London (Long Exposures)

[Arcnewal]

These were my first attempts at long exposure shots. To me I think they look good, however, giving how I'm still learning every single time I use my camera it'd be great to receive some feedback.

 

[dxqcanada]

One thing about long exposure city shots ... you can get some really blown out areas.
I do like the third one though ... and the fourth.

 

[tpuma]

Love the Big Ben shot

 

[waday]

Nice shots! They all look a bit underexposed to me, though?

For example:

 

[PropilotBW]

Big Ben shot is really cool. Nice shots.

 

[davholla]

The third one is great. In the Tony Northrup book he suggests for night photos, setting ISO to 100, having a very long exposure so it over exposes and then correcting in PP - sadly I have not had massive success although I have not practiced much
SalisburyCathedralatnightEF7A1490 by davholla2002, on Flickr

 

[petrochemist]

The Big Ben shot is a real winner!
Some of the others look a little soft to me, but certainly not bad for first attempts.

 

[Braineack]

Nice shots! They all look a bit underexposed to me, though?

I agree here, all the brilliant lights have been reduced to dull in processing these.

 

[Arcnewal]

I've still so much to learn, so it's good at getting the feedback from people on here who know a hell of a lot more than I do.

Can anyone recommend a shutter speed that will improve long exposures I take in the future?

 

[waday]

I've still so much to learn, so it's good at getting the feedback from people on here who know a hell of a lot more than I do.

Can anyone recommend a shutter speed that will improve long exposures I take in the future?

I would think it'd depend on the situation and ambient lighting.

Try shooting in blue hour for "night shots".

Also, check out this thread: Manaheim's Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

 

[thereyougo!]

As waday says, best shoot around and after sunset so you have some colour in the sky. This also means that you don't have such a wide dynamic range. I don't know why Tony Northrup says to overexpose floodlit buildings. When you do that you lose all detail. Big Ben for example (or Queen Elizabeth Tower as it is properly known - Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower) the clock has gold webbing on it. If you overexpose too much, you lose this. it just becomes a white clock face which it isn't:

This was a long exposure I took during the blue hour. There is just enough detail in the clock face.

westminster-in-evening by singingsnapper, on Flickr

There was a little bit of colour in the sky when I took this, but I exposed for the clock (the shot was handheld) to retain all detail

Big Ben Night copy by singingsnapper, on Flickr

 

[kerria]

I love the pastel colours of the the sky and the water in the westminster-in-evening one.
In my opinion in the pictures of the first post the lights look a bit too flashy, although the editing @waday made improves the darker spots.
How is it possible to set a threshold above which the bright spots are not increased in exposure?