# night photos



## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

Got a hold of my bros canon 40d and he's written down some instructions on how to do long shutter shots at sunset/dark (not using remote so will be 30secs max) First time i have done it so i'm hoping to find some nice locations/buildings that are lit up etc

Any tips? will post pics later, wish me luck :lol:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Make sure the tripod is very sturdy and if theres any wnd you may find it more difficult. Apart from that just play about with settings etc and see what you get. :thumb:


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

i am thinkin of goin to a building on thistle street in town andrew, it should look cool, if that fails then its off to the aecc or somethin, maybe get some light trails if i am lucky


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## ChromeDome (Aug 15, 2010)

Like this?









One i did of the M6


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

that is cool, i am guessing that was a cop car or something with the blue lights? this is one my brother did a while ago


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Thistle street should be good! Havent really explored aberdeen at night for shots yet. Polo isnt really worthy of it :lol:


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## ChromeDome (Aug 15, 2010)

It was a truck coming towards me with those blue LEDs all around the front.
Had a great time,not been out for ages though


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

Play around with everything. See what everything does and how it makes a difference. Things you'll get wrong first time out will probably be the white balance (easily sorted if you shoot in raw though) and colour settings (again easily sorted). has he got a remote, I use one for night shots, stop the camera being nudged and ruining a shot. 

Also, once you've taken a shot, check out the histogram and check the shot actually came out well exposed (over exposed there isn't much you can do with as there will be a loss of detail usually, under exposed usually something can be done to it to an extent). The screens can often make an image appear to look great, then when yoyu get it to a pc it's rubbihs. My pics are much better now I've learnt to read them

Also, an off camera flash is excellent for adding light to those areas that might need it.


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

ksm1985 said:


> .... if that fails then its off to the aecc or somethin.....


Get down to the harbour in Aberdeen, plenty of subject matter [no, not THAT sort......:lol:], supply vessels, cranes etc.......:thumb:


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

A few I've taken over the last couple of years:


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

5 of the best, i basically took loads, playing about with the things i dont know anything about :lol:

i also took a few in the same position at differnt iso's so will get my brother to make up some kind of HDR


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## saint1d (Jul 18, 2010)

I'm no pro, but I really like the 2nd one, impressed mate.


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## TelTel (Aug 21, 2010)

KSM-Make sure also that depending on how much light is within shot, the the correct ISO is used to reduce noise in the photo. You have done really well with the photos you have and no doubt you'll now have the bug of bulbing!! lol

something you might enjoy doing is in pitch black or low light ishave a torch at hand and set the camera at a shutter speed of around 8seconds (remote use only unless your working in pairs) and do squiggly patterns and stuff.......looks wicked!!


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

2 and 4 for me! :thumb: Forgot about the AECC all lit up like that. Will have to remember that location.......


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

Ditto ^^ the others seem either under exposed or the reflections don't work.


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

i had a problem of when i clicked the button a half, it should focus and beep, but sometimes it wasnt beeping and it didnt allow me to take a photo??
tried manual focus on a few but it didnt focus on the car, so will need to learn more

cheers for replies

manual focus


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

A good effort - the fourth pic in your first post is the best composed for me. I think the detail comes out nicely in the second pic. Next time you go out, try different white balance settings, especially if you're going to take photos of lots of different lights.

For HDR rather than change the ISO, take the first pic and then take another pic at +1/3 and -1/3 EV (exposure compensation) to have some manual control over exposure. Then put them together as an HDR image.


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

i will jus take my bro with me next time lol will save me a heap of hassle


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

If you're not on flickr, get yourself on there, find some pics you like the look of and then look for the exif data which will show the settings used to take the photo (provided it was taken with a digital camera and not on film and then uploaded). You'll find the data by clicking the name of the camera on the photo page, near the top on the right (ie mine has a link that says taken with a Nikon D40).

One of mine from honeymoon










There's usually a lot of data saved so I've deleted most of it from this list, but, as listed below, I shot the above at f/18 with a 28 second exposure at ISO 200.

I also used the self timer set to 2 seconds to reduce/prevent camera shake when the shutter was released.

Camera Nikon D40
Exposure 28
Aperture f/18.0
Focal Length 18 mm
Focal Length 18.3 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

The best way to learn is practice practice practice.


