Street night shots advice needed

Frosticles

Frosticles

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Kevin
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Am going out this evening to shoot the "Nottingham Lights" which is basically various lighting statues etc around the city. I am in need of advice on settings really.

Camera is an EOS550d

Not sure which lens to use. Choice of 10-22mm or 24-105mm or 50mm f1.4.

Am going to use a Gorilla pod strapped to whatever I find.

Having just a quick look tends to suggest ISO 100, f11-16 & 30 second upwards shutter speed.

Any suggestions will be greatly received.

Many thanks in advance, Kevin
 
Not an expert Kevin but I would have thought if you are walking around at night I would take as little equipment as possible for (1) safety reason and (2) weight. As for lens I think 24-105 as it will give you a good coverage and if you shooting statues why a wide angle? As for exposure, as you said but I think 30 seconds is far to long, try 5 seconds and check the gram on the camera if not happy bump it up 5 secs at a time then stick with that.
Russ
 
Many thanks Russ. When I said statues, they are only part of it. There will be a lot of street lighting & displays going on. Also parades & street entertainers. The 24-105 will probably be the better all round walk about lens. But, there will be a lot of buildings lit up as well. Oh, decisions, decisions..................:suspect:
 
Another thread going on night shots here Kevin

Id say use which ever lens fits for your subject... probably the wider one Id suggest.

Set your depth of feiild individually for each shot depending on your subject distances as normal.

Keep your ISO down low and standard and test your shutter speed with test shots to work out the best exposure compromise for each scene. ..use the histogram and highlight tool on the rear cameras preview screen to check your tests.

Delete stuff which is rubbish, zoom in to see if your DoF and focus/blur/tripod movement is ok, keep testing to get everything right and only keep the good shots.

Tip: You'll have to work very hard for may hours to come home with some good stuff.
 
Kevin there is no standard settings per say. I do a lot of night shooting and love it. I tend to use my 17-55 on my 600D so I would probably suggest you go with the wider lens. Treat the shot as any other shot and test the light with the exposure compensation. Dial it into the center mark and see how long of an exposure you end up with . From there you can add or take away light as you see fit. I always center the exposure and shoot many other shots half a stop under and over and everything in between . the reason I do this is because it is very easy to miss a night shot by barely missing the exposure and I learned over time that it is hard to realize 100% of what you have in your camera from the view finder. So many times I find the money shot is one that I took just to cover my back side.

Few pointers just in case,,

Be sure to lock the mirror.
Always use a cable release.
Be aware of everything that is within the frame. A bright light in the background can kill a nice night shot. Get creative if you have to. I will compose a shot with the bright light just behind something if there is no other way to eliminate it from the scene.
Wind is the enemy in most night, long exposure shots except for water shots, sometimes it can be your best friend.

I wish I could show some examples but I'm on my ipad and don't know how to add the pics from this thing. Sorry.

Hope this helps.
 
Many thanks all for your advice. Apologies for the delay in my reply.
Had a bit of a nightmare to be honest. This was mainly due to having my family with me so all I could really do was point & shoot :razz:
I will get out on my own & try the advice you have given me.

Kind regards, Kevin
 
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