Night time photography

Bluesman07

Bluesman07

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Steve
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Hi all I come in peace. I've recently been treated to a Canon 600D camera which I am very happy with even though I know i'm not using it to it's full potential, however i'm no photographer and barring the usual holiday snaps I have little or no experience of ISO's, metering, aperture, etc.

Now I have taken it on weekends away and tried different modes and settings with varying degrees of success but the one thing I seem unable to do is take night time landscape/seascape photos.

I'm off to Greece in a couple of weeks where the skies get very dark and would love to be able to take some worthwhile night time shots from the mountains looking down on towns near the coast etc whilst there so PLEASE can someone point me in the right direction of which mode, settings to use for varying degrees of darkness. thanking anyone that can help in advance. If this sounds stupid then that's just how I feel when I press the shutter button at night and nothing happens bar the odd whirring from the autofocus. Thanks again.
 
I take it you have a tri-pod, otherwise it will be impossible. The only way to capture enough light in these situations is with a long shutter speed. You might even be talking about a number of minutes depending how dark it is. For an easy starting point set the camera to manual, aperture at f11 and then experiment with the shutter speed.
If you don't have a remote shutter release use the timer so you don't move the camera at all when taking the picture.
 
If it is very dark then the camera will have trouble focusing - it needs to be able to detect a contrast such as the edge of something. If it cannot focus automatically you will just get the focus motor whirring and possibly a message, you then need to focus on something with contrast at the same distance and lock the focus before recomposing your shot, or focus manually.
FYI You probably have a"Night Mode" on your camera, this is not for night time landscape shots:) It will fire the flash allowing you to capture someone standing near you and keep the shutter open longer to allow the background scene to register.
 
Ordered a tripod & shutter release cable today, thanks for the advice.
 
Experimented with some settings last night to much improved results although without a tripod, thanks for all the good advice.
 
I had the same camera and really liked it. I would suggest you practice at home to get an idea on how it works. Here are a few pointers to get you started. Tripod and cable release will be needed. Set in manual mode start around f11 and dial your exposure in via the shutter speed. use the in camera meter to dial this in. I don't generally end up right in the middle of the meter when exposing, use your own judgement on that part. Go to live view, that will lock the mirror and decrease the movement or vibration. Compose your shot and set the lens to manual. Pick a spot about 1/3 of the way in as a focus spot. Now this is important, you want magnify to that spot all the way in. now that you are close to the spot you can focus much easier. look at this pic. https://www.google.com/search?q=600...Canon_EOS_600D_on_microscope_en.shtml;650;460 sorry that's so long. Now shoot. remember this is a long exposure so make sure not to touch anything or pull the cord on the release cable. try it at home and you will see it's not hard. Hope that helps you.
 
Back from Greece with mixed results but the tips I've had & read on here were very useful, thanks.
 
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