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08/14/2010 05:36:07 PM · #1 |
Hey everyone,
I have this drawing feeling towards night photography and I have no idea why. Every time I try to pull of some night stuff It just doesn't look that great. I use a tripod and the timer because i don't have a shutter release cable... I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions or tips on how to shoot night photography? |
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08/14/2010 06:23:04 PM · #2 |
Can you post some examples of what's not working for you? Why are you not happy with the results? Are you shooting city scenes, or lanscapes at night? Perhaps seeing those may help us give you some idea. A couple of potential issue that come to mind with night shots:
-white balance is even more important at night than day time. I'd suggest shooting RAW so that you have fine control over it after the fact.
-ISO. Since you are shooting on a tripod, and can take as long an exposure as needed, use the lowest ISO
-Stabilization: turn it off when shooting on a tripod. Stabilization can actually induce blur when the camera is not moving.
-Try shooting at twilight instead of night. It makes for a nice glow in the sky.
Message edited by author 2010-08-14 18:25:42. |
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08/14/2010 06:48:59 PM · #3 |
I second all of what  Yo_Spiff says.
Check out The Nocturnes.
Get yourself a cable release. They aren't that expensive and they make life a lot easier. |
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08/14/2010 06:56:27 PM · #4 |
| If you don't have a cable yet, just use self-timer mode with a time of 5 seconds. I believe you have to keep pressing the self-timer button before each shot. If you find that it refocuses right before the shot when you use the self-timer, make sure to hold AF-Lock when pressing the shutter. |
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08/15/2010 12:12:07 AM · #5 |
Practice & experimentation are the things that make night photography work. Steve Yo_Spiff gave you the basics......take your camera and tripod out and play. I've developed my own favorite ways of doing it over the last couple years such that it gives me a great deal of enjoyment. I've gotten to the point where I use night shots for challenges when night isn't necessarily a relevant part of the theme.
  
Reflections off water are stunning at night.....
   
And with practice, then when you do have a night shot challenge theme, you're much more comfortable with them, and can present something really interesting.
Come to think of it, next to abandonded stuff, I like night shooting best.
Night Abandoned challenge, anyone???
Even just strolling around the neighborhood can net you some good stuff simply for practice. Things just look different at night. These were hand-held, high ISO, last night about 11:00 P.M. All within walking distance of my place.
   
Sometimes.....the drawbacks to night photography make for some of the most interesting images. I don't get why this is slightly OOF on the right, but clean on the left.....but I think it's kind of cool.
This one had disaster written all over it with the ISO and being hand held, yet it's a particular fave of mine and got me in the Top 30 of the Fine Art challenge.
Sometimes, even the ones that seem like losers have a way of working their way into interesting, too.....I didn't like this originally, but it kind of grew on me over time.
I have a cheap, POS tripod, an older camera, and no remote/cable release.....Just go shoot! |
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08/15/2010 01:15:13 AM · #6 |
Don't you have any examples to show us Jeb? :-}
I should do more night shooting as well. Makes for some really cool lightplay.
Message edited by author 2010-08-15 01:16:20. |
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08/15/2010 02:07:40 AM · #7 |
I am a night owl, and after shooting film for many years, it's a joy to be able to go to places and shoot at night and be able to see what you have on the spot so that you can correct settings to get what you want. A couple of the things that I have found that helps me to analyze what I see on the LCD is to turn the LCD brightness down when shooting at night. Another good trick I have learned, is to turn the camera off when manually focusing, so that the heads-up display and other lights in or on the camera don't make the subject difficult to see.
Night shooing is fun because the lighting is so totally different from daytime, and you can influence the light quite a bit with even a simple flashlight while doing time exposures.
Here are a few of my night shots.
      
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08/26/2010 02:18:54 AM · #8 |
| So nice pics , i love them very much . |
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08/26/2010 02:27:14 AM · #9 |
Don't see anyone having mentioned it yet, you should not use the widest aperture if you want nice star shaped light rays, try using an aperture of about f/8, that should encourage nice pointed stars on your light sources, much like this:
ETA:
Lens makes a big difference, check out the quality of the star rays in this image for comparison..
Message edited by author 2010-08-26 02:29:00. |
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08/26/2010 12:12:06 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by coryboehne:
Lens makes a big difference, check out the quality of the star rays in this image for comparison..
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The issue looks more like a too-big aperture automatically set by the camera to let in as much light as possible. What was the aperture? Aperture was f/5... perhaps f/10 would've given better stars?
Message edited by author 2010-08-26 12:16:26. |
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08/26/2010 01:01:27 PM · #11 |
| Goes back a while but I believe that odd vs. even blades in the lens give a different star burst effect. |
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08/26/2010 01:20:28 PM · #12 |
| Even blades will give the same number of points, odd blades will give double. So a 6-bladed diaphragm will give a 6-pointed star, but a 7-bladed diaphragm will give a 14-pointed star. |
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08/26/2010 01:23:43 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by George:
Originally posted by coryboehne:
Lens makes a big difference, check out the quality of the star rays in this image for comparison..
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The issue looks more like a too-big aperture automatically set by the camera to let in as much light as possible. What was the aperture? Aperture was f/5... perhaps f/10 would've given better stars? |
:)
What you are seeing more than anything is the fact that the shot was taken with a Canon G9, P&S's rarely tend to deliver great star bursts... |
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08/26/2010 01:39:13 PM · #14 |
Another way to get the stars is to use a "cross star" filter when you shoot. You can control the amount of star with the aperture, and the direction of the points by turning the filter. I have an adjustable one, with two movable rings, so I can set any angle where the two lines intersect, or rotate the star to match the scene. The filter is actually a fine set of wires imbedded in clear glass. A fine screen or part of a woman's nylon stretched over the lens will work too, but will give a soft overall image.
I feel sure that there is a PS plug-in that will do the same thing, with much more control.
 
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08/26/2010 05:52:59 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by coryboehne:
What you are seeing more than anything is the fact that the shot was taken with a Canon G9, P&S's rarely tend to deliver great star bursts... |
Yup, you're right - G9 night shot at f/8 (can you believe the tag says "Great stars!!")
ETA: This shot has better stars, but you can definitely see what the problem is. The points are not actually points, but tend to "grow" as you get farther from the light source. Here's one at f/4 with a wide-angle converter.
Message edited by author 2010-08-26 17:56:43. |
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08/26/2010 08:07:13 PM · #16 |
This is probably my best night shot -- I think I actually spent about 15-20 minutes fiddling with different exposures and framings. Tripod, timer (no remote for my camera) seem essential. I rarely have them available when I really want to take night shots, and have gigabytes of blurry images to prove it ... ;-)
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08/27/2010 12:44:16 AM · #17 |
 This is my favorite night shot...not so much because of the image, but rather for the memories is brings back on some wonderful trips to the Seattle area and the GTG I attended there.
Ray |
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10/30/2010 12:12:37 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by MelonMusketeer:
Another way to get the stars is to use a "cross star" filter when you shoot. You can control the amount of star with the aperture, and the direction of the points by turning the filter. I have an adjustable one, with two movable rings, so I can set any angle where the two lines intersect, or rotate the star to match the scene. The filter is actually a fine set of wires imbedded in clear glass. A fine screen or part of a woman's nylon stretched over the lens will work too, but will give a soft overall image.
I feel sure that there is a PS plug-in that will do the same thing, with much more control.
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I like this... Nice
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10/30/2010 03:01:07 PM · #19 |
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