Night photography

[Krzys]

So tonight I am going to try my hand at some night photography in the style of Max Cooper (Darktopography). Ill be hitting two local power stations with my 50mm f1.4 and some Hp5 @ 1600 with shots taken at f2.8 (for orb lights) and f8 (for star lights). Next time Ill take the 28-90mm Vivitar.

The only problem is that I dont have a cable release and my AE-1 only goes upto 2 seconds.

This should be interesting...

Does anyone have any experience with night photography?

[ricktas]

Use mirror lockup and self timer.

If you are not sure how, check your manual, but mirror lock up, works by first shutter press, lifts mirror out of the way, second shutter press triggers photo. By combining that with self timer you can reduce vibration cause by mirror slap and movement caused by pushing the shutter button

[Krzys]

Mirror lockup on my AE-1? That's foreign to me...but a great idea, and I always use a selftimer for tripod shots.

Was a disappointment anyway as not a single light was on at the facility.

[D J]

I found an interesting article on night photography the other day here: http://jpgmag.com/stories/7779

Parts 3 and 6 were especially helpful I thought. Probably a bit late, since you've made the trip...

[Tikira]

Krys, thankyou for posting this question. We too are getting more interested in night photography, and would be interested to see more hints, even though it is too late this time for us too, as we were away for the weekend ourselves.

Rick, great tip, we will see if our d60 has the function.

DJ, the site you linked us to was very helpful (if too late this time for us too), but we will look at his tips thoroughly for next time. Thankyou for linking it for AP members.

Di

[rogklee]

Hey guys,

Maybe a little off topic, but I've recently purchased a tripod and have gone NUTS on night photography. Noticed on my landscapes, the images aren't the sharpest *Use a D60 with 18-55mm lens. I always use a 5s timer for the shutter, mirror lock up and anchor the tripod to the floor!! I try focusing at infinity (little hard when there is no scale) and use a f stop of around 9-11 depending on the zoom!!

Now I'm thinking, is the lack of sharpness from the lens or my technique? If it's the lens, what do you look for in a lens for good night shots. I guess low f stops are no longer a massive problem!

Rog

[DJT]

Roger do you have VR turned off while you are using the tripod ???

Your 35mm should be fine

[pollen]

Krys, thankyou for posting this question. We too are getting more interested in night photography, and would be interested to see more hints, even though it is too late this time for us too, as we were away for the weekend ourselves.

Rick, great tip, we will see if our d60 has the function.

DJ, the site you linked us to was very helpful (if too late this time for us too), but we will look at his tips thoroughly for next time. Thankyou for linking it for AP members.

Di

Hi Di, not sure how useful this is but our photo club produced a tips booklet for a night photo activity we had last month. The first few pages are irrelevant but the rest of it might be useful. Only problem is it is a pretty large file (2mb) . The link is here: pdf (recommend you right click and "save as" as it is a PDF document.

[rogklee]

LOL DJT

Yes the 35mm is quite nice. But don't like using it for landscapes that much, little hard to get the perfect framing with only one focal length!!! Use the 35mm for enviromental portraits and low light stuff really.

I'll have to post the pic so you guys can have a look. Maybe I'm just being too picky.

*Yup!! VR is OFF