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

nice one thanks again for the help


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## mtxfiesta (Nov 8, 2007)

heres a recent one of my night pics


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

woah your bumpers showing some reflections :lol: is it a mirror? :lol:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Number plate is squint..... :lol:

Loving the photo!


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

Cracking exposure, managing to keep detail n the shadows without blowing the lights, well done that man


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Is that HDR but a really subtle one? Reflections like that appear a fair amount in HDR I find.


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## mtxfiesta (Nov 8, 2007)

tbh i wasnt aiming for any kind of hdr just finding what looked right i just played about with the fill light and blacks on the raw options in ps. also its not mine its a friends car hes helping me with my website so i had to do some pics of it. with the reflections he had just polished it so it was nice and shiney


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Some nice shots in this thread :thumb: This is something I will be trying next once I have a tripod and remote.


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

You don't _need_ either Pezza - the last one of mine on the previous page was done by balancing the camera on the flat surface of the balcony rail (with my hand on the strap!!) and the self timer set to 2 seconds. I'd set exposure and aperture before rather than use a remote for bulb exposure.


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

johnnyguitar said:


> If you're not on flickr, get yourself on there, find some pics you like the look of and then look for the exif data which will show the settings used to take the photo (provided it was taken with a digital camera and not on film and then uploaded). You'll find the data by clicking the name of the camera on the photo page, near the top on the right (ie mine has a link that says taken with a Nikon D40).
> 
> One of mine from honeymoon
> 
> ...


Risking divorce on your honeymoon Johnny?:lol: I nearly got a black eye for trying to put my tripod in the suitcase for our recent holiday to Egypt!:lol:



Pezza4u said:


> Some nice shots in this thread :thumb: This is something I will be trying next once I have a tripod and remote.


If youre wanting a remote pezz i bought one off ebay for £3. It was called 'for Nikon'. I'll send you the link 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Remote-Contro...mAccess_RL&hash=item19beb1dd6d#ht_2007wt_1137
The price is higher now but the company we got our 55-200 lens from have them olympiasolar and ukpartsdeal.
Phil



johnnyguitar said:


> You don't _need_ either Pezza - the last one of mine on the previous page was done by balancing the camera on the flat surface of the balcony rail (with my hand on the strap!!) and the self timer set to 2 seconds. I'd set exposure and aperture before rather than use a remote for bulb exposure.


I did that on our hotel balcony, rather scary and imagine some dude walking past your hotel and getting hit by a DSLR form up there!:doublesho:lol:

One thing i found was that while it was dark where i took this shot i was having problems with the light on the hotel making the D5000 say that it was too bright to go past 10 seconds. I found using a filter helped but others may have a way round this.








Phil


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## scottgm (Dec 27, 2009)

ksm1985 said:


>


Nice Shot!

Ive also been there lol...


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

was bored ages ago


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

scottgm said:


> Nice Shot!
> 
> Ive also been there lol...


like the idea, but please make something horizontal or vertical .....

Bret


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## scottgm (Dec 27, 2009)

bretti_kivi said:


> like the idea, but please make something horizontal or vertical .....
> 
> Bret


are you meaning the composition?


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

ksm1985 said:


> was bored ages ago


That's a nice idea, I like that. Normally it's just random patterns but your initials stand out well.



GIZTO29 said:


> Risking divorce on your honeymoon Johnny?:lol: I nearly got a black eye for trying to put my tripod in the suitcase for our recent holiday to Egypt!:lol:
> 
> I did that on our hotel balcony, rather scary and imagine some dude walking past your hotel and getting hit by a DSLR form up there!:doublesho:lol:
> 
> ...


That's a nice shot Phil, I like the colours and I see what you mean about the hotel lights getting bright. 
We didn't commence divorce proceedings fortunately and Mrs JG didn't seem bothered that I'd bought a DSRL to go on honeymoon!! I managed to get my tripod into the case when we went to Dubai in May, but I only took a pair of pants and another T-shirt :lol:


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

scottgm said:


> are you meaning the composition?


I guess it comes into composition, yes - to make sure your subject or your photo ends up straight, particularly the position of the background in relation to the subject, you need to make sure the camera is completely level. Using a tripod with a level on it will help.


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

yep. it doesn't actually need to be "level", but the pillar should be aligned with either the side of the frame or the floor should be horizontal, especially when you're shooting from a diagonal. IMO, of course. Otherwise it's just a bit ... all at sea... 

Bret


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