Exposure on the London Eye at night.

Gaffer

Gaffer

Gaffer

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In another thread, Overlag posts this picture of the London Eye:

IMG_4342_small.jpg


15 seconds at f8 (but I don't know what ISO)

Several people said "overexposed".

I took a similar shot here:

img_4433.jpg


But I think that mine is underexposed.

It is half a second at f/8, ISO 200. My memory says that I pushed it by a stop in post processing, but I can't find the evidence in the exif that is retained in the full size image here: http://www.tug.com/blog/20071003/full/img_4433.jpg

I took lots of shots, manualy adjusting the exposure until I got a display on the back of the camera that approximately matched the brightness of the real thing, in front of me.

But the camera display is deceiving, particularly when viewed in darkness. When I could see it at home, displayed on my laptop, the image above is much duller than real life.

Of course, as I was playing with the exposure, I was also playing with the composition. The shots that are more exposed are from other positions...

Does anyone have any useful tips for how to expose illuminated objects at night?

Andrew
 
Hmmm, thats an interesting question to raise. I'd be very interested to see what replies you get to this! . . .
 
You want low ISO - to reduce noise.

Normally if I'm doing a long exposure I whack it right up to F22, but that's just my style really.

Best way is to set everything and take a picture at each f stop and see what comes out the best, it's not like you have to rush...

London Eye isn't going anywhere soon ;)
 
tips.

choose a low ISO to limit any noise.

remember that a scene metered by the camera is expecting to expose a 17% grey. so you will need to under expose considerably from the meter reading. if you have a spot meter, you can check the range by metering high lights and shadow areas then calculate where you want the exposure to be within that range.

personally I would let the highlight blow out a little and try to get detail in shadow areas. (as the first image might be - difficult to tell when i'm on the phone browser).

if you on a digital camera, you have an opertunity to check each image and see what works. personally I would set low iso, F11 (ish) and try a few different shutter speeds to see what looked best.
 
check your histogram on your camers (assuming you use a DSLR, it is your best chance of a good exposure, look for an even 'mountain' like line (goes up and peaks in the middle then goes down nice and even, then any overexposed parts of the picture will flash on the little preview.

But as mentioned, choose low ISO, and again, a low F stop (F-11 and lower (lower being a higher number)) and just keep an eye on your histogram :)
 
Whenver I've done shots at night I've taken the first shot at the cameras suggested exposure then used the histo from that shot to work out if I need to under or over expose, then switch to the bulb mode and control the exposure myself.
 
The low ISO and checking the histogram are great tips everyone, thanks.

Phate said:
Best way is to set everything and take a picture at each f stop and see what comes out the best, it's not like you have to rush...
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I *was* in a rush. To take the picture, I had left the missus, abandoned in a london side street, on a double yellow, in the dark, in a convertible, with the roof down.

Andrew
 
But if you whack it up to f/22 you risk a less sharp picture unless the lens can handle that stop. Night shots i try and stick to f/7.1 or 8 or so. Like others have said, for night shots i'd stick to ISO-200 if possible. People claim newer lenses and cameras can take higher ISOs with less hit, but i think my D40 sucks at anything above ISO400. Just my tastest though!
 
At The Gates said:
People claim newer lenses and cameras can take higher ISOs with less hit, but i think my D40 sucks at anything above ISO400. Just my tastest though!
Click to expand...

I did some low-light photography yesterday with a D50, the 18-200VR and an external flash and I was using the full range of ISO's. There was only one image (at ISO1600 without the flash) that was really badly noisy. All the others were acceptable and some were very good!

Panzer
 
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