Night time photography with long exposure times can be a lot of fun.
Contents
[hide][top]Night (low light) Subjects (suggestions)
- A fountain or other lit objects around a river or lake
- Building with special lighting
- City scapes from various vantage points
- Traffic (car lights, with a 10-30 second exposure)
- At the beach with a jetty or other subject
- Any lit building or statue
- Sunsets, just before and after the Sun sets
- Sunrise, just before and after the Sun rises
- You must use tripod or other stable mount for your camera (eg. a bean bag)
- Set the camera into manual mode or bulb mode
- Set the camera for mirror up or use remote shutter cable
-- this is to minimise shake, not 100% needed
- Set the exposure:
-- ISO 100 (or lowest possible)
-- Aperture f/16 (anywhere between f/11 and f/22 usually works)
-- Shutter between 5 .. 30 seconds depending on the light, even longer in some cases
This is where you need to experiment a little.
- I turn off the long exposure noise reduction (do that if needed later)
- Focus at or near infinity or 1/3 into the scene if infinity is not appropriate.
-- Live view can be handy for this
- Take the shot, wait ... check the result and maybe adjust the exposure
- Same technique but have your subject wave lights/torches for 10 seconds or so. For invisibility, subject should wear dark clothing and not remain in the same spot for too long
- Shine a torch on a subject during a long exposure
- Use coloured lights or LED for effect
EXIF data:
Camera Model: PENTAX K-7
Lens: TAMRON SP AF 28-75mm F2.8 XR Di
Focal Length: 43.0mm (35mm equivalent: 64mm)
Aperture: f/16.0
Exposure Time: 30s
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure: Manual
White Balance: Auto (or you could set daylight, I shoot raw regardless)
Flash Fired: No (Manual)
Camera Model: PENTAX K-7
Lens: TAMRON SP AF 28-75mm F2.8 XR Di
Focal Length: 28.0mm (35mm equivalent: 42mm)
Aperture: f/32.0
Exposure Time: 0.167 s (1/6)
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Flash Fired: No (Manual)
Camera Model: PENTAX K20D
Lens: TAMRON SP AF 28-75mm F2.8 XR Di
Focal Length: 28.0mm (35mm equivalent: 42mm)
Aperture: f/29.0
Exposure Time: 30.000 s
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (Manual)
Painting with light examples (these were experiments)