A Learning Experience

[CanadianMe]

I know how to take daytime photos to some extent but I am far more interested in night, sunrise and sunset photos. I packed all my gear in my truck and went on a picture shoot. I made sure I was dressed for the weather, I had all sizes of proper zip lock baggies to seal my camera and lenses in, tried to pack everything for easy access but made sure everything was secure. I spent about 6 hours taking photos of all sorts. I got home and loaded them on to my computer and found flaws in most of them in one manner or another. I am happy with a few of them and may upload a couple of them at some point in time.

1. Don't try to get to much done in one evening, plan one shoot and in one area only.

2. Get a better head for my tripod , they threw it in for free, you get what you pay for lol, it is good for my two smaller lenses but my 500mm is far to heavy for current head, put current head on a second tripod for smaller lenses and then that way I have two tripods for a shoot and need only move the camera not keep changing lenses, but this may not be a good idea, will await feedback on it.

3. Never attempt night time shots by hand at my shaky age lol.

4. Look over meta data on photos that worked and ones that don't.

5. Be better organized.

6. Try planning ahead if at all possible.

7. Never plan ahead if possible.

8. Try number 6 and 7 together.

9.. Be prepared with lens on camera and at hand, one never knows when an opportunity will arise.

10. Learn from mistakes, they will happen, try, try, try.

11. Patience, patience, patience, and most importantly patience.

12. Don't put lens caps in random pockets when you have a lot of pockets and are prone to forgetfulness.

13. Stop giving numbered responses that would annoy yourself since the actual list would be far to long to state what I actually learned.



I had a blast, lots of tunes, mellow drive just went wherever, so all in all it was all worth it, sometimes we do learn and still have fun at the same time. Will be far better prepared next time out, and if not I will still have fun. And most importantly this learning experience just PERTAINS to myself, we all have our own ways of learning.

 

[Antarctican]

Sounds like a great day! I look forward to seeing the shots you care to share.

 

[Battou]

#3 (revised) Never attempt night time shots by hand

Age plays no part in it...trust me on this one I am 26 with a fairly steady hand


Also don't forget to lock the mirror....I dun that a couple times as well

 

[CanadianMe]

Thanks Battou, I have edited this post so people don't have to go looking for it.

Aperture f 5
Shutter Speed 1/200
ISO 400

Two Stop Lights

Yes lock mirror, very important.

 

[Battou]

On this page somewhere is one of them.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5079&page=2

Yes lock mirror, very important.

Off topic but, a little trick I have learned here on TPF to guide others to particular pages is to quote the post, preview and right click the little blue box in the post and open it in a new tab and use that url. With the different possible layouts users can use there is a possible confusion :mrgreen: I have four pages...I was a little lost on page two.


Is that cross lit on the other side?

 

[CanadianMe]

Off topic but, a little trick I have learned here on TPF to guide others to particular pages is to quote the post, preview and right click the little blue box in the post and open it in a new tab and use that url. With the different possible layouts users can use there is a possible confusion :mrgreen: I have four pages...I was a little lost on page two.


Is that cross lit on the other side?

I figured it was there somewhere I was feeling to lazy to look for it, the cross is just a blue neon tube that follows the outline of it and it gives the silver cross a blue hue at night on both sides. If I understand what you mean correctly.

 

[Battou]

I figured it was there somewhere I was feeling to lazy to look for it, the cross is just a blue neon tube that follows the outline of it and it gives the silver cross a blue hue at night on both sides. If I understand what you mean correctly.

You answered the question, so I guess you got it

 

[CanadianMe]

This is what I went to shoot. My 30mm f1.4 lens the pics are very clear. This was taken with my Sigma 500-50mm f4-6.3 Lens. Not so clear have to do some work on it in Aperture. How I know it is my tripod, my two larger lenses were horrid photos. I know there were a few other reasons. Here is one of the photos that were so so, I never thought to turn off auto focus, why the long list of mistakes of things I learned. I may try and get back sooner than later, the air temperature affects the way the exhaust leaves the stacks. Would do a summer shoot also but has to be cold to get the better shots i feel.

Aperture f 5.6
Shutter Speed 0.5 s
ISO 800

 

[CanadianMe]

This shot was taken on my way home, it is the Toronto Harbour. This was a hand held shot with a Canon ef 24-70mm f2.8 L USM lens.
Aperture f2.8
Shutter Speed 1/4
ISO 800

 

[passerby]

I think the first picture taken with long focal length lens, I feel the compressed view of it. The 2nd one you said so.

I believe you should not use telephoto for the night shot if the object is withing reach. As always mentioned in every review the long zoom lens tend to lose it quality at the longest end and at the widest end. Of course it is different from one zoom lens to the next.

What you need to practice now I think is finding the right sceeneries and composing them to look beautiful in the eye of the beholder.

But afterall, out from home to do the job is the hardest part. I did that yesterday after work for an hour at the local bushland. I got only one picture that considered ok.

 

[JerryPH]

This is what I went to shoot. My 30mm f1.4 lens the pics are very clear. This was taken with my Sigma 500-50mm f4-6.3 Lens.

Neither lens nor tripod were at fault in your example. Small apertures and extended shutter times are what you need. Your pic is very sharp at one point, and loses DOF fast.


Example:

 

[MarcusM]

Also, can I ask what ISO you shot these at? They appear to be grainy, so if you're shooting at a high ISO, I think you're unnecessarily losing some quality there. You don't need a high ISO if you have a tripod and long enough shutter speed. When I do night shots I use ISO 100.

 

[CanadianMe]

Thanks for all the tips, I made many mistakes but it was my first time out and any pointers are appreciated. Why I posted the photos so people can see what I did and what i did wrong. Bought a book on the Camera and making my way through it, so between it and here I hope that the photos get better with time. I will look at the meta data and post it for each photo.

 

[That One Guy]

Hang in there!!!! I haven't tried nite photog yet......so you are already one up on me.

You said you shot alot of photos and only liked a few of them..........welcome to my world. Just remember that no photog shoots 100 photos and has 100 keepers.....just doesn't happen.

I always come away from a photo shoot with a new game plan. a new way to do it better next time. I look over my photos and say "Oh, I could have done it this way or maybe it would look better from a different angle". That's learning. Learning to see and shaping your creativity is never a waste.

 

[CanadianMe]

Hang in there!!!! I haven't tried nite photog yet......so you are already one up on me.

You said you shot alot of photos and only liked a few of them..........welcome to my world. Just remember that no photog shoots 100 photos and has 100 keepers.....just doesn't happen.

I always come away from a photo shoot with a new game plan. a new way to do it better next time. I look over my photos and say "Oh, I could have done it this way or maybe it would look better from a different angle". That's learning. Learning to see and shaping your creativity is never a waste.

Thanks I will. Just love night time, so it was a natural desire and I just love the solitude of winter nights and this gives me something worth while to do since I am up anyway.