Night Photography

[princessleia]

HI ,
I'll be doing some night photography and would like to know which is the best settings when taking photos at night?

also, I am so much interested in buying a wide angle lenses but is still clueless which is best. can you please advise.
thanks.

[kiwi]

What sort of night photography ?

[princessleia]

wanted to take photos of the harbour bridge, the rocks and opera house..

[kiwi]

OK, well, you could possibly use any lens, but a UWA is probably mostly appropriate (10-24mm type range) - there are plenty, and mostly they are all good

You will need a good tripod

You will need an apperture of maybe F/12

You wil need a shutter speed anywhere between 1/10s and 1/30s

ISO put on your minium native setting, ISO100 Canon or 200 Nikon usually

It's best to get some ambient light in the sky rather than pure black, so, that "blue hour" is the thing to aim for

Basic instructions, but, I hope helpful

[Jeremy]

OK, well, you could possibly use any lens, but a UWA is probably mostly appropriate (10-24mm type range) - there are plenty, and mostly they are all good

You will need a good tripod

You will need an apperture of maybe F/12

You wil need a shutter speed anywhere between 1/10s and 1/30s

ISO put on your minium native setting, ISO100 Canon or 200 Nikon usually

It's best to get some ambient light in the sky rather than pure black, so, that "blue hour" is the thing to aim for

Basic instructions, but, I hope helpful



F12 will be far too slow - please try for f/5 and smaller fnumber

ISO of at least 400 depending on the camera .

Example:

Picture taken (hand held) @ iso 1250, 1/8 sec 15mm f5.0 on a Canon 5D

[Jeremy]

Here it is:

[kiwi]

I'll stand by my original recommendations :)

There's not nearly enough ambient light, nice shot considering handheld tho

And you should shoot tripod at night

[ricktas]

princessleia, I would like to offer a suggestion. You have been a member for over 12 months, have asked several questions, but we are yet to see a single one of your photos. How about joining in and posting to the members photo forums with some of your work, you will then learn a lot more from the feedback, than you are getting from the occasional post in the New To Photography forum. Your posts are spaced around 3 months apart, so I assume you only really post to get your access back once you go 'inactive'. So how about it? Join in, post some of your photos and become more active and you will learn more.

[pgbphotographytas]

F12 will be far too slow - please try for f/5 and smaller fnumber

ISO of at least 400 depending on the camera .

Example:

Picture taken (hand held) @ iso 1250, 1/8 sec 15mm f5.0 on a Canon 5D

It is very hard to take good, clean and sharp photos of a night time unless you are using a tripod.

The settings you have suggested above would be ok if being used hand-held but who takes night photos like that?

[kiwi]

princessleia, I would like to offer a suggestion. You have been a member for over 12 months, have asked several questions, but we are yet to see a single one of your photos. How about joining in and posting to the members photo forums with some of your work, you will then learn a lot more from the feedback, than you are getting from the occasional post in the New To Photography forum. Your posts are spaced around 3 months apart, so I assume you only really post to get your access back once you go 'inactive'. So how about it? Join in, post some of your photos and become more active and you will learn more.

True, last time a year ago you asked about sunrise photos, got some lovely advice, and then didnt show anything ?

Pretty darn rude I reckon

[hackcessor]

I am going to agree with Kiwi on this one.

ISO400?
f5?

You need f8 or lower (i.e f8 - f22), a good steady tripod.

Expose for the highlights and use a longer shutter speed.

[Jeremy]

It is very hard to take good, clean and sharp photos of a night time unless you are using a tripod.

The settings you have suggested above would be ok if being used hand-held but who takes night photos like that?

Yes, Very, very true.

Re: who takes night photos like that?

Answer: I do.

If one spends a few hours photographing I like to have a plan so:

For the current city photo shoot I made a trip to plan the nights photos and locations so all pics were taken by hand to gauge framing whether or not to use a flash, exposure settings and the type of lenses to carry around.

[furious]

For night photos I like to use f22 (could be less) and a shutter speed to expose the image appropriately. As for ISO about 100-400.

Also a tripod and remote shutter release is mandatory.

:edit: Here is an article by Brian Peterson about exposure. > http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/correct-exposure/

[ricktas]

I notice the original poster once again has not been back to comment or thank members for their feedback. Each post by them has been the same, and they only post about once every three months to regain access to the site when their account goes inactive.

Therefore I am banning the member from the site as they are not interacting with members in acting in good faith for the very reason AP exists.

[hackcessor]

Nice one Rick :)

[James T]

Thread's probably a bit dead now. But, don't use f/22, don't even go close to it unless you need to for crazy depth of field. You're just softening the image for no gain if you do.

[hackcessor]

I agree with James T f22 is massive overkill

Night landscape type shots should be within the f8-11 range.

Let's face it, if you are mounted on a tripod with a remote cable release, who cares if your exposure is 5 secs or 5 minutes to get the desired effect.

