Night Photography
Oct 13, 2011 20:18:42 #
I have been assigned to complete pictures taken at Night without flash. I do not have a clue on how to start. Can you give me some pointers. I am shooting with a Canon EOS
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
Oct 13, 2011 20:30:04 #
Hang out around street lights and neon signs with a wide aperture. Alternately you can sit your camera on a table or something and shoot long exposures set off by your cameras timer. Turn off image stabilization if you have your camera sitting on or affixed to something.
You can turn your ISO up high but it'll cause you to incur a lot of noise. Before I switched to film I never turned my digital camera up above ISO 100 for this reason.
You can turn your ISO up high but it'll cause you to incur a lot of noise. Before I switched to film I never turned my digital camera up above ISO 100 for this reason.
Oct 13, 2011 20:54:17 #
kleervision wrote:
I have been assigned to complete pictures taken at Night without flash. I do not have a clue on how to start. Can you give me some pointers. I am shooting with a Canon EOS
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
This sounds ridiculous. What is the object of this exercise? At night, without flash, without tripod. OK, that rules out night portraiture unless you stand your subject under a couple street lights. You won't get a time exposure of car tail lights or the like without a tripod, unless you sit the camera on some other stable surface. I took my bridge pics without a flash, with the 18-135,but on a tripod. 15 to 30 second exposures.
Is the object here to teach you how to use available light, handheld? If so, that pretty much limits you to city street scenes where you have enough light to set your shutter to 1/100th or faster. Pump up that ISO and go for it. In reality, digital sensors are not nearly so sensitive to ISO changes as filmies might think. Unless you're a pixel peeper, most people won't see appreciable noise difference between 100 and 800 on any halfway decent DSLR.
Oct 13, 2011 21:15:21 #
JimH wrote:
Pump up that ISO and go for it. In reality, digital sensors are not nearly so sensitive to ISO changes as filmies might think.
Pump up that ISO and go for it. In reality, digital sensors are not nearly so sensitive to ISO changes as filmies might think.
It might have changed since, but mine was. Tremendous noise on the higher ISOs
Oct 13, 2011 23:13:33 #
Oct 13, 2011 23:24:16 #
I find the high iso version to be unacceptably noisy, though I showed it to my non-photographer girlfriend and she could only spot a change in tone and contrast, but I'd be really unhappy with that amount of noise.
In the smaller, finer examples, though, I did find that I didn't see notable noise until about 800iso, at least in the mid tones. I only have a couple films that produce low grain results at that speed.
Definitely prefer grain to noise but that's a somewhat different argument, and does depend on the image.
In the smaller, finer examples, though, I did find that I didn't see notable noise until about 800iso, at least in the mid tones. I only have a couple films that produce low grain results at that speed.
Definitely prefer grain to noise but that's a somewhat different argument, and does depend on the image.
Oct 14, 2011 00:25:35 #
kleervision wrote:
I have been assigned to complete pictures taken at Night without flash. I do not have a clue on how to start. Can you give me some pointers. I am shooting with a Canon EOS
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
Rebel T2i 18-135mm with image stabalizer. I am not allowed to use a tripod.
Pat
Hopefully you live in NYC, LA or N.O.'s where theirs some night life.
I live in N.O. I would just go down to Bourbon St. Enough legs, bodies, lights, beer, drunks.....well you get the picture. You will realy get the picture. don't know how your Photo club would feel about it. But, Wow would you have some stuff to show them. ;-) Good luck.
Oh, did I mention the great lighting from all the strip clubs.... let alone the bars.
Oct 14, 2011 08:23:07 #
JohnnyRottenNJ
Loc: Northern New Jersey
The original digital cameras were fraught with problems, noise at high ISO ratings were one of them. I have shot photos with my D300 at ISO 3200 and shots with my D7000 at ISO 6400 with little or no perceptible noise.
Shooting without a flash or a tripod will be a challenge. What I have noticed with digital, that unlike a 35mm where camera movement equals blur, the image from a digital camera just gets "unsharp" or very soft before it starts to show blur. I'm not saying that is a plus, because unless I'm looking to soften or deliberately blur a photo, I want my pics razor sharp.
I would try shooting with as high of an ISO that you can use before noise becomes a problem, and the shortest focal length that you can use.
Shooting without a flash or a tripod will be a challenge. What I have noticed with digital, that unlike a 35mm where camera movement equals blur, the image from a digital camera just gets "unsharp" or very soft before it starts to show blur. I'm not saying that is a plus, because unless I'm looking to soften or deliberately blur a photo, I want my pics razor sharp.
I would try shooting with as high of an ISO that you can use before noise becomes a problem, and the shortest focal length that you can use.
Oct 14, 2011 08:36:32 #
Douglas Downey
Loc: Rye, NH
For city lights in the distance across water or space, 8 seconds, F16, ISO 100 but you will need something to set the camera on.
Oct 14, 2011 08:55:44 #
If you're chimping, you'll have to zoom WAY in to check for noise. Your little screen won't show it, and it'll surprise you on your computer monitor.
Oct 14, 2011 09:15:10 #
Rachel-
Do you have any of that you've shot? I love stuff like that! If you have any, would you mind showing? :mrgreen:
Do you have any of that you've shot? I love stuff like that! If you have any, would you mind showing? :mrgreen:
Oct 14, 2011 12:00:21 #
Oct 14, 2011 12:55:50 #
Oct 14, 2011 15:03:19 #
I always have a zip lock bag in my case to use if a tripod won't fit or I don't have it with me.
Fill it with soil,sand etc and you have a soft place to set your camera.
or take a flat bean bag with you :)
Fill it with soil,sand etc and you have a soft place to set your camera.
or take a flat bean bag with you :)
Oct 14, 2011 15:08:06 #
I wonder if the instructor is looking for something less focused. Try taking pictures of lights and moving your camera around. I can remember a similar assignment that my daughter had. She took pictures of a person holding Christmas lights while moving her camera,
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