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night time shooting
Aug 23, 2014 13:28:13 #
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
Aug 23, 2014 13:39:26 #
Definitely use a tripod. Keep the ISO at or below 1600 to avoid excess digital noise. Longer shutter speeds will show ferris wheel movement if that's what you want, if not, wait for it to stop before shooting.
Aug 23, 2014 13:46:13 #
SteBil30 wrote:
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
What is it that you want to show/shoot?
Check out Street Photography section of our forum.
Aug 23, 2014 13:49:24 #
One thing that I do is use one of the pre-programmed scene modes in my camera to get a starting point for settings. If I'm doing a night cityscape, I'll go into the scene mode for that and take a shot, then look at the settings the camera chose. After that, I'll decide whether to use similar settings in Aperture or Shutter Priority or even full Manual mode and play around from there. That's part of the fun. Good luck.
Aug 23, 2014 13:50:46 #
SteBil30 wrote:
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
As per a noise thread conclusion to avoid noise, shoot the same scene, on a tripod, three to four times with the exact same settings then stack them to reduce the noise.
Aug 23, 2014 14:12:04 #
Rongnongno wrote:
As per a noise thread conclusion to avoid noise, shoot the same scene, on a tripod, three to four times with the exact same settings then stack them to reduce the noise.
oh god, don't start THAT here!!! LOL
SM pier is alot of fun.
My pointers, start shooting before dark, catch some of the blue in the sky. The SM pier sign looks really cool with some afterglow behind it.
If you're going to shoot the wheel, play with the shutter speed, the different effects you get are SO cool.
GT
Aug 24, 2014 14:02:39 #
A lot of times my 5D MKiI will have trouble focusing in dark, low contrast scenes. So I mount my external flash on camera-go into the settings and tell it "NOT to Fire", this way you can use the auto focus assist beam (on the flash) to help the camera focus.
I also use Back Button Focus to keep that focus locked once I release it...so my focus doesn't start "hunting" every time I push the shutter button (Which is easy to do with a flashy ferris wheel spinning around).
I also use Back Button Focus to keep that focus locked once I release it...so my focus doesn't start "hunting" every time I push the shutter button (Which is easy to do with a flashy ferris wheel spinning around).
Aug 24, 2014 14:05:04 #
BermBuster wrote:
Interesting tip although why not use manual focus as other do for the same exact reason?A lot of times my 5D MKiI will have trouble focusing in dark, low contrast scenes. So I mount my external flash on camera-go into the settings and tell it "NOT to Fire", this way you can use the auto focus assist beam (on the flash) to help the camera focus.
I also use Back Button Focus to keep that focus locked once I release it...so my focus doesn't start "hunting" every time I push the shutter button (Which is easy to do with a flashy ferris wheel spinning around).
I also use Back Button Focus to keep that focus locked once I release it...so my focus doesn't start "hunting" every time I push the shutter button (Which is easy to do with a flashy ferris wheel spinning around).
Aug 24, 2014 14:09:52 #
Yes, manual focus will work just fine... But I like how fast I can switch between auto/manual focus.. Without dropping the camera from my eye.
Aug 24, 2014 14:13:41 #
BermBuster wrote:
I usually set my focus mode for a cession or part of it so the switching is limited.Yes, manual focus will work just fine... But I like how fast I can switch between auto/manual focus.. Without dropping the camera from my eye.
Your tip is interesting (even if I use a Nikon) and useful. That is what really counts here.
Aug 24, 2014 14:17:54 #
SteBil30 wrote:
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
Here are a lot of links, hopefully, they all still work. This is a good app to get - free for your computer.
http://photoephemeris.com/
Night Photography Links
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/night-photography.htm
http://digital-photography-school.com/night-photography
http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/How_to_take_photos_at_night/manual_long_exposure.shtml
http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/Photography-Techniques/fu02mdwb/1/Taking-Pictures-at-Dusk-and-at-Night.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-take-AWESOME-night-photos-WITHOUT-a-tripod/
http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/how-to-take-night-photos.html
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/digitalcameras/how-to-take-clear-pictures-at-night/1967
http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html
Tutorial
http://petapixel.com/2014/03/28/prep-work-post-processing-depth-star-photography-tutorial/
Within an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset is a time called Blue Hour. Although your eye will not see it, your camera detect a deep blue in the sky. ThatÂ’s a great time to shoot.
Check out Panorama section of our forum.
Aug 24, 2014 14:21:21 #
Rongnongno wrote:
I usually set my focus mode for a cession or part of it so the switching is limited.
Your tip is interesting (even if I use a Nikon) and useful. That is what really counts here.
Your tip is interesting (even if I use a Nikon) and useful. That is what really counts here.
Agreed, everyone contributes, we all learn and use what works for us. :)
Aug 24, 2014 14:22:10 #
Photographer's Ephemeris is undergoing a big update soon. My understanding is they are changing mapping services from Google to something else. There is a web based app and then there are actual apps you can get for smartphones, PCs, Macs, etc. Stay tuned... It's a really useful program as Jerry said.
Aug 24, 2014 14:52:01 #
SteBil30 wrote:
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
There are no "settings" to recommend. The settings are what you desire from an image regardless of how much or how little light is present.
Does that make sense?
What is your aim?
To smear the shots?
To create silhouettes?
To expose so it looks like daylight?
To freeze action?
There's no "pat" answer to this question.
Those are the same question you must ask yourself whether it's daylight, afternoon, evening, or whatever time and whatever light is present.
Aug 24, 2014 14:57:54 #
SteBil30 wrote:
Morning everyone, question. I will be shooting the Santa Monica Pier this evening w my canon 5 d mark II. Any suggestions as to settings, and equipment? Im not very good w night photos. :lol: :lol:
As you can see from many of the responses above, how you set the camera will really depend on what type of subjects you want to photograph, and the specific types of images you intend to create.
I'm sure if you decide what you want and bring those ideas here, you will get ample advice on how to achieve that/those goal(s).
GOOD LUCK!
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