Low light Picture

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
The snow was falling and looking out of my lounge window the street looked really pretty, with the street lights and trees. I have a kit lens on my nikon d3100 and will only go to f3.5, I was trying different combinations to get the picture brighter (no flash used), the only thing was the street lights got brighter, is there any way I can stop this?

 

[tdodd]

The lights are part of the scene. You can't lighten one without lightening the other. The fact is that the lights are the light source for your scene and will always appear brighter than the rest of it. Personally I'd worry more about getting the exposure for the scene looking good and just let the lights blow. It's not like you want to read the name of the manufacturer on the bulbs.

If you really want to try to create a better balance then consider choosing the time of day for your shot more carefully, when there is still some ambient light left in the sky and the lights aren't the only things providing illumination. If you have the time and inclination you might try shooting at different times until you find the balance which works best. Time the first shot(s) for when the lights first come on and then maybe try again every 20-30 minutes until you're happy.

Here's a night time street scene I shot a while back. The only edit is to tweak the white balance. I don't care in the slightest that the lamps are blown out. The star pattern is intentional and was created by using a small aperture (f/16 in this case). That gave me a long exposure time (10 seconds at 400 ISO) so a tripod was needed.

I actually shot the scene for a little TP competition in September. Here's how it looked for the submission....

 

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
Maybe one day I will take a shot like that. I am in orr. I think maybe our road does not have enough light, I tried iso 800 together with f3.5 and 1-8th exposure but only produced a very hazy picture.

 

[tdodd]

Did you use a tripod? That will help with camera shake. But also you might want to stop down from f/3.5 to something more like f/8 for extra DOF and lens sharpness. If there is little or no movement in the street maybe instead of raising the ISO much you can just let the shutter speed drop even further. If you do use a tripod and a long(ish) exposure then remember to use mirror lockup and the self timer (or a remote release) so that you eliminate camera shake. If your lens has VR then be sure to turn it off.

There really was no magic technique I used other than a tripod and shooting at 04:49 in the morning when nobody was about. Unfortunately there was one car which buggered things up, but with a 10 second exposure that's not so easily dealt with other than trying again.

My street (not the one above) is not very picturesque, but I'll see if I can remember to have a go later and see what transpires. Practice makes perfect.

 

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
I did not use a tripod and there is only 4 street lights in our road, but at the time it seemed bright because of the snow.

 

[Chee]

For Low Light Shots which normally means long(er) exposure a tripod is very much a tool u need to use.
Try it and be blown away from the sharpness (as long as you follow the instructions above).

 

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
Many years ago I took low light shots of us on holliday and had a 6 sec time delay so I could be in the shot and stood the camera on a wall, these turned out good, I am just getting into photography now I have more time. I will have to try a trypod and see the effect.

 

[tdodd]

A tripod makes things easier, but so long as you can keep your camera safe and dry you could try using a wall today if you don't have a tripod at present. Worry less about precise composition for now and work on getting the exposure right.

Still waiting for the street lights to come on where I am. I think we have ~20 minutes to go.

 

[tdodd]

I gave it a quick go. Trying to keep the frame clear of traffic was a problem. I'm not bothered about composition and content, just the exposure elements. Here's the result SOOC at 8 seconds, f/11, 200 ISO.

And after some small WB tweaks using gradient filters in Lightroom....

One thing I really noticed was how sensitive the camera is to pools of light cast by the street lamps. I was standing directly under one to begin with and it made my foreground far too bright relative to the overall scene, so I needed to move along a bit for a more even balance.

I think we need to call it a work in progress, but it's a start. I may have another go later when the extremes of light temperature are reduced within the frame.

 

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
I will have a go, if I can obtain a result like yours I will be pleased.

 

[tdodd]

I think waiting was a good idea. Now the mix of light temperatures is much reduced. I also relocated again as the side street I had in shot before was very poorly lit and just looked a bit poo. Now the scene is more evenly lit overall. I've made a global change to WB and cloned out an ugly bit of flare and that's it.

Maybe the snow is still a bit yellow (ooh err) but it's a fair reflection of how the scene looks. Yellow lights are yellow lights. It looks daft if I try to make the snow look white, as per this version....

Maybe somewhere in between....

 

[Keith Butler]

Hi,
Thanks for your time and advice, we have lcd lights in our kitchen and we had ice white and had to change them to yellow warm so I get what you mean about the light.