My Night Photogray Attempts! - C&C Please!

[The Boosh!]

Hello!

Went out tonight to try my hand at some night photography with my new Tripod! For my first attempt I don't think that I did too bad actually! Was hoping for some positive criticism though so I can further improve my shots.

I REALLY need to learn how to use aperture and shutter speed settings more effectively too. The latter being the most important imo!
Any who:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Not the best of image im aware. But I'v not had it long and still got loads to learn



Lastly a bit of an issue. Some images weren't coming out so clear. I dont know if it was because it wasn't focusing correct with it being so dark EG:

What went wrong lol

Thanks in advance!
Luke

 

[adele_90]

They look pretty good. love the last 2
what ISO did you use?

 

[The Boosh!]

Erm I haven't a clue... Just looked at the camera though and its on 400 Im guessing it should have been a lot higher?

 

[Feirny]

7 & 8 are pretty much spot on.

Maybe use the timer or a remote on the others, they're some good first shots.

Try using a lower F stop, like F22 and a lower ISO, around 100/200 is best for night shots.
Manual focus might be better too, as AF sometimes struggles to focus in darker environments.

 

[steven.m]

If your on a tripod your unlimited by shutter speed so bump the ISO right down.

The trailing light shots of the motorway are my faves off the bunch.

Were you shooting in RAW?

EDIT, on number 8, I'd suggest a slight crop to remove the barrier at the bottom and distance sign on the left.

 

[The Boosh!]

Thanks Gregg! Its the F stop stuff your going to have to explain lol. Iv got a book on it but still dont REALLY understand what it does

 

[adele_90]

Well having a higher ISO can decrease the image quality as you get more noise in the picture!
so i prefer to use lower ISO

 

[The Boosh!]

If your on a tripod your unlimited by shutter speed so bump the ISO right down.

The trailing light shots of the motorway are my faves off the bunch.

Were you shooting in RAW?

Yeh I was shooting RAW mate, however the above images were compressed/resized in PS and uploaded to PB.

I took quiet a few long exposures but still wasn't very happy with them

 

[The Boosh!]

Well having a higher ISO can decrease the image quality as you get more noise in the picture!
so i prefer to use lower ISO

you learn something new every day! Thanks for that lol. Think i will be back out tomorrow and have another crack

 

[Feirny]

Also worth noting Flickr is better for hosting than PB for photos like this.

 

[steven.m]

F stop is aperture.... how wide the shutter opens when you push the button.

a low F number ie 2 f2 is a large aperture and creates a deep depth of feild ie blurry back ground and a high f number ie f22 is a small aperture which has more of the frame in focus.

a low f number lets in more light also

 

[The Boosh!]

I thought that aswell, Although I'm a pikey and can only upload so many images per month and im maxed out...

Im in the process of hosting my own webpage though so I am hoping to link straight from that!

 

[The Boosh!]

F stop is aperture.... how wide the shutter opens when you push the button.

a low F number ie 2 f2 is a large aperture and creates a deep depth of feild ie blurry back ground and a high f number ie f22 is a small aperture which has more of the frame in focus.

a low f number lets in more light also

Thanks for that Steven. So am I right in thinking that Apeture/F stop has nothing to do with the lighting of the image? Just blurryness of the background/sharpness of the image?

So if i was taking an image of a flower close up in manual mode, id have am F stop of 2 so i get a blurry background?

 

[steven.m]

pretty much about the flower example.

a small f number opens the shutter further so more light gets in, allows you to use a faster shutter speed.

if you want depth of feild, get a 50mm prime, can be had for much cheapness.

 

[Feirny]

I thought that aswell, Although I'm a pikey and can only upload so many images per month and im maxed out...

Im in the process of hosting my own webpage though so I am hoping to link straight from that!

Good plan, a simple gallery should suffice and be quite simple.

 

[The Boosh!]

Aye im waiting for that conneh to get back off holiday to hook me up with some interwebs!

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[clairemae]

not bad first pics.
i don't love it how everyone who takes there first car trails pics goes to the top of a motor way bridge and takes the same shot lol. i admit i did it too.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Howdy. Some thoughts..:

When i started doing night shots, it was hit and hope. out of about 20 images, i had about 2 that were useable ! They never look the same on the camera screen, to when uploading to computer later..!

I found a 2-sec timer mode on my 450d which is invaluable when doing long exposures, presuming you dont have a remote ! you click the shutter, can remove your hands from the camera before it takes the shot.

Putting the F stop up (making the F number bigger) lets in less light, and the 'star' effect of static lights is sharpened in longer exposures !

Ideas to get you started - set the camera (i dont know nikons at all) to aperture mode, and set it to F16. Let the camera work out how long to expose for. Then see how that photo is and adjust accordingly ! Setting it higher will mean the shutter has to be open longer.

Or... set the shutter speed to 10 seconds, and let the camera do the rest... go up or down time depending how over/under exposed it is.

One other thing is white balance. Auto white balance is pretty good most of the time, but at night it's a nightmare ! The one's with your car in are very blue. Street lights make photos very orange... It's generally a disaster. (Do I remember you are a mac user ?) Try adjusting the colour temperature in iPhoto or Photoshop to cool it down .. it makes a hell of a difference !

example:

Cooled down a few points:

Massive difference ! The tarmac is actually the right colour now...

If you're still awake ... in summary .. keep practising !! Long exposures are fun...:

Enjoy

/

 

[The Boosh!]

Wow Thanks for that mate. Really usefull! Gave me some stuff to think about! I had it on shutterspeed mode but I will try the apeture mode next time...

I am going to go out at night and take photos of other things than cars too lol!

Claire - Yeh there must be around 1billion motorway shots on the internet but i just thought i would give it a go :rasp:

Thanks guys I will post up my next attempt when i do it!