My FIrst Night Shoot No Flash

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

Prob cause I am wrong I thought asa and the aperture f stops were the same thing. I'm a noob and prob wrong terminology

zulu42 · Jan 10, 2019

Yep, ASA is something else unrelated.
Shots are looking good! Looks like you are acquiring focus well. What focus mode are you using?
General comment is to try and keep your shots level in camera, and level in post processing if necessary. Check the horizon and the vertical lines in the image to keep them square.
Keep shooting!

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

I thought my camera was pretty level the shot were.on a small hillside

vintagesnaps · Jan 10, 2019

ISO and ASA are the same thing, a reference to a measure of light sensitivity. It was renamed from American to International Standards. (And I think the O is Organization and the A was Association.)

Learn to hold the camera straight. I looked at your B&W photos taken along a river - just about every one is slanted to the left. (That makes for a good bit of unnecessary extra time and work to have to go in and straighten all of those.) Some of these look like the ground was a slope so it's not as noticeable, but I can see the camera was not being held straight looking at the telephone poles.

You are seeing interesting subjects. Take time to frame them properly. In your enthusiasm you seem to be firing off the shutter without completely seeing what you're looking at.

For example, #5 - the headstones make for an interesting background. Have the ducks in the frame or out, not part way in and chopped off. In one of the other shots, most of the ducks have their heads down, and that's timing - watch and wait for them to bring their heads back up so you don't get mostly boring brown duck butts. In #12 you needed to be to the left of the tree and pole so we can see the birds in flight.

Look at the backgrounds - keep things out of the frame like the tips of branches, etc. The ones with a blue sign in the background needed to be framed differently to keep that sign out of the picture (because that bright blue stands out more than the ducks). Be aware of telephone poles, etc. and move around, change your vantage point, to keep those out of the frame (think about if something should be in the frame and part of the picture or not).

Once we get into longer days maybe you'll be able to spend more time framing shots and looking and won't be so rushed before you lose light. Go for quality rather than quantity - taking 100 on one evening in a short amount of time before the sun goes down is way too many. Take about 10-20, that's plenty.

You should with more practice and time get so you're able to frame shots efficiently. I've done hockey - you can do more in 2-3 seconds than you'd think. I can relate to the excitement (because I've been a photographer forever and still enjoy when I get a good shot and nail it). Just remember to breathe! and think, and see.

vintagesnaps · Jan 10, 2019

And the aperture or lens opening settings are f stops. The f number refers to focal length. For example f8 means the size of the aperture is equal to 1/8 of the focal length of the lens (from basically the front glass end of the lens to the focal plane, the sensor or film that records the light and the image coming in to the camera). As the numbers get larger, they are actually fractions, so f16 is way smaller than f4.

I usually reset camera lenses to f8 (when I'm done shooting), so next time I use that lens I know that's where it will be set. It's a good midrange aperture where I can turn the lens one way or the other to a larger or smaller aperture fairly quickly. It was also an old press photographers' saying, 'f8 and be there', meaning at f8 you could probably get a decent amount of light and the shot, if you're in the right place at the right time.

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

Quote: (Learn to hold the camera straight. I looked at your B&W photos taken along a river - just about every one is slanted to the left. (That makes for a good bit of unnecessary extra time and work to have to go in and straighten all of those.) Some of these look like the ground was a slope so it's not as noticeable, but I can see the camera was not being held straight looking at the telephone poles.

Thanks Yes with the 50-55 MPH wind gusts I was friggin freezing as the wind chill was in the Negative numbers and I had no gloves. I think part of that contributed to it along with rushing the shots.

You are seeing interesting subjects. Take time to frame them properly. In your enthusiasm you seem to be firing off the shutter without completely seeing what you're looking at.

I am guilty lol I was seeing stuff and motion and firing off a barrage of 5 shots at a time hoping to catch a movement. Also the Geese were hard to get sperated for the images as there was literally over 60 in that small area and my main goal was not the actual picture but the picture quality. However I did ask for a full critique as it will give me stuff to keep in mind for the future when I am "Going for the Shot"

For example, #5 - the headstones make for an interesting background. Have the ducks in the frame or out, not part way in and chopped off. In one of the other shots, most of the ducks have their heads down, and that's timing - watch and wait for them to bring their heads back up so you don't get mostly boring brown duck butts. In #12 you needed to be to the left of the tree and pole so we can see the birds in flight.

Again on the Geese there were so many couldn't Isolate. The heads down they were all sitting there eating and thought it looked cool. As for the pole I was shooting taking a few steps forward, shoot some more, few steps forward trying to get close, however the ducks kept moving every time I stepped forward and finally took off flying and I was just trying to get an in flight shot before they were too far down range.

Look at the backgrounds - keep things out of the frame like the tips of branches, etc. The ones with a blue sign in the background needed to be framed differently to keep that sign out of the picture (because that bright blue stands out more than the ducks). Be aware of telephone poles, etc. and move around, change your vantage point, to keep those out of the frame (think about if something should be in the frame and part of the picture or not).)

Thanks I was rushing so much to try and get them with the light I didn't worry about composition. Once things warm up and/or the weekend gets here I will have all day to take my time and shoot slowly.

Thanks for explaining ASA and ISO to me and taking time to give me some really good pointers. I have a new location or two for this weekend so I will have plenty of time this weekend to take my time.

vintagesnaps · Jan 10, 2019

Try not to turn into a popsicle and keep at it if you're enjoying it and you'll get there.

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

wind was down tonight at the river took my time did better even found a shot I didn't think about taking before. as soon as the images import cant wait to see how they actually turned out I am hoping that special shot I hadn't thought of came out as good as I hope. I was shooting in Aperture mode tonight, not rushing as I didn't need to catch a sunset, and worked on my holding level.

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

Ok I chose only 2 they all looked good but these 2 kinda stood out to me

Geese-01
Camera: Nikon 3500 DSLR
Iso: 400
Lense: 300MM
f/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/40

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

Geese-02
Camera: Nikon 3500 DSLR
Iso: 1600
Lense: 102MM
ASA: f/4.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50

JosephH · Jan 10, 2019

Now My Special Photos and I really Like them lol but I like everything I shoot that isn't too dark or blurry to see. again these were after the sun had gond down and just a small amount of orange on the horizon.

Factory-1
Camera: Nikon 3500 DSLR
Iso: 1600
Lense: 260MM
ASA: f/6.
Shutter Speed: 1/60