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BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS

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lynnh
 
Posts: 3633

BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS

Post Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:43 am


This one if for you, Scott. I know you wanted to do Nocturnal November. :)

Back to Basics Informal Meet-up
Repeat after me: “I will not be a lazy photographer.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As photography requires light to work, Night Photography can present some special opportunities, otherwise known as challenges. Less light coming in means wider aperture, slower shutter speeds and higher ISO.

Very Basic Tips for Night photography

1: Switch your camera to Manual mode.
2: Choose the smallest f-number available and a relatively long shutter speed to record the lights. One second is a good starting point.
3: Keep your camera very steady. Preferably use a tripod or lean on something (the human tripod)
4. Use the self-timer to avoid wobbling the camera as you press the button.
5: After taking your photo, remember to reset the camera’s settings so you don’t shoot over exposed pictures tomorrow! LOL.

Always temporarily switch off any anti-shake or image stabilisation systems when using a tripod. If the camera is perfectly steady these systems can actually introduce wobbling as they attempt to counteract something which isn’t there.

Some cameras will also have difficulty focusing in dark conditions, so if yours is having problems, switch the lens to manual and focus on the lights. If they are distant, focus the lens to infinity.

Another way to maximise available light is to increase your camera’s sensitivity by using a bigger ISO number. Increasing the sensitivity will however reduce your picture quality and may still not give you a quick enough exposure to handhold. So it’s best to stick to using a tripod and a low ISO number for the best quality.

White Balance Tip

In the past, photographing at night with film often meant unwanted color casts in the image since film is balanced for the color temperature of daylight, which is approximately 5500° Kelvin. The color temperature of night scenes can vary greatly depending on the types of illumination in the scene. Moonlight and starlight tend to produce cool lighting, whereas artificial lighting can result in color temperatures that are red, yellow, and green, or a combination of different color casts.

With digital photography, dealing with the white balance issue is easier than with film. When Auto White Balance (AWB) is used, the white balance can change on a per shot basis. For artificial light sources such as street lamps or illuminated signs, you could also try one of the White Balance presets such as Tungsten or Fluorescent. Many cameras also offer a custom White Balance feature that can be used to measure the illumination at the scene and adjust the white balance accordingly. If you shoot RAW (which is highly recommended for night photography), white balance is not as much of an issue since you can adjust the White Balance setting in Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, or in the RAW conversion software of your choice. This allows you to use White Balance as a creative setting to modify the look and feel of the image.

See this Digicam Guide for Experiments with White Balance. http://www.digicamguides.com/learn/white-balance.html

Your assignment:

Take and post one or two night/dark photos (or more if you get some good ones!).

If you would like to discuss your experience, please do. We can learn from it.

Our goal is to get our best shot through the camera and not the computer, so please limit the amount of processing. For this challenge, you may rotate your image on the computer. If you shoot in raw, of course you may adjust your photos as necessary.

Commenting - lets try to give support to one another and point out what we like about the resulting photo(s).

If you have criticism, keep it constructive and hide the comment.

Deadline to post for this assignment is Saturday, November 22nd.
Last edited by lynnh on Sun Nov 30, 2014 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost ~ J. R. R. Tolkien


jdonnelly
 
Posts: 838

Re: BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS ends November 22nd

Post Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:02 am


Night Shots .......

Image

I realize I've been absent here at Pbase for a while .......... real life stuff has been getting in the way of photography and some other things I like :-(

But recently I was able to spend a week-end in St Augustine, Florida. This was one place where we had an absolutely fantastic dinner!

timbg
 
Posts: 1383

Re: BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS ends November 22nd

Post Fri Nov 21, 2014 3:58 am


I shot a few pictures from my doorstep at high iso - 20,000.
http://www.pbase.com/timbg/iso_hi
sample:

lynnh
 
Posts: 3633

Re: BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS ends November 22nd

Post Sat Nov 22, 2014 1:40 pm


Handheld.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost ~ J. R. R. Tolkien

lynnh
 
Posts: 3633

Re: BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS ends November 22nd

Post Sat Nov 22, 2014 3:39 pm


Handheld
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost ~ J. R. R. Tolkien

1designguy
 
Posts: 2515

Re: BACK TO BASICS 14 - NIGHT SHOTS

Post Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:15 pm


Thanks to a crazy schedule and life in general, I completely missed this challenge. I found it about a week ago. One night as I was driving home from a late hospice visit when I saw this...



Thank you Lynn for pushing these challenges forward.


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