Advise me on how to take this shot properly!

NightShadow

NightShadow

NightShadow

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19 Oct 2002
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Welling/London
Hiya people,

Recently bought a Canon 1000D with kit lens and a 55-200mm lens aswell. I am trying to take a picture of London from across the river as you can see below but its not coming out very well. I have messed about with the shutter speed and have the camera resting on a wall with a 2 or 10 second timer set to eliminate me shaking the camera. Can't remember the shutter speed for this one but it is the best of the bunch.

view.jpg


Original here:
http://www.ttop.nu/photos/view_orig.JPG

For some reason it still looks like there is some camera shake and also the lights are all a bit over exposed, any advice on how I can improve this?

Edit - I know it's not a great pic due to the wall etc but I'm just trying to get the method down for now.
 
Personally, I would take the shot a bit earlier in the day, when there's a bit more natural light. This way, you can stop down the exposure a bit, so the lights wont be blown out, but the outlines of the buildings will still be clear.
 
from the exif it says you were shooting at f5.6. for landscapes you want a higher f number to get more in focus, this could be the reason the bulidings look fuzzy?
try something like f12-14 and focus on one of the buildings.
its all a bit trail and error i spose?
 
Is this Stave's Hill in Surrey Quays?
For landscape night shots you'll definitely need a tripod to prevent any sort of shake for the longer exposure needed.
Here's a similar photo that I took of the same landscape
Picture%201.png


It's been HDR rendered as well.
I did do some of these shots at night too but can't find any on my computer atm. It's a bit of trial an error to get rid of the lights right, increase the shutter time while increasing the F or vice versa.
 
Last edited:
added you to my MSN Nightshadow ;)

Is that taken by the foot tunnel in Greenwich?

I think that tall building on the far right, almost too dark to see... I put the Penthouse on top of it. :D

Walked that tunnel every weekday for about two years :D
 
use a tripod, f/11, iso 100/200, remote release or timer, manual focus to infinity.

If you don't get a sharp picture your lens is useless or broken.


Best time is the half hour at sundown when the sky is still relatively bright, the buildings have some natural illumination nd the lights are on. The middle of the night itself is not so useful.

And a PRO would take the shot at just before sunrise, much better colours and a cleaer sky (haze is highest end of afternoon).
 
hi m8 really like the look of that hdr pic, when you say 3 pics with different exposures, do you mean longer/shorter shutter speeds, sorry but im a noob
 
nalla said:
hi m8 really like the look of that hdr pic, when you say 3 pics with different exposures, do you mean longer/shorter shutter speeds, sorry but im a noob
Click to expand...

3 pics of different exposure like
-2 and 0 and +2

if that make sense lol. Please take a look at that link or feel free to pm me if you want more info.
 
The last one was a 10 second exposure, try upping that to 30 seconds, if it is still too dark you will need to get a remote release so that you can use bulb mode (shutter stays open for the duration that the button is pressed) The remotes have a shutter lock to keep the button pressed. The aperture is fine at F11 to F16, no higher due to the softness caused by diffraction. Also a good idea to take a raw file in addition to the jpeg to allow for more adjustment options later. (you can use the canon DPP software for this)

For night photography try to keep the film speed (ISO) at 100 to keep noise to a minimum. Manually focusing the lens is also usful to ensure that the camera does not keep changing it after each shot (adjust the switch on the side of the lens to MF, then focus, the camera will still flash to confirm focus and beep if it is enabled)

If you take several pictures each identicle (the camera must not be moved at all) except for a change in the shutter speed, you should be able to combine them to produce an HDR composite, or you could ask someone here to do it for you. (there are always plenty of the HDR fans about)

Last note, walls are useful for most things but a tripod would be a lot better. (Doesn't have to cost the earth, just needs to have a good head and sturdy legs, i.e. as little movement as possible)

Good attempts so far though.
 
hi nightshadow i recently went there with a friend who showed me the ropes on how to shoot this type of thing.it involved getting there with plenty of time to setup... and was shot just as the lights came on and the sky was drawing in

3222920432_411ace66bb_o.jpg
 
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