Night Shots - Tips ??

[BioHzrd]

Some one give me some tips on taking night shots or low light shots....Ive tryed taking a few in the likes of what id say are well lit tunnels at night but they always turn out dark as hell or blurry even with the flash, Im guessing a tri Pod is essential for these shots but what settings should i be looking to use ??

 

[f0xy]

tripod and shutter priority, experiment with long shutter speeds to let more light in

 

[BioHzrd]

Leave the flash off i take it ?

 

[BenWall]

yup, depends on subject though.

 

[unofficialPete]

Whats the subject? Moving cars in tunnels? Post an example of one that went wrong and the gear you used.

 

[JJ!]

tripod and shutter priority, experiment with long shutter speeds to let more light in

I used a wall (as no tripod lol) and 25 seconds shutter.

 

[theduck]

Tripod is a must, and in most cases dont use flash.


Apperture priority and Tripod
f/3.5, 1.6 seconds, ISO100

This was Apperture Priority aswell
F/3.5 1second ISO100

This was one was shutter priority
5 seconds, f/8 iso100

 

[BioHzrd]

I upload some of the shots i took the other night that went wrong later....Anyone recommend a good Tripod to get then ?? as its a must

 

[theduck]

depends how much you want to spend, theres a lot of decent midrange tripods around the 50/60 price mark.

 

[Lagerlout]

Sadly spending money on photography equipment is low down on my list atm, but I was desperate for a tripod. I brought one of these. Sturdy enough and does a job.

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Tripods/Manfrotto/Manfrotto-785B-MODO-Maxi-Tripod

Not sure what it would be like with an SLR with a big heavy long lens on mind. Folds away to nothing too.

 

[Andy.]

I upload some of the shots i took the other night that went wrong later....Anyone recommend a good Tripod to get then ?? as its a must

It really depends on what camera/ lenses you will be using on it. A cheep one is fine for a lightweight bridge camera but not so good for an SLR.. my old Jessops one did a great job with my old Sony but shakes, wobbles and creaks as soon as my 40D gets anywhere near it.

 

[Reyes]

Longer shutter speed - more light
More ISO - More sensitivity

vice versa.

Its my car^

 

[theduck]

imo for quality night shots you want to use Low ISO and large apertures and long exposure times, gives nicer results imo.

 

[Reyes]

Yeah i use low ISO on almost everything, 400 tops

 

[theduck]

Think only I time i used a high iso I was shooting in almost complete darkness. ISO3200, F/1.4 and a 60 second exposure lol

 

[Reyes]

complete darkness? :S wtf you taking shots of pitch black for

 

[theduck]

lol, it was almost complete darkness. Was to see what results I could get, came out pretty well tbh, noisy obviously, but good, worked well in B&W

 

[Reyes]

Do you have the pic now? To upload i mean? I find very dark shots a pain in the backside as i tend to kick the tripod..

 

[theduck]

get yourself a remote shutter release then

Pretty sure that it was backed up before the laptop went tits up, will check later

 

[jayxx83]

good tips there, very helpful

 

[BenWall]

get a remote. set up camera in pitch black looking at the sky.. open shutter, leave for 1/2hour come back and close shutter and you'll see the stars spin.

 

[theduck]

get a remote. set up camera in pitch black looking at the sky.. open shutter, leave for 1/2hour come back and close shutter and you'll see the stars spin.

not many cameras allow you to do 1/2hour exposures. So you have to do multiple 5 minute exposures and merge them, end result is excellent though

 

[BenWall]

ooo didn't know that, though bulb mode was for aslong as you want.

 

[theduck]

depends on the camera, i know my bulb has max exposure of 5 mins

 

[Christopher]

Tripod
Shutter priority
Low ISO

Done.

 

[Reyes]

Tripod is essential with night shots, unless its fairly light

 

[MaLicE]

i did a shoot in uni on top of a massive hill of stars with a large format camera i did a 2 hour exposure to get the light trails, but had to keep sliding the plate in the film because the lens kept freezing over!! made a good picture though...

 

[Justin]

These were my first attempts at night shots.. Just played with the shutter speed, nothing else. Was freezing aswell!

 

[theduck]

I love that last pic of the exige!

 

[BioHzrd]

My hands just arnt steady enough when its cold out to get good shots....One i took at night one turned out pritty good but i was using Twilight setting on my D60 for the bridge shots and tryed Shutter Pri on the tunnel....

I think its more i really need a Tripod.

 

[theduck]

yep you need a tripod, other than that most of those would have been ok

 

[BioHzrd]

Give me a pointer on a good one for a D60 with the Kit lens....?

 

[GaryS]

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=99654

Not as sturdy or as well built as the £60-£100 ones but for occasional use it's fine.

 

[unofficialPete]

Budget?

I may be selling my Velbon 250R soon, its nice and sturdy has done me well but upgrading soon-ish...

 

[Fletcher]

Nice pics of the exige Justin.

 

[BioHzrd]

£60 is the max id really go at this stage in the game....

I seen this while surfing whats people thoughts on it ?

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...onics&keyword=Sony+VCTR100+Lightweight+Tripod

 

[theduck]

would get a £60 velbon, thats what i use, cant remember the model number though

 

[planetx]

I have 2 Gitzo G1548's for sale if interested £250 each...probably the sturdiest Tripod made for everyday use.

 

[Rhino172]

gorilla pod is where it's at awesome little things....

for my main tipod i use a £30 job from argos. fine with the kit lens, a bit dodge with my 70-300 on tho lol

 

[BioHzrd]

Bout this then ??

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5891326/Velbon-CX-640-Tripod/Product.html#