Night Photos

[theNude]

I have recently realised i am awful at taking pictures on my 450D at night. I went for a walk along the cliffs at night to get some shots of the lights over Bondi beach.

After faffing around for ages to get the exposure time/apature right the images came out with a lot of blur/star effects from the lights, is there any way of stopping this? i was using my 50mm 1.8.

Also its 'sculptures' by the sea at the moment and i tried to get some picures of these at night also but i couldnt get the hang of focussing at night, the auto focus just roamed like mad and i resulted in trying to guess the focus as it was really dark, is there a technique? am i doing it wrong

thanks

dude

 

[Raymond Lin]

tripod, and manual focus.

 

[Pinkeyes]

I have the same camera and suffer the same as you. It is us rather than the camera though.
As soon as the light drops you have to either light it up yourself (can't imagine that being too easy on a cliff!) or use a tripod.

 

[mcc49]

Camera pros correct me if I am wrong but for a night time landscape scene, I would definately use a tripod, use a really low ISO (typically 100), set a aperture of probably F8-F14 adjusting the shutterspeed accordingly and use either self timer or cable release to trigger the shutter to avoid shakes.

 

[Derek W]

Camera pros correct me if I am wrong but for a night time landscape scene, I would definately use a tripod, use a really low ISO (typically 100), set a aperture of probably F8-F14 adjusting the shutterspeed accordingly and use either self timer or cable release to trigger the shutter to avoid shakes.

Not a camera pro but, what you've got there is pretty much what you'd be doing. Tripod a definate since its at night the light levels will determine a longer exposure and be impossible handheld. I've mentioned in another topic that I dont think you necessary need to have a cable release for longer exposures but thats providing you have a good solid base for your tripod to sit on. It is better to have that though.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

I also wouldn't take pictures in the dark. You still need some light, perhaps 30 minutes before and after sunset.

 

[themask70]

Camera pros correct me if I am wrong but for a night time landscape scene, I would definately use a tripod, use a really low ISO (typically 100), set a aperture of probably F8-F14 adjusting the shutterspeed accordingly and use either self timer or cable release to trigger the shutter to avoid shakes.

I also wouldn't take pictures in the dark. You still need some light, perhaps 30 minutes before and after sunset.

I agree with both of the above.

The apperture you have will vary depending on the DOF you're after and also wether or not you wanrt 'starry' lights.

You will also need some light to shoot with, so shooting at / around sunset and sunrise is a good idea if you're wanting to shoot specific figures / objects. If you do still want to shoot in the night time though and are looking to light up something in particular, have you thought of using a light source such as a flash gun?

 

[dekez]

Don't forget moonlight as well

I'd agree with what the others have suggested, with focussing as well there is usually a little infinity sign on the lense, in theory if set to this you should get it in focus (depends as well on aperture so not always true), I use this when trying to take pictures of stars etc, when it is pitch black and nothing to focus on. Otherwise manual focus, or auto focus on any bright point in the distance it can pick up on, then switch to manual and use that setting.

Definitely use a tripod, or place somewhere firm (the photo above I built a little mound out of snow!). If you don't have a cable release you can set the timer, this eliminates any shake you would create by pressing the shutter.

 

[Gaffer]

I couldn't get the hang of focussing at night

Tricky.

This was focused by placing a torch on the cliff, focusing on that, removing torch and taking picture:

This was taken by focusing on a distant light (miles away in the opposite direction), then re-positioning:

Starlight and moonlight. Wonderful to work with.

I use high ISO, fast glass, <4 seconds exposure for stars, not streaks.

Andrew

 

[theNude]

I have a tri-pod and i use a slow shutter speed on a remote timer so i dont knock the camera when hitting the button.

in very dark areas i cant see the subject through the view finder in order to focus, would it work if used my flash to get an auto focus on the object then switch it to manual focus to hold that focus point then shoot the shot? i will have another go tonight.

 

[john_s]

in very dark areas i cant see the subject through the view finder in order to focus, would it work if used my flash to get an auto focus on the object then switch it to manual focus to hold that focus point then shoot the shot?

If you're photographing something distant, I'd doubt the AF assist on the flash will be of any use.

 

[rpstewart]

If your lens has a distance scale then you can set it to the hyperfocal distance for your chosen aperture. This means that everything from about 2/3 of HD to infinity will be in focus.

The hyperfocal distance varies with focal length and aperture so you need to calculate it beforehand - there are various tools, charts, apps etc here