Night Photography...

  • Thread starter Thread starter DarrenFord
  • Start date Start date
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DarrenFord

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Hi again all...:wave:

Ok first a little background , I am a newbie , so I am still learning everything, I was thinking of heading out to the London bridge tonight (weather permitting) and was wondering if you guys could give me some advise on night shots...:thinking:

What settings work best etc.. any advise will be greatly appreciated !
 
EdinburghGary said:
Wear a stab proof vest? :)

Sorry, bad taste! Anyway, have fun. Remember your tripod!

Gary.
Click to expand...

Bwahahah :clap: Dude im from South Africa so im used to that lol, will definately grab the tripod on the way out thanks!
 
Keep your ISO as low as possible, and your aperture around f/8.

/general advice.
 
Use the long exposure noise reducer in your camera too - have a butchers in the manual under "long exposure". You will find it in the settings menu of the camera and for exposures of over 1 sec it is worth turning it on....see what your camera maker says about it.

Bracket your exposures - use the exp comp button, it is easier than setting manual settings! Take a shot in auto, have a quick look on the screen - if you have burned out bits, dial in a spot of -ve exp comp and shoot again. If it is too dark, dial in +ve comp.

If you time your trip right, wait until the lights on the bridge are nearly the same intensity as the light in the sky. You will get a minute or so where the two are close enough - this is how you get those dark blue night skies and the streetlights etc looking glorious - and the subject will be much the same lighting intesity because of the floods on it.

If you watch, about 15 - 30 mins after the sun goes down the sky suddenly turns deep blue, even on rainy days it does this, but you might only get 20 seconds of it, but get it you will. On nice days that blue light can last 10 minutes or more.
 
if its possible, use mirror lockup to reduce the vibration :)
 
Thanks all , will report there back after the weekend !
 
Use the camera's self-timer (if you don't have a remote) to take the photo, minimising your chances of knocking the camera when pressing the shutter.

Don't be afraid to go silly with the long exposures, most the time I find it's the un-expected results that are the best.

Use a narrow aperture (f/8 , f/11, f/16).

Make sure you're straight with the camera, so the photo is balanced nicely (something i'm trying to perfect at the minute).

Shooting near water, or getting water into your long-exposed night shots set you up for some really nice reflections, especially if the waters calm & flat, and you're down nice and a low.

These are all just tips i've picked up/tried whilst being out shooting at night.

Have a good'un dude! :)
 
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