I shoot quite a bit at night. Lenses will present the biggest challenges if you want nice looking signs and highlights. Older glass just doesn't deal with blooming well on digital. it seems worse with older glass, probably due to the extra light from the image circle and the internal reflections. SMC coated glass does well generally. The first thing you want to do is set on a tripod. Do note that I have made poster sized prints from iso 800 off my k-7 and 1600 off my k-5 that held up very well, so don't be afraid to hand hold and shoot for 1/10s and SR should keep up with good technique. I have a few sharp shots hand held at 1/4s. If you can though throwing down the tripod is always worthwhile.
Basic settings: M mode, 2 second timer, iso 80-100. You want to stop down you aperture to whatever sweet spot it presents. For landscapes try to keep it around 7-8 at the widest. Here's the problem. The more you close the aperture, the longer your exposure and the more your sensor will bloom around specular highlights like building signs. You can use this effect to good use and get nice star bursts around every light. This is great if you have a 6 or 9 bladed aperture. The 5 bladed lenses make weak starbursts. If you want to negate this effect, turn up your iso and open up a bit. Some glass does it far worse than others. My k-5 exhibits less shadow noise at iso 200-400 than my k-7 at iso 100. This is important because you are inevitably going to be pushing those shadows.... There are different schools on how to expose night scenes. I tend to overexpose a bit and bring detail out in the shadows. Sometimes like +1 or so. Sometimes the lights are too much or you want to retain more highlight detail so you swing the other way a bit. It all depends on the scene if you ask me. You can get vastly different looks by varying you exposure at night. If you want noir let the lights and shadows play for more contrast. If you want a flatter, more hdr look, exposure for the shadows and then cook your raw afterwards. HDR can be useful but I find it far less effective than trying to get a good single exposure. It can give you an interesting look. Personally I find HDR night scenes too flat, but have used it to help tone down highlights when they were blooming and flaring like crazy. You want contrast. Also crank vibrance on night shots. It will make it pop a lot more. Watch out for lens flare. Block street lights to the side with your body if you have to. A bright street light at 90 degrees to either side can wreak havok on many shots even with a hood. Especially on older full frame lenses that are pulling a larger image circle than you see. Don't be afraid to take more than on exposure too at different settings. The jpeg preview can be very misleading. The histogram helps, but be aware that it is using the jpeg as its basis, so you still have limited information. You have to learn to get a feel for how it looks in the preview and aim for those sorts of exposure. Use AWB or set a custom WB. You can also lock the WB which is pretty necessary for anything involving HDR or panoramas. Use live view! if your exposure preview gets too dark just change a setting or something. it should gain up again. set your focus to manual and use the magnifier in live view to get critical focus. this is important hugely important. take the time to get it right. composition adjust helps a tremendous amount as well in tweaking your final composition. make sure there isn't anything you don't want in your frame. double check. at night its easy to miss lots of things. this is just how i work. it might not be the best way, but I find it effective and I've sold more night time cityscapes than any other kind, so I guess I'm doing something right.... http://www.facebook.com/zosxaviusphotography I know I'm forgetting to mention something. Ah well, that's a good start. :) oh and watch blowing billboards and signs like that. it sucks when they are destroyed and you can't fix them in post. been there. On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 1:45 PM, <kwal...@peoplepc.com> wrote: > Bring a headlamp or flashlight. > > Kenneth Waller > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stan Halpin" > <s...@stans-photography.info> > Subject: Re: Seeking Night Shooting Advice > > > >> >> On Apr 19, 2013, at 12:44 PM, Charles Robinson wrote: >> >>> On Apr 19, 2013, at 11:11 , eactiv...@aol.com wrote: >>> >>>> Never really done that much night shooting. >>>> >>>> I am, again, think it's been 5 years, taking a photo class that ends in >>>> a >>>> little show (mat & frame & hang pics & invite family & friends). You >>>> pick a >>>> theme to shoot around. I am, again, choosing an environmental one. >>>> >>>> There is an oil refinery nearby that is lit up like a fairy castle at >>>> night. They don't like you taking pictures (if they see you on or near >>>> their >>>> property), but there is a spot across the freeway where I think I could >>>> get a >>>> good night shot. >>>> >>>> Only don't know how to begin. High ISO? Long exposure? Never done HDR, >>>> would that be better? (Definitely plan on using the old tripod, and I >>>> do have >>>> a remote.) I can try different approaches and shoot it again on return >>>> trips. >>>> >>> >>> 1. Tripod >>> >>> 2. 2-second release (also ideally with a remote release) so that the >>> mirror is flipped up and everything has settled down a bit before the >>> shutter opens. >>> >>> 3. Shoot RAW - most of the speckles and noise (hot pixels) you get from >>> overheating the sensor are automatically removed by the Adobe Raw converter >>> when you import into (whatever you use) and it'll save you a ton of time >>> "cleaning up". >>> >>> 4. Shoot as low an ISO as you are patient enough to use. That will come >>> back to you in sharpness. If you like, you can start with a high ISO to >>> figure out approximately the exposure range you want to use, and then crank >>> down the ISO (and crank up the exposure time to match). >>> >>> 5. Along with low ISO, stop down to f5.6/8/11 to help with your >>> depth-of-field. Especially when it's pitch dark out (I don't know how >>> well-lit your subject is) it can be tricky to get the focus spot-on. >>> >>> 6. Don't be afraid to start with an automatically-calculated exposure. >>> You can then dial the exposure-compensation up or down "to taste". >>> >>> >>> -Charles >>> >> 7. Turn off any "instant-review" on the LCD on the back of the camera. >> Manually check the first few images while you are getting set up, but don't >> trust the jpeg on the LCD - instead look at the RGB histograms for exposure >> feedback. The LCD JPEG will lie about the lighting and will just help keep >> your night vision from developing. >> >> stan > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
