How do I get night shots?..

[Tgoodwater2002]

I am trying to take night shots of this young man. He wanted night pictures. I cannot seem to get him in focus. I am using a tripod with a Shanny speed light SN600 on night mode. Because I can get the exposure right on manual mode when I try and copy the settings of night mode. He is never in focus. All pictures taken with a 50mm 1.8 lens.

This one was taken on night mode. 2.8 ISO 800 and shutter speed of 1 ? Can I not take an action photo at night??

This one was 5.0, ISO 800 and shutter at 1 in Av mode. With WB on auto. What WB should I be on at night? When in manual mode?

What am I doing wrong and what do I need to do? Thanks.

 

[john.margetts]

1) why insist on manual mode?
2) night time is dark - that makes action shots much more difficult.
3) auto-focus requires enough light to work. So does manual focus: you cannot focus on something you can barely see.
4 ) shoot in raw and white balance does not matter as you set it to suit the image as part of the raw conversion.
5) accept the limitations of night work as part of the ambience. Getting closer to the subject might help, particularly with the flash which is doing little as you are.

 

[Didereaux]

IN low light situations Back button focus (look it up) makes life simpler. Hold a light bright enough to highlight the face well, press the back button and the focus locks onto that spot/distance and will remain at that setting until you press the back button again. You can shoot a hundred shots and if the subject does not move the focus remains good. For one shot you can hold a flashlight or such on the face and use the half shutter and recompose method that is most common, but it is far less reliable and very clumsy while handling the light...you have to turn off the light, or drop it or something in order to properly use your camera....just not a good thing if hand holding. On a tripod it is somewhat easier and can serve the purpose. But the point of all this is that you must get sufficient light on your subject for the camera to gain a good focus.

Remember too, that lens wide open @1.8 has a shallow depth of field, very little latitude for errors in focus.

 

[Didereaux]

PS you should change your topic title to - How do I get proper focus in low light. and watch your details. In #1 you have a lighted tower poking up through the guys head.

 

[Tgoodwater2002]

PS you should change your topic title to - How do I get proper focus in low light. and watch your details. In #1 you have a lighted tower poking up through the guys head.

I was in a hurry which was probably not the best thing but traffic was coming! Probably not the best idea doing this shot in the middle of the street. I know.

 

[Tgoodwater2002]

IN low light situations Back button focus (look it up) makes life simpler. Hold a light bright enough to highlight the face well, press the back button and the focus locks onto that spot/distance and will remain at that setting until you press the back button again. You can shoot a hundred shots and if the subject does not move the focus remains good. For one shot you can hold a flashlight or such on the face and use the half shutter and recompose method that is most common, but it is far less reliable and very clumsy while handling the light...you have to turn off the light, or drop it or something in order to properly use your camera....just not a good thing if hand holding. On a tripod it is somewhat easier and can serve the purpose. But the point of all this is that you must get sufficient light on your subject for the camera to gain a good focus.

Remember too, that lens wide open @1.8 has a shallow depth of field, very little latitude for errors in focus.

I have an idea on how to use the back button focus but still learning that part of it. And your right it was not focusing on the subject because it was really dark. I will try the extra light on him which I hope helps next time. I get what your saying. My friend is so tall that when using the 50mm I have to be back so far....I do have the kit lens 18-55mm which I could try taking the picture as well. I can't wait to go back in the daylight and take photos in in front of that wall! It's a cool building! I will post more later of retakes. Thanks for feedback!

 

[Tgoodwater2002]

1) why insist on manual mode?
2) night time is dark - that makes action shots much more difficult.
3) auto-focus requires enough light to work. So does manual focus: you cannot focus on something you can barely see.
4 ) shoot in raw and white balance does not matter as you set it to suit the image as part of the raw conversion.
5) accept the limitations of night work as part of the ambience. Getting closer to the subject might help, particularly with the flash which is doing little as you are.

