Taking photos in "Grey Light"

voodooflux · 13 Nov 2007 at 18:38

I'm off to see Santa in Lapland in a few weeks, where they only get around 5 hours of "grey light" each day at this time of year. Anyone got any advice for taking some decent shots in these conditions? We're planning on doing some Husky sledding and Reindeer rides with the kids, so it would be nice to capture these.

I'll be taking my Nikon D50 and AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED, but have to admit to being a complete novice, only having really used this as a "point-and-shoot" up till now. I'm keen to start putting it to better use, so any advice appreciated.

robmiller · 13 Nov 2007 at 18:47

Buy a fast prime. The 50mm f/1.8 is ~£75 and is not only fast but one of the sharpest lenses Nikon have ever made.

Depends on what you want to shoot, though. 50mm is a nice focal length for lots of things, but it's going to be a bit too wide for landscapes. Indoor portraiture in low light, though? I can't think of anything better for it.

voodooflux · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:01

Something like a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D ?

EDIT: just missed your edit

Our house also suffers from poor lighting, so this might be a good acquisition for taking indoor shots at home as well.

robmiller · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:01

I presume you replied before my rather swift edit

Edit: And I yours! It's definitely worth it for indoor portraits: those are mainly what I shoot and my 50mm f/1.8 and 30mm f/1.4 are rarely (if ever) off the camera.

Messiah Khan · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:02

voodooflux said:
Something like a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D ?

EDIT: just missed your edit

Yup. Might also be worth taking a tripod and do some long exposures. Should be a great experience though.

voodooflux · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:05

Messiah Khan said:
Yup. Might also be worth taking a tripod and do some long exposures. Should be a great experience though.

Thanks, I was wondering about whether to pack a tripod. Just picked up a ML-L3 remote release today as well, so hopefully I should have enough kit for some steady shots.

Really looking forward to it, but desperately trying to read up on how to take some good shots while we're out there.

voodooflux · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:07

robmiller said:
It's definitely worth it for indoor portraits: those are mainly what I shoot and my 50mm f/1.8 and 30mm f/1.4 are rarely (if ever) off the camera.

Thanks Rob, for the price it's definitely worth picking up the 50mm I think.

aztechnology · 13 Nov 2007 at 19:54

it's probably going to be a bit snowy, nmake sure yo dial in some exposure comp to allow.

voodooflux · 14 Nov 2007 at 08:45

aztechnology said:
it's probably going to be a bit snowy

It had better be

Thanks for the tip on exposure comp - something else for me to read up on!

TrUz · 14 Nov 2007 at 08:57

Think I might invest in 1 of these lenses myself!

TrUz

robmiller · 14 Nov 2007 at 09:08

TrUz said:
Think I might invest in 1 of these lenses myself!

TrUz

Not on your D40 you won't (I shouldn't imagine you'd want to, anyway).

TrUz · 14 Nov 2007 at 09:09

robmiller said:
Not on your D40 you won't (I shouldn't imagine you'd want to, anyway).

Why not?

EDIT: Just spotted it is not AF-S, damn got excited then!

GTRacer · 14 Nov 2007 at 17:22

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 TrUz!

V-Spec · 14 Nov 2007 at 17:25

Have you thought about silhouettes, some really nice stuff has been taken in low light/silhouette style.

Messiah Khan · 14 Nov 2007 at 17:30

GTRacer said:
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 TrUz!

TrUz · 14 Nov 2007 at 18:30

GTRacer said:
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 TrUz!

Indeed! Little bit more expensive but think it is going to be my next lens!

TrUz

voodooflux · 16 Nov 2007 at 12:12

Got my Nikon 50mm f/1.8D yesterday - thanks for the advice everyone. Forgot to pick up a filter though, so probably going to get a Hoya Pro1 Super HMC UV.

Irish_Tom · 16 Nov 2007 at 13:50

voodooflux said:
Got my Nikon 50mm f/1.8D yesterday - thanks for the advice everyone. Forgot to pick up a filter though, so probably going to get a Hoya Pro1 Super HMC UV.

Good Job. You might also want a polarizing filter if it's going to be snowy. It will take the glare of the snow just encase the does sun pop out. How grey is the grey light? If it's not going to be bright enough for glare then ignore that suggestion.

Panzer

voodooflux · 16 Nov 2007 at 14:53

Cheers Panzer, I was wondering exactly that. I figure that the sun will be pretty low in the sky, but it might be something useful to have in my kit anyway.