NTP night shooting

[Ackie]

Hi there. This is my first post here, besides the intro...

Tonight seemed like a nice clear night to go and check out the the massive ferris wheel on the waterfront in Geelong. The bay was dead calm an i thought I would be able to see some awesome reflections on the water.
I took a few photos but they didn't seem to turn out all that well. I believe i had the settings right.
I shot in shutter priority mode, with various shutter speeds.
Some photos looked like they were shot in daylight, others were way too dark, i couldn't find a happy medium.

The shot i had pictured in my head was to get the ferris wheel with light trails(slow shutter) and hopefully get that same effect in the reflection..
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Ackie

[Jodster]

Could you show us some of the pictures you took, maybe someone here can help guide you with where you might have gone wrong, or help in giving advice.

[ricktas]

We need to know what settings you used etc, before we can even consider giving advice in this regard. So what ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture did you use?

[Ackie]

This is just one example.
iso @ 100
Shutter Speed @ 1/2sec
Aperture @ F/7.1

Looking at it now, maybe i needed a much longer shutter speed.
and i should have cropped out that hand rail.

Sorry i didnt post a photo earlier, i thought the rules wouldnt let me.
Cheers

[Kym]

Check the library... http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showlibrary.php?title=Tutorials:Night_photography_and_long_exposures

[Ackie]

cheers mate.
I see where i was going wrong.
I need a MUCH longer exposure time.

Will have to try again soon

[kiwi]

using a tripod ?

[Ackie]

Sat the camera on the roof of my car last night. Come to think about it, I wasn't very well prepared.
I'm not sure how long this ferris wheel is staying in Geelong so I will try and capture it again soon.

[salnel]

Hi Ackie..I tried that same shot a couple of months ago..I had never tried night shots before and I learned a lot!! If you try again, go down to the pier as you will have great views of the ferris wheel but with nothing in your way..much better chance of getting the reflections too! Just watch the people walking near you as that can cause everything to move just as you are about to take the shot!! Follow the instructions in Kym's link and you should end up with great shots..I am going to try again (now that I know what to do):)

[ricktas]

Couple of thoughts:

If you want the nice blurry effect of the wheel spinning, Use a tripod or something very stable, use a remote release cable if you have one, otherwise use the self timer function so that the camera is left alone (not touched) during the exposure. Set the shutter speed to about 1-5 seconds..or more if you want very blurry wheel lights.

If you want to freeze the action more and are finding there is not enough light, increase your ISO to say 400 or 800, this will allow you a faster shutter speed. Open up the lens to the largest aperture you have available (remember larger aperture is smaller F-Stop number).

Note that increases in ISO and longer exposures both can result in increased noise/grain in the resultant photo. So it is a balancing act to get the exposure you want whilst not having to much noise in the photos.

Good work on getting out and experimenting, it is the best way to learn. Now that you have some replies here, hopefully your next efforts will show the results of this advice.

[Ackie]

Thanks guys. Will definitely give it another try soon. I will update this thread when I do so.
Thanks again.

[Ackie]

On saturday night here in Geelong we had an Australia day fireworks display.
i tried to put a little thought into taking a couple of photos so we left the waterfront and went for a drive around the other side of the bay, thinking i would get a better shot. In fact, the other side of the bay (Corio Bay, not Port Phillip) was quite a distance from the action, maybe i should have done a little research first...
any how, I shot with the camera in Manual mode, set to F/9. ISO 100 and shutter on bulb mode.
I mounted the camera on may tripod and set my cable release.
Photo 1 is 1 sec exposure time, photo 2 is 4 sec.
I have cropped the images a bit to get rid of some wasted space and well as straightened the horizon

I am quite happy with the results, although this is 2 of 30+ photos. Alot were oof as i manually focused when the fireworks was a fair way away.

CC would be appreciated

Cheers
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/maquilina/fireworks1.jpg
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/maquilina/fireworks2.jpg

[Ackie]

I'm guessing this is the wrong thread and forum area to look for CC.
I shall move the post.

[dannat]

ackie -when shooting night scenes i like to set the camera to Manual mode -long shutter speed but i also like to set a small aperture, f21 or so -i find it keeps the shot dark, sitting the camera on your car is fine if you don't have a tripod, i have a freind who shot 30sec night sky shots while camping with the camera resting a thick jumper with a cabel release

[bxaftw]

Check the library... http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showlibrary.php?title=Tutorials:Night_photography_and_long_exposures

in regards this article and the example pictures within, i have a question, on long exposures of night scenes which include head/brakelights how come there is only motion trail of the lights only and not the actual vehicle? is the vehicle just edited out?

sorry to hijack but i didnt want to start a new post.

[blueedge]

Check the library... http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showlibrary.php?title=Tutorials:Night_photography_and_long_exposures

Thanks, Kym. It's very useful.

I'm not clear with the benifit of this one:

5.I turn off the long exposure noise reduction (do that if needed later)

Can you explain it? Thank you.

[ricktas]

Thanks, Kym. It's very useful.

I'm not clear with the benifit of this one:

5.I turn off the long exposure noise reduction (do that if needed later)

Can you explain it? Thank you.

Long exposure noise reduction is a camera feature that allows you to reduce the noise in a photo, in camera. But it can slow down your shooting. If you take a 30 second photo, the camera then needs to take another 'black' exposure of 30 seconds to do the long exposure noise reduction process. If you take a 5 minute exposure, the camera will take another 5 minute exposure. During these Long exposure noise reduction process, you cannot take another photo.

Long exposure noise reduction has it's place, but noise reduction can be done in editing software and for instance when taking fireworks, lets face it, who wants to sit around waiting for their camera to do some processing, when we are missing the next lot of beautiful effects cause the camera is busy.

[itybitypieces]

5.I turn off the long exposure noise reduction (do that if needed later)

Can you explain it? Thank you.

probably means that he/she does the denoise/noise reduction in photo shop or similar once up loaded to the computer.
reasons to me of why you would do this,to allow for more control over the noise reduction .
and as far as i know that noise reduction does nothing to the RAW files.
thats my guess any way.

[blueedge]

Thank you, both.