I guess I was trying to shoot in manual mode so I could use the back button focus but as you can see it didn't work very wel. Plus he wanted jumping pics but they didn't turn out either. So I am probably going to have to stay away from action shots at night and wait till daylight since I don't have the proper equipment for all that. I have never shot in raw because I don't have a computer to edit them just my iPad. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Peeb]

Just an unsolicited observation: looks like you have a tendency to dip your right hand when leveling the camera. Especially on #3, the lack of level is especially distracting due to the declining incline juxtaposed against the lines of the steps. To me, anyhow...

 

[Tgoodwater2002]

Just an unsolicited observation: looks like you have a tendency to dip your right hand when leveling the camera. Especially on #3, the lack of level is especially distracting due to the declining incline juxtaposed against the lines of the steps. To me, anyhow...

I had it on a terrible tripod and the street was slanted

 

[KmH]

As mentioned, at night we have to light up our subject so AF can work the way it's supposed to.
Tell us what camera you're using. Nikon and Canon DSLRs have an AF assist function for use in low light.
Auto focus needs light to work so you have to shine a light on your subject to use AF if your camea does not have a AF assist function or the AF assist doesn't make enough light.

Notice in the middle shot that the short duration of the flash stopped his motion.
So, we can use the short duration of the flash to our advantage.
But also notice that the shot shows the wall behind him, as if he were transparent.

Note too that because your flash was on the camera and he was looking at you he has 'red eye'.
His pupils were dilated because it was dark. When the flash fired some of the light reflected of the retinas in the back of his eyes causing them to be red.
That is a common problem when the flash unit is on the camera, either built in or on the hot shoe.
Getting the flash unit off the camera not only solves the 'red eye' problem, it also offers a broader range of artistic lighting possibilities.

Strobist: Lighting 101
On-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography
Off-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Photographers

 

[Granddad]

You talk about action shots at night. You won't get a good action shot at any time of the day or night at a shutter speed of 1 unless your subject is a statue. Your live subject moves during that period of time so of course it won't be in focus. Either you need a stronger flash, or to be closer to your subject so the flash you have can illuminate him properly and set your shutter speed to at least 125 for slow action. If you must use such a slow shutter speed consider using rear curtain flash (camera must be on a tripod), that way you'll have a motion trail with the subject frozen as the flash goes off just before the shutter closes. If you aren't familiar with the process Google it.

 

[KmH]

At night we can use the short duration of a flash unit to stop motion, instead of relying on shutter speed.
Flash exposure is controlled separately from the ambient light exposure.
The flash unit power setting and the lens aperture control the flash exposure.
Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure and can be ignored relative to stopping action.

Yep.
As long as the camera being used allows for it we can have the flash unit fire as soon as the front(first) shutter curtain is fully open (front/first curtain sync), or we can opt to have the flash unit fire the instant before the rear(second) shutter starts to close, which is recommended for action shots.

 

[Tgoodwater2002]

As mentioned, at night we have to light up our subject so AF can work the way it's supposed to.
Tell us what camera you're using. Nikon and Canon DSLRs have an AF assist function for use in low light.
Auto focus needs light to work so you have to shine a light on your subject to use AF if your camea does not have a AF assist function or the AF assist doesn't make enough light.

Notice in the middle shot that the short duration of the flash stopped his motion.
So, we can use the short duration of the flash to our advantage.
But also notice that the shot shows the wall behind him, as if he were transparent.

Note too that because your flash was on the camera and he was looking at you he has 'red eye'.
His pupils were dilated because it was dark. When the flash fired some of the light reflected of the retinas in the back of his eyes causing them to be red.
That is a common problem when the flash unit is on the camera, either built in or on the hot shoe.
Getting the flash unit off the camera not only solves the 'red eye' problem, it also offers a broader range of artistic lighting possibilities.

Strobist: Lighting 101
On-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography
Off-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Photographers

I am using a canon rebel T6

 

[Light Guru]

Two of your images have shutter speeds of 1 second. This is way to long of a shutter speed for photographing people. A person cannot stand perfectly still that long without help.