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08/07/2004 06:24:36 PM · #1 |
| Haven't shot much at night and would like to take some pictures of the Louisville Sky line. What settings would you use to make the shot? Aperture? Shutter Speed? Plan on taking pictures at dusk. |
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08/07/2004 06:36:51 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by toddnicholsphotography:
Haven't shot much at night and would like to take some pictures of the Louisville Sky line. What settings would you use to make the shot? Aperture? Shutter Speed? Plan on taking pictures at dusk. |
Depending on the lens you use, you may not need a tripod, but I would use one anyway. It makes it a lot easier to lock in a composition and then take longer successive shots as you start to lose the light.
I use basic aperatures, like F/6.7 or F/8 on a 17-40 F/4 lens and do normal metering from there.
Another suggestion would be to shoot RAW, since it will give you a lot more latitude in altering the exposure later. With sunset or sunrise photography it can be hard to expose for both the dark ground and relatively bright sky. Exposing the same RAW image twice for different exposure levels can give you some latitude there in working with a final image.
Just some thoughts,
Rich.
Message edited by author 2004-08-07 18:38:01. |
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08/07/2004 07:33:54 PM · #3 |
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08/10/2004 08:52:23 AM · #4 |
definitely use a tripod. you can use narrow aperture and a longer shutter speed, depending on how dark it is. most of my "evening" shots of the city skyline here in Boston, were done at about 1-2 second exposures.
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08/10/2004 10:37:59 AM · #5 |
I'll second the "use the tripod" sentiment. That's really a must. I've done quite a bit of the night photography, particularly of the Pittsburgh skyline, and I've enjoyed tinkering with different settings. I've done some as long as 15 seconds, and as quick as half a second or so.
I like doing the longer exposures to get the effects of the traffic streaking through various roads. A couple random tips...
If you're doing the long exposures, you might watch for aircraft passing over the city. I prefer it with a nice clear sky, otherwise, you get a little dotted line from the aircrafts' blinking lights.
I don't know whether the Rebel has this feature, but my D100 has a noise reduction feature that really works fantastic in these situations. It does a great job of removing grain in long exposures. See if you have a similar setting.
Most of all -- remember, this is digital! Play around with different exposures, and don't forget to tinker with your white balance, too. You might find that you get some dramatically different results by changing the white balance settings. Good luck! |
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08/10/2004 10:52:59 AM · #6 |
A tripod really helps. For some night scenes I've done exposures up to about 6 minutes - I normally do exposures in the 30 second or so range for good scenics. You can get a blurry representation of the scene handholding, but that is never very satisfying.
A remote release, or at least using a timer is also really helpful. Typically you can use the meter reading as a guide, but you'll usually want to underexpose a matrix reading by about a stop or so, but this really depends on how much of the scene is 'dark' vs 'light' - there isn't a stock answer. If the scene is mostly darker than average, underexpose it, if mostly lighter - bright lights etc, overexpose compared to the meter reading - experiment is the main key here, practice really helps you get a feel for what does or doesn't work at night.
Also, the reality is most 'night' scenics actually look better in the hour or so after sunset and before it gets _really_ dark. You get a deep, blue sky rather than just black (or worse, orange from cloud reflected street lights)
 is a good example of that 'just after dark' look - half an hour later and this wouldn't look so interesting.
Another 'not really dark, more like dusk' shot
and to prove that you shouldn't listen to any standard advice, this one was shot when it was really night, hand held, while slightly drunk:
Another night tip: if you use a tripod, and _really_ stop down the aperture, with a long exposure and some bright points of light you get
quite interesting 'star' patterns from the aperture blades. These vary
depending on the lens, and how far you stop down but can be used quite
effectively, as in the example below. If I'd shot this with a more open aperture and faster shutter speed, the lights would just be points:
Message edited by author 2004-08-10 10:55:48. |
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08/10/2004 12:35:02 PM · #7 |
that last shot would have been interesting with the zoom blur effect i think.
that panorama is awesome./
Message edited by author 2004-08-10 12:35:13.
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08/10/2004 12:37:23 PM · #8 |
| has anyone ever photographed the submarine races? |
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08/10/2004 01:30:31 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by soup:
that last shot would have been interesting with the zoom blur effect i think.
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Something like
Made for good gift tags last christmas...
Message edited by author 2004-08-10 13:30:47. |
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