Taking photos at night

[clarie]

I'm hoping if the weather is good to take photos tomorrow night of a old historical building, they have flood lights shinning on the building at night. What do you recomend? settings? tripod? flashes?
Clara

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[Bo4key]

Tripod is a must. Depending how far away you will be, a flash won't do you much good due to light fall off. Also, use a remote shutter release or your camera's built in 2 sec timer to avoid shake when depressing the shutter while it is mounted on the tripod. Oh, and turn off IS on your lens while it is tripod mounted.

[clarie]

I thought that would be what i needed. i have the tripod, and remote. on the IS you talking about the viberation reduction?

[Bo4key]

Yes, turn off image stabilization when tripod mounted

[Compaq]

That article was actually very good, I think, despite high spam factor.

[clarie]

thanks for the link Sara, lot of good info

[cgipson1]

thanks for the link Sara, lot of good info

No.. lots of good SPAM!

[greenx]

Any reason why to turn off IS while on tripod?? Never heard of it...

[snowbear]

Any reason why to turn off IS while on tripod?? Never heard of it...

IS / VR works by making small movements to counter the vibration. If the lens is on a tripod, this can actually cause vibration. Check the manual that came with your lens (or camera) - I believe some of the newer models have a "tripod" or "passive" setting.

[Dikkie]

What do you recomend? settings? tripod? flashes?
Clara

Yes, I would recommend settings

I wouldn't use a flash, well, you can, but I never do.
I use a (mini)tripod and a long shuttertime.

Aperture : experiment. Use a very small one (eg F 16), for starlight formations in the streetlights.
Try to find out what your sweet spot is on your lens, mostly somewhere in the middle: F 5.6.
Or try to focus your subject and play with depth of field: F 1.4 etc...

[TCampbell]

If the subject is perfectly still (and since it's a building let's hope that's true... otherwise you should run for cover) AND if the camera is perfectly still (e.g. on a "solid" tripod -- and I do emphasize "solid") THEN you can leave the shutter open on your camera as long as necessary to get the shot.

A flash wouldn't carry far enough to be effective on a subject such as a building (you'd need some incredible lighting -- so I wouldn't bother.)

I emphasized "solid" tripod because I have a few tripods. Some are solid, but heavy (wouldn't want to have to go on a long hike and have to carry them) and some are quite light. My lightest tripod flexes quite a bit -- it's "springy". That means I have to use a remote release (or use the self-timer mode on the camera) to trigger the shutter and if it's windy, just the wind will keep the tripod from settling. Basically if you need a long exposure you want to make sure the tripod doesn't have a vibration or you'll get a blurry shot.

Once you've got a solid mount, go ahead and experiment. While you could use a low f-stop, that'll provide a narrow depth of field. You may just want to use a middle or high f-stop because now that the camera is solid, time is no longer an issue. Keep the ISO low to prevent "noise" in the image.

[Joves]

I agree with Tim. You can also use mirror lock to get the shot.
On the IS/FR I do not know about Canons lenses but my older VR lenses have Mode1 as the shot is taken, or Mode2 Full Time VR, the only time is use it on a tripod is id I am running the mount loose to either pan or track a subject, and then it is in Mode1. Fact is I hate Full time VR and never use it.