This thread may be dead, but it is still good general knowledge.

[0Z320]

I agree with James T f22 is massive overkill

Night landscape type shots should be within the f8-11 range.

Let's face it, if you are mounted on a tripod with a remote cable release, who cares if your exposure is 5 secs or 5 minutes to get the desired effect.

This thread may be dead, but it is still good general knowledge.

Thanks for all the advice guys.
This will save me experimenting with all the f values when I attempt night shots for the first time ever this weekend.

Do you have any other important tips I need to remember that might trip up the noobs?

[mercho]

Thanks for all the advice guys.
This will save me experimenting with all the f values when I attempt night shots for the first time ever this weekend.

Do you have any other important tips I need to remember that might trip up the noobs?

If your not using a remote, use the inbuilt timer in your camera (2secs). This means you wont have anycamera shake from pressing down the shutter button :th3:

[binnie]

Thanks, your imput has helped me if not the original poster ;)

[Keith]

F12 will be far too slow - please try for f/5 and smaller fnumber

ISO of at least 400 depending on the camera .

Example:

Picture taken (hand held) @ iso 1250, 1/8 sec 15mm f5.0 on a Canon 5D


I think you are talking about taking a photo at night, not 'night photography' as such.

[flash]

well I'm afraid I fall into the "non photo" posting category and although I have long holidays I still log in when I can, I value the information highly from here but as yet I have not placed a piccy, the night shooting info given from here is readily "soaked up" and really appreciated by me and I will be trying many of these tips, I fall into the "maybe someday" my picture will be good enough for me to place in here, so far I am just a beginner

[ricktas]

well I'm afraid I fall into the "non photo" posting category and although I have long holidays I still log in when I can, I value the information highly from here but as yet I have not placed a piccy, the night shooting info given from here is readily "soaked up" and really appreciated by me and I will be trying many of these tips, I fall into the "maybe someday" my picture will be good enough for me to place in here, so far I am just a beginner

See that is where you are going wrong. If you post your photos for critique, you will learn a lot more and improve faster, than just looking at what others do. Members are active at giving advise and guidance.

[barrythelizard]

Thanks to everyone who posted advice in this thread - I have only just seen it so the photos I took this weekend break all the rules, but I am taking it onboard and hoping to have another attempt and see if I can do better (and promise to post something). My only problem is I don't have a tripod (and not able to buy one just yet) but realise I should at least find a surface to rest the camera on something to avoid holding it. Thanks again :)

[clickclick]

Im a noob reading all this too. Interested in the night photography too and how to take good shots. No pics to post sorry till i get my camera! :D Soon..

[wahaha]

I just recently got a DSLR and I must say this forum has been very helpful. Can't wait to head out to the city to take some night shots of the bridge and opera house.

Will upload some for critique sometime after this weekend hopefully.

[FallingHorse]

OK - I will share my first attempt at Night Photography - only boring old fireworks but they were great to practice with! I used a tripod and cable release, manual focus and bulb setting and guesswork for exposure times :)

** Photos removed : This is the NTP forum, which is not for critique. Please post your photos into the Members Photos forums, where you will get critique and reviews of them..thanks : Admin **

[ricktas]

I thought I would add some more here as it was recently brought up in another thread in relation to me removing the OP's account from the site.

Whilst it would seem from my post above (post #14) that I just acted. I had in fact conversed with the member via PM several times about their interaction on the site, before making the decision to remove the account. Each time they advised me they would come back and reply to threads they had started, but each time they failed to do that. I asked them finally to come back and thank the members for this thread and the replies, again they said they would, but a week later hadn't done so. It was at that point I removed their account.

I may be 'old fashioned' but if members are willing to give out great information freely, then it is polite to at the very least acknowledge that in some way. Even a simple click of the thanks button!

[Ree]

This information has helped me! I hope to put it to use next weekend.

I have played around with my camera before and taken some night shots, I have some of my bf firedancing and some of my daughter with a sparkler.... they turned out ok to my eye but I'm sure there is plenty wrong with them! lol

So, I will practice with this new info that you have all given so generously to the O.P and hopefully next week I will have something to show you! :)

[mynxt]

Well the OP may have missed out due to their inactivity and lack of manners, but we definitely didn't :)
I'm planning to head to Melb/Bendigo for the weekend and was planning on having a go at night photography. Was going to do Melb city, but the partner changed accom for car hire so will try in Bendigo instead. So this topic has helped greatly :)

You do have to post pictures to learn. Even learning to process them is hard work for beginners so how else are you going to learn if you don't show examples and get advice?

[jbee]

Very helpful thread this so thanks to all. I took some 30 sec exposures of the night sky the other night and got nothing but black ( the sky was Pitch black ) so obviously i was making some fundamental mistakes.
The link from furious is jolly good too, thanks for that

[Kym]

Night photography and long exposures - tips (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=57793) is the place to be ;)