Night shots

[omorrow15]

I want to do a series of night photos but don't know much about it. Looking for a few common settings or tips and tricks. Thanks.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Turn your camera to AV mode, and set an aperture of f/8. ISO at 100-200, depending on what gets it done. Your camera will set the shutter speed, which will likely be near 30". Go to your custom functions in the menu and find the one that says "Mirror lock-up:disable" and change it to "enable". This will prevent the mirror slap from blurring your shot due to the long shutter. Be sure to disengage this after you take your shots. It will mean you press the shutter once, and you will hear a click. This will be the mirror flipping up and out of the way. Wait a couple of seconds for the vibration to cease, and press it again. Now your shot is being taken.

Experiment with settings after that. You'll get the hang of it. ;)

[Adaptive]

I'm curious as to why you are specifically suggesing that he set his aperture to f/8.

Personally I like shooting around f/22 at night because I can get everying in focus. Also don't forget that using manual focus at night is often more helpful than not. If you're trying to get a cityscape shot manually set your focus to infinity. If you have a specific subject in sight get a flash light and point it at your subject and set your focus. There are more cool tricks you can do with a flashlight but we can save that for later. :)

Also get yourself a good cable release or wireless remote. If you have neither you should become familiar with how to use the cameras self timer.

Right now MLU should be the least of your worries if you've never done any night shooting before. But when you get your cable release another good cool trick for night shooting is to set your camera to BULB, we'll save this for another time also :)

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I just suggested f/8 so he wouldn't have to get into bulb mode right away and could learn the basics. If he goes to f/22, he'll most certainly need a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds. It is dark, after all. I like 11-16, personally, because I don't like seeing the diffraction that f/22 often brings. None of my lenses go below 22, so I can't comment on that.

[Adaptive]

I just suggested f/8 so he wouldn't have to get into bulb mode right away and could learn the basics. If he goes to f/22, he'll most certainly need a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds. It is dark, after all. I like 11-16, personally, because I don't like seeing the diffraction that f/22 often brings. None of my lenses go below 22, so I can't comment on that.


Your 24-70 and 70-200 will go to f/22, actually if you have the 70-200 f/2.8L IS it will go to f/32. :)

Don't mean to sound rude but have you used bulb before? :)

And yes if he goes to f/22 he'll need a longer shutter speed. longer shutterspeeds at night usually are a good thing unless youre using strobes.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I never checked the 70-200L IS for f/32. I would never in my life have a reason to stop down that much. Yes, I've certainly used bulb before. I'm lazy, though, and I don't like having to figure out the correct exposure length. ^_^

I don't see any reason why you'd want longer shutter speeds unless you're shooting light/star trails. Just get the DoF you want..by whatever means necessary.

[omorrow15]

I have a Nikon N75 so I'm shooting 35mm not digital. I'm unfamiliar with a few of terms you're using as far as AV mode and Mirror Flip..I wish I had a digital SLR but that'll have to be after Christmas. And possibly Easter. :D

[Ronald S. Jr.]

What speed film will you be using?

[savona]

I have a Nikon N75 so I'm shooting 35mm not digital. I'm unfamiliar with a few of terms you're using as far as AV mode and Mirror Flip..I wish I had a digital SLR but that'll have to be after Christmas. And possibly Easter. :D

I am not familiar with the Nikon camera but I am sure it has a meter built in. The basic way to begin is to set the camera settings (aperture and shutter) so the meter in near the middle. Again, this will not give you a perfect shot everytime, it is just a starting point.

I suggest you bring a peice of paper with you. Write down every setting for every frame. This way you can compare and learn later.

Just go out and have some fun!

Some things to remember:
* Camera shake is your enemy! :)
The longer the shutter stays open the great chance you will have motion blur. For this reason I like to shoot around f8 or so. It minimizes your need for a looooong shutter speed and reduces the possibility of camera shake. Also a decent tripod is a must.
HINT: I used to hang my camera bag from the tripod to add some weight on breezy nights.

* As Ronald mentioned the different apertures will effect lights in the photo. Lets say you are taking a shot with a street lamp in it. Well at f/4 your street light will have a round glow to it. At f/22 it will be like a star pattern, if you are creative you can use this to you favor.

BTW, I always shoot at ISO100 at night. No need to introduce more noise/grain into the image than neccessary. Thats just my opinion though, and most of the time I am shooting cityscapes. I guess it might be different depending on what your subject is.

