Working with light at night

[wanelad]

Hi all after some tips, I really enjoy night shots but here is the dilema I have run into on a few shots.

If there is a light in the back ground say for instance a light in a shop, how do you take the photo and not over expose where the light is and under expose else where? I have come to the conclusion it may not be doable and repairs done with P/S

Or maybe the picture needs to be taken before it is too dark so that the sign is not washed out. Any ideas would be appreciated thanks

[ricktas]

depending on the composition of the subject, you can use ND grad filters.

The other way is to take several shots at different exposures, then blend them in PS, using masking or HDR.

Blown out lights, do not necessarily make a night shot bad. It is quite often done and the end result still looks good. But it depends on the scene, obviously. Do you have an example?

[wanelad]

Hi Ricktas thanks, I agree that sometimes can pass even being a little blown out. THe latest photos though were of a retail outlet (Mexican Restaurant) that I fancied. The problem is the sign is totally blown out. I did do a few shots underexposing and have to go back to under expose even more just to be able to read the sign.

I have not tried blending the different exposures or HDR is this not the same thing? Looks like it maybe time to give this method a go and had not thought of that

Not sure of the legal implications if I post as do not have permission and not even sure if it is required as can be viewed from the main road (where pictures are taken from). Next time I will go early hours of A.M. as bit risky trying to obtain photos from the middle of the road so most were taken from a distance further than I would have liked, this also made it difficult to focus.

The night was not a total loss as took some great photos of a wedding shop that had good appeal and the lighting was easily managed.

[ricktas]

Hey Wayne, Any photo taken from public land in Aus is legal. If the subject is viewable from a public street etc, you can take a photo of it and use it. Restrictions only apply when you are using the photo for commercial purposes, and in some instances photos of people. If the person asks you to delete the photo. Legally, you do not have to delete a photo of a person, but the person may be 'hiding', ie have an AVO against someone etc, and revealing a photo of them could compromise their location etc, so it is generally courteous to delete it, if asked, but legally you don't have to.

Masking, basically means placing 2-3 copies of the photo over each other (taken at different exposures) and masking out bits of each layer that you do not want. HDR is created using HDR software, but is a complex algorithm, that blends all exposures to create a photo with a larger dynamic range than your camera sensor can produce. Yes you can use masking to create a similar effect to an HDR, but they are different.

[wanelad]

This is one of the photos however needs to be taken from a wider angle, posted this one as one of the clearest ones. Unfortunately took at focal lenght 57mm not sure what happened there.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/3207811342_0acca198a2.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3490/3207000187_b49cf47aee.jpg

Note apart from making smaller and adding a water mark these are the origionals and will do some P/S work with the latter picture.

[ricktas]

What camera are you using, you might find you can under expose the shot, and use the shadows/highlights toll in Photoshop (your editing software) to recover the details in the shadows. However, how effective this is, depends on your camera/sensor. But its worth trying.

[wanelad]

Hi Rick have 1 underexposed but need to go back and underexpose further as not quite enough.

[wanelad]

Forgot you asked what camera 400d Canon, tamron lense 28-75 I think was used on these shots.