Exposure times for night photography

[lewismalpas]

Hi all,

I recently got given a Canon AE-1 with a FD 50mmF1.4 lens and after rattling through a few rolls of film in daylight I wanted to start experimenting with night photography. I studied film photography for a year and have a understanding of the exposure triangle but I have no idea about metering at night and exposure times.

From the reading I have done online people suggest using ISO100-200 film, large apertures and long exposure times - would you all agree? The subject I plan to shoot first is Albert bridge in London:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=albert bridge night

I really would like some advice regarding exposure times as I have absolutely no idea how long to exposure for. I know I am going to have to bracket and take into consideration reciprocity but I really have no clue as to how many seconds/minutes I should exposing for?

Initially I was planning on shooting Ilford HP5+ (ISO400) as I used this in New York and loved the contrast/heavy grain and generally prefer B&W over colour. Would this be okay or should I be looking at an alternative film with a lower ISO to prevent too much grain?

Many thanks in advance for all of your help,

Lewis.

 

[Asha]

Hello Lewis,

Welcome to TP!

If you have an understanding of the exposure triangle then presumably you have some understanding of EV levels ( ie light levels) ?

Therefore you will know that if an EV 15 relates to full sun illumination then sunny F/16 rule equates to 1/100 shutter for 100 iso film, 1/400 for 400 iso etc.

Assuming the light from your night scene equates to an EV of 4 for example then you have to gain 11 stops of light to shoot it at F/16 so with 400 iso film you are going to need 4 seconds exposure ...that's without recipricol failure or any changes to your aperture.

As for film, no doubt some will give more grain than others, in the same way the recipricol failure for some is immense....Fomapan 100 and Ilford Pan F plus being two examples....that said if you don't mind the exposure duration running into minutes (depending on aperture) then they work perfectly fine.

Hope this helps a little....no doubt there will be other replies from the f&c crowd.... many don't venture in here during the day ( they give an excuse of being at work or something!) when in reality they're in the darkroom sniffing developer and fixer Talking of smells, my fixer whiffs off.......

 

[Alastair]

I'd go with EV4 and adjust for reciprocity. If I was shooting Ektar (ISO100, very nice for night shots), probably something around f/11 and 10 seconds. Bracketing a stop either side.

I find the Fred Parker Ultimate Exposure Computer to be very handy and surprisingly accurate. His is laid out quite badly, so I adapted it to be easier to use.