Want to do some shots of my car in the dark...

IanBestPhot

IanBestPhot

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Ian
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Like the title says was wondering what sort of settings I should use, I am a complete beginner and looking to expand my skillset.

I have a tripod and understand the principle of longer exposure = more light is allowed in, but what sort of aperture etc? will probably be using a 50mm f1.8.

I don't have a flashgun - is this necessary?

Also interested in the concept of light painting and learning how to do so, what would I need for this?

sorry for all the questions, I've had my camera for around 6 months now but have only just started to take a real interest into how to use it to good effect

Thanks

Ian
 
I have learnt from reading a book called 'understanding exposure' and then having a go myself to see what happens. I'd try manual, f8 and iso 100 and just experiment with the seconds. Start at 10 or something and see what you get. I find the experimentation just as rewarding as the image. Plus it depends on what your trying to achieve as this will completely change the approach. Do you have a sample image you trying to replicate?
 
set your camera to 2sec timer put it on tripod, then set your exposure to say 15 secs then while it doing that get a large torch and paint your car with the light see what comes out and try different times just experiment with the light hope this helps
 
RSMarco said:
I have learnt from reading a book called 'understanding exposure' and then having a go myself to see what happens. I'd try manual, f8 and iso 100 and just experiment with the seconds. Start at 10 or something and see what you get. I find the experimentation just as rewarding as the image. Plus it depends on what your trying to achieve as this will completely change the approach. Do you have a sample image you trying to replicate?
Click to expand...

Will definitely just try and experiment tonight with different exposure lengths etc, thank you for your info :)

with regards to a sample picture I don't honestly know what to expect I have just seen some work (especially with light painting) that I thought looked very smart and thought I might try myself :-) there was a post of I think it was a 200SX on here the other day somewhere in the transport forum that inspired me to try it
 
bruno106a said:
set your camera to 2sec timer put it on tripod, then set your exposure to say 15 secs then while it doing that get a large torch and paint your car with the light see what comes out and try different times just experiment with the light hope this helps
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, will try tonight and post results

Ian
 
There is no point anyone suggesting an aperture, that's just silly, using a tripod etc and shutter speed irrelevant your aperture choice should be made by your artistic decision, :)
 
bryan elliott said:
There is no point anyone suggesting an aperture, that's just silly, using a tripod etc and shutter speed irrelevant your aperture choice should be made by your artistic decision, :)
Click to expand...

Agree but stated as a starting point...? Work with the histogram too.
 
Personally I'd set an aperture based on the depth of field you want and use the shutter speed and ISO to control the exposure. If you're going to use a tripod (assuming it's a decent one standing somewhere stable and you're not going to knock it) then you don't need to worry about keeping your shutter speed down like you would shooting hand held and that frees up the other exposure settings.

People can't suggest exact exposure settings without being there and metering the lighting conditions in some way. If you're in a field in the middle of nowhere with no ambient light you could be at max aperture, max ISO and a shutter speed of several minutes but still get a black image. If you park the car next to a street light then it would be very different and even then all street lights aren't created equal.
 
Thanks everyone

Daz, I went out last night somewhere with hardly any ambient light and really struggled, Will try somewhere with a touch more tonight, Thanks
 
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