also, if there isn't enough contrast in the shot itself, my camera gets so noisy. the noise reduction isn''t so great, but if it isn't used, you wouldn't believe how crappy the photos come out.

Grigolly

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/08/2005 03:13:54 PM · #8

No digital zoom or optical zoom was used. I did use a wide-angle lens attachment on the camera's fixed lens. Aperature was down all the way, and ISO was at 100. (I'm still not really sure what the ISO does, but it was set at 100) Thanks for the comment. I realize it could have looked better, if I focused on the buildings, but I wanted to capture the landmark buildings with the surrounding river and highway bridges. Shots similar to mine are all over travel brochures and postcards for the city. I wanted to get "Philadelphia" in the shot, and not just the art museum. [/quote]

in that case just let it overbright. ISO does following: Less is ISO, less is noise, but shutter speed is slower too, on higher ISO noise is more, as well as speed. So night shots on high ISO are very noisy (at least on my camera).

Message edited by author 2005-04-08 15:15:50.

RulerZigzag

Nikon D750

04/08/2005 03:21:59 PM · #9

2 things contributed to low lighting in Phreakon's nightshot. The shutter speed was at 10 seconds when he took the photo. He could of went a little slower, maybe 15 or 20 seconds, im not sure if his camera is capable of doing it though. The other reason is the editing. I think the photo is underexposed but a little adjustments in levels or dodging would of helped the brightness. ISO is good for low lighting conditions, maybe try boosting it a bit, just make sure you filter it afterwards because you will get a lot of noise on non-SLR cameras. Aperture should not be smaller than a 4 or 5 in nightshots, an aperture of F6 and up is too small and you need a long exposure of 30 seconds or more for small apertures.

04/08/2005 03:28:36 PM · #10

Originally posted by RulerZigzag:

Thanks. My camera has a max of 16 second exposures. Believe it or not, I took some shots that night with a max exposure time, and they came out about the same as this one. A little brighter, but not by much. I like the stars effect from the street lights, they look a lot cleaner, but my camera needs at least an f6, preferrably f7 or f8 in order to get the clean light beams. Maybe I should just get that rebel I have had my eye on.

moodville

Nikon D100

04/08/2005 05:54:38 PM · #11

Not sure what you wanted and not sure I've read Imagineer's technique either. The most common thing to do with night shots is to remove the orange glow.

Remember that this was done on an already edited image at a very small web size.

All I did was add a gradient map on an adjustment layer. Click on the layer mask and use apply image with merged/RGB/invert checked/multiply/100%. Adjusted contrast/brightness to taste. You can also play around with color balance to add your own color bias like blue for a more colder image similar to Imagineer's.

Message edited by author 2005-04-08 17:57:45.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

04/08/2005 05:58:37 PM · #12

Originally posted by moodville:

Remember that this was done on an already edited image at a very small web image.

All I did was add a gradient map on an adjustment layer. Click on the layer mask and use apply image with merged/RGB/invert checked/multiply/100%. Adjusted contrast/brightness to taste. You can also play around with color balance to add your own color bias like blue for a more colder image similar to Imagineer's.

Thanks. I like how it cleaned up the glow by the art museum columns.

RulerZigzag

Nikon D750

04/08/2005 06:08:04 PM · #13

Moodville did a really great job with that photo. It depends on the orange glow. Sometimes it looks good, sometimes it doesn't. Try Dodging it.