photographing at night...

photographyman

photographyman

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Alan
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What an experience....i got my sigma apo dg ex hsm 70-200 at the weekend, tried it properly last night at a rugby match that seem to be in the dark.

I photographed the local rugby team under amateur floodlights, camera at iso 5000, manual setting, shutter speed at 400-500, due to trying to balance out exposure. I tried ap mode, it took some getting use to, wish i had took me monopod just for a bit more stability.

After looking lastnight at some of the photos, i was pleasantly surprised at some of them.

Any tips for night shooting???

Suppose to be doing it again Friday..
 
Leigh, Shoot in manual mode, Set you aperture wide open.. ensure that it is sharp wide open first. Then select the minimum shutter speed you want, Myself this is 1/640 sec ... but your might be 1/500 sec... then up the ISO until you get a useable exposure.

I think your Nikon 7000 is quite decent at handling noise at high ISO so dont be too worried about high ISO's.

LR4 is great for noise reduction but there are other NR software out there that also work extremely well.

The monopod is a good idea but obviously it wont prevent motion blur if the shutter is too slow.

I read on here a great tip when shooting under amateur floodlighting.. Only shoot in the bright areas if at all possible.
 
Shoot with the light source behind you and refelcting back off the players as this is the light your camera sees, this might mean shooting from the sidelines but its your best chance of getting the best shot, amateur grounds usually dont have any lights behind the posts/goals so not the best area to be shooting from if you want to squeeze every bit of available light going.

If theres a floodlight on each corner then shoot from the corner and try to get your subject running straight at you and not across you, this minimises the effect of motion blur
 
Thanks Tugster, this is sort of what I did, but i left the shutter at 400 to air on the side of caution.

Thanks Gary, i never thought of that, i did notice as i switched ends at half time, the light seem to be a little brighter, allowing me to up the shutter.

Thanks to you again.

Gary, I shall be at Stobart Stadium this weekend shooting the Leigh Miners Womens Final, ive actually got my pass in my hand as we speak. Didnt make it to Warrington, like fort knox for the pass and emergency work on the Sunday.:'(
I got my hands on a sigma 70-200 but haven't managed to get a converter yet. Maybe I will struggle, but maybe some action shots around the try line are better than none.:thumbs:
 
If cost is holding you back from getting a converter, i can reccomend the Kenko 1.4x, i use it with a D3S and Nikon 70-200mm on my second body and it stays there unless it's peeing it down, double check its compatible with the Sigma but im fairly sure it is.

Dont forget youre shooting with a crop body so youre shooting an effective 98-300mm
 
Its not so much the cost, i've found a second hand one but i wont get it in time.
I haven't got the time to go anywhere to actually buy one at the moment, i was only asked about this sunday on Tuesday with the pass on its way.
 
Hi Gary, ive just ordered the sigma converter and it should be here tomorow(i bloody paid for it), fingers crossed...
 
Tugster said:
Leigh, Shoot in manual mode, Set you aperture wide open.. ensure that it is sharp wide open first. Then select the minimum shutter speed you want, Myself this is 1/640 sec ... but your might be 1/500 sec... then up the ISO until you get a useable exposure.
Click to expand...

at really nasty dark places I go slightly a different way... lens wide open of course.. thats an always ..so f2.8 then i set my iso at the highest i can manage... what shutter speed is left is whats available.. you know your in a dark poorly lit place so you know you need high iso.. thus only take this approach at such a place..

i used the sigma 70-200 for years.. great lens... didnt fait well with the 1.4tc on though.. seriously degraded the quality... but the camera was a canon 10d so it wont have helped.

if your shutter is going to be slow as it will then yes.. a monopod will help in this situation.

best advice? dont be afraid of high ISO .. really rack it up to get that all important shutter speed :)
 
Thanks kipax, ill try this next time. Feel a bit anxious now of the tele converter, just have to wait and see i suppose.
Thanks again.
 
photographyman said:
Thanks kipax, ill try this next time. Feel a bit anxious now of the tele converter, just have to wait and see i suppose.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

you will either love or hate the TC .. but you have to get one and try so you did the right thing.. otherwise you would always be wondering.... and...you might love it :)
 
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