[omorrow15]

What speed film will you be using?

I will probably go get whatever film would work best, probably 100 speed. How much difference does film make and what is better/best film?

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I couldn't tell you. Never really used a film SLR.

[studio206]

I will probably go get whatever film would work best, probably 100 speed. How much difference does film make and what is better/best film?

that really depends on whether you want color film or b&w film. either way, you always want to go for the slowest speed possible, it'll give you a much sharper image. you always want to find a film with a wide latitude, it's a lot more forgiving if you under or overexpose. some films can't handle long exposures, they just weren't engineered to do so, so i would say stick to the professional level films... they cost a bit more but always worth it. they still make film below ASA 100 if you really want to get a sharp grain, but if you don't want to pull your hair out looking for one i would recommend, for B&W, either Fujifilm Acros Neopan 100 or Kodak Professional Plus-X 125, Kodak Professional T-Max 100 *although it has a narrow latitude* and/or Kodak Professional T-Max 3200, *even though i said the slowest speed film* you can knock T-Max 3200 down to ASA 400 speed, this changes your developing time of course. As for color you may want to try the new Kodak Professional Portra 160, 400, or even 800 vc or nc *Vivid Color or Natural Color*. they re-engineered it with Kodak's T-Grain structure so you get a much sharper image and more natural and true colors. on the Fujifilm side, I'm not really sure because I have never used their color film but I heard Fujicolor Pro 160C and 400H are really good film. just try them out and see which ones you like :-)

[Adaptive]

I couldn't tell you. Never really used a film SLR.


oh wow really? You're missing out!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

[TX_Gulf_Coast]

Color Film:

Kodak 160NC & VC is fantastic film. Great latitute and very good grain. I would stick with the 160 for this type of work and follow some of the suggestions above.

If you can find some Fuji Velvia 100, that is probably the best. Velvia 100 has a smaller grain structure than even the Velvia 50 (if you can even find that any longer.)

B & W Films:

Iflord Pan F Plus comes in ISO 50 and would be ok. Problem with the Ilford film is they all have a larger grain than most other films of the same type and ISO. However, you can PUSH and PULL process the hell out of Ilford films and have no problem getting a great print!

Ilford Delta 100 is probably what I would use. It is very good and has a better grain structure than the Pan F as it is a professional film.

The Fuji Neopan Acros 100 is darn good as well. Though I don't know how hard that would be to find. I prefer to use Kodak T-Max 100. It is my personal experience that it is easier to push and pull this film using their T-Max Developer. I have pushed T-Max 100 up to about 800 and processed with T-Max Developer, using 65 degree Temp and LONG developing times and come out with some fantastic negatives.

Cooler temps and longer developing times will produce a finer grain and more servicable negative than the shorter, hotter temps. Plus, you need to be very accurate with your developing time at hotter temps. (Easier to under or over develop.)

One thing I haven't heard anyone mention, is a light meter! If you have one or can borrow one with a spot feature, that will help you dramatically in figuring the exposure times. And the flashlight trick is one of the best in the world for night photography! (I had forgotten that one!) Even with the most sophisticated digital cameras out there, I still keep my camera in the Manual mode and use a light meter 99% of the time. It is just to easy to fool the meter in the camera with alot of subjects and lighting.

Savone has a great idea...write down your settings and see what works with the film you choose and go from there.

[Hikariphoto]

I think it depends on what sorts of night shots. Are you talking night-sky stuff, night-city-lights stuff, night-downtown-street-photo stuff or what?

[steviems]

set your focus to infinity.


please don't laugh, but how do you do this? Just focus on the farthest point away?

[Adaptive]

please don't laugh, but how do you do this? Just focus on the farthest point away?


Switch to manual focus and if you look at where the numbers are you will see an infiniti/infinity symbol it looks like a sideways figure 8. looks like this oo

if you are trying to get a big picture of alot of stuff like the sky or a cityscape this is the way to go. but if there is something you want to focus on you might want to try to manually focus on it, if you can't see the thing your'e trying to focus on bring a flashlight and use the light to set your focus.

and don't worry we won't laugh
hope this helps

:)

[akhater]

Here is a free night photography ebook for you :)
http://www.adidap.com/2006/11/16/download-your-free-night-photography-ebook/