Exposure on the London Eye at night.

[Gaffer]

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

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

Several people said "overexposed".

I took a similar shot here:

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

 

[Gaffer]

The low ISO and checking the histogram are great tips everyone, thanks.

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...

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