Night Photography

[princessleia]

HI ,
I'll be doing some night photography and would like to know which is the best settings when taking photos at night?

also, I am so much interested in buying a wide angle lenses but is still clueless which is best. can you please advise.
thanks.

[kiwi]

What sort of night photography ?

[princessleia]

wanted to take photos of the harbour bridge, the rocks and opera house..

[kiwi]

OK, well, you could possibly use any lens, but a UWA is probably mostly appropriate (10-24mm type range) - there are plenty, and mostly they are all good

You will need a good tripod

You will need an apperture of maybe F/12

You wil need a shutter speed anywhere between 1/10s and 1/30s

ISO put on your minium native setting, ISO100 Canon or 200 Nikon usually

It's best to get some ambient light in the sky rather than pure black, so, that "blue hour" is the thing to aim for

Basic instructions, but, I hope helpful

[Jeremy]

OK, well, you could possibly use any lens, but a UWA is probably mostly appropriate (10-24mm type range) - there are plenty, and mostly they are all good

You will need a good tripod

You will need an apperture of maybe F/12

You wil need a shutter speed anywhere between 1/10s and 1/30s

ISO put on your minium native setting, ISO100 Canon or 200 Nikon usually

It's best to get some ambient light in the sky rather than pure black, so, that "blue hour" is the thing to aim for

Basic instructions, but, I hope helpful

F12 will be far too slow - please try for f/5 and smaller fnumber

ISO of at least 400 depending on the camera .

Example:

Picture taken (hand held) @ iso 1250, 1/8 sec 15mm f5.0 on a Canon 5D

[Jeremy]

Here it is:

[kiwi]

I'll stand by my original recommendations

There's not nearly enough ambient light, nice shot considering handheld tho

And you should shoot tripod at night

[ricktas]

princessleia, I would like to offer a suggestion. You have been a member for over 12 months, have asked several questions, but we are yet to see a single one of your photos. How about joining in and posting to the members photo forums with some of your work, you will then learn a lot more from the feedback, than you are getting from the occasional post in the New To Photography forum. Your posts are spaced around 3 months apart, so I assume you only really post to get your access back once you go 'inactive'. So how about it? Join in, post some of your photos and become more active and you will learn more.

[pgbphotographytas]

F12 will be far too slow - please try for f/5 and smaller fnumber

ISO of at least 400 depending on the camera .

Example:

Picture taken (hand held) @ iso 1250, 1/8 sec 15mm f5.0 on a Canon 5D

It is very hard to take good, clean and sharp photos of a night time unless you are using a tripod.

The settings you have suggested above would be ok if being used hand-held but who takes night photos like that?

[kiwi]

princessleia, I would like to offer a suggestion. You have been a member for over 12 months, have asked several questions, but we are yet to see a single one of your photos. How about joining in and posting to the members photo forums with some of your work, you will then learn a lot more from the feedback, than you are getting from the occasional post in the New To Photography forum. Your posts are spaced around 3 months apart, so I assume you only really post to get your access back once you go 'inactive'. So how about it? Join in, post some of your photos and become more active and you will learn more.

True, last time a year ago you asked about sunrise photos, got some lovely advice, and then didnt show anything ?

Pretty darn rude I reckon

[hackcessor]

I am going to agree with Kiwi on this one.

ISO400?
f5?

You need f8 or lower (i.e f8 - f22), a good steady tripod.

Expose for the highlights and use a longer shutter speed.

[Jeremy]

It is very hard to take good, clean and sharp photos of a night time unless you are using a tripod.

The settings you have suggested above would be ok if being used hand-held but who takes night photos like that?

Yes, Very, very true.

Re: who takes night photos like that?

Answer: I do.

If one spends a few hours photographing I like to have a plan so:

For the current city photo shoot I made a trip to plan the nights photos and locations so all pics were taken by hand to gauge framing whether or not to use a flash, exposure settings and the type of lenses to carry around.

[furious]

For night photos I like to use f22 (could be less) and a shutter speed to expose the image appropriately. As for ISO about 100-400.

Also a tripod and remote shutter release is mandatory.

:edit: Here is an article by Brian Peterson about exposure. > http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-t...rect-exposure/

[ricktas]

I notice the original poster once again has not been back to comment or thank members for their feedback. Each post by them has been the same, and they only post about once every three months to regain access to the site when their account goes inactive.

Therefore I am banning the member from the site as they are not interacting with members in acting in good faith for the very reason AP exists.

[hackcessor]

Nice one Rick

[James T]

Thread's probably a bit dead now. But, don't use f/22, don't even go close to it unless you need to for crazy depth of field. You're just softening the image for no gain if you do.

[hackcessor]

I agree with James T f22 is massive overkill

Night landscape type shots should be within the f8-11 range.

Let's face it, if you are mounted on a tripod with a remote cable release, who cares if your exposure is 5 secs or 5 minutes to get the desired effect.

This thread may be dead, but it is still good general knowledge.

[0Z320]

I agree with James T f22 is massive overkill

Night landscape type shots should be within the f8-11 range.

Let's face it, if you are mounted on a tripod with a remote cable release, who cares if your exposure is 5 secs or 5 minutes to get the desired effect.

This thread may be dead, but it is still good general knowledge.

Thanks for all the advice guys.
This will save me experimenting with all the f values when I attempt night shots for the first time ever this weekend.

Do you have any other important tips I need to remember that might trip up the noobs?

[mercho]

Thanks for all the advice guys.
This will save me experimenting with all the f values when I attempt night shots for the first time ever this weekend.

Do you have any other important tips I need to remember that might trip up the noobs?

If your not using a remote, use the inbuilt timer in your camera (2secs). This means you wont have anycamera shake from pressing down the shutter button

[binnie]

Thanks, your imput has helped me if not the original poster