Need a bit of help with nighttime landscape shots without flash.

[nuby]

Last night I was out with some friends grilling outdoors. Took some nice pictures but my camera (Canon 450D, standard 18-55mm lens) had some real trouble getting light, or contrast into some shots. They would be clearly visible by the eye, basicly just trees that were being shown on by light from a fire and were standing out from the background. Problem was though, every picture came out pure black. I tried a longer shutterspeed (15 sec. at one point), tried all the W/B settings. Nothing changed.
A buddy using a TZ7 made some excellent pictures however.
Is there another setting that helps get the proper lighting into the sensor?
Its my first SLR camera so Im really new to most of the settings.

Thanks in advance

 

[Storky1980]

Hope someone answers this for you since i was having the same problems when i bought my DSLR.

Sorry, not much help, but well, your not alone in your conundrum

 

[Josh220]

Unless you left the lens cap on, there should have been a definite difference between normal shutter speeds and 15 seconds.

 

[nuby]

Hehe, I made sure of that .
Well what I dont get is how a TZ7 could get the better picture lighting with a snap shot.
I read somewhere that aparture can raise the light input but is more used for field of depth. Is that something to try?

 

[fokker]

You have a lot to learn. I'd love to type a big reply to help you out but this stuff has already been written about in great detail by people who can explain stuff better than I can. Search google for exposure basics and you'll find a wealth of information.

 

[nuby]

Ok thanks for the heads up guys, will get to reading asap.
Maybe I can contribute some nice pictures of my own then.

 

[Big Mike]

There are a lot more variables that you are telling us about.

Shutter speed, aperture and ISO all play a role in each and every exposure.
What mode were you in?

Can you post an example, hopefully along with the EXIF data?

 

[bigtwinky]

Sounds like you are brand new to photography!

I'd highly, highly suggestion reading Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Expsore" which will cover aperture, shutter, ISO and some basics of composition.

As fokker stated, this type of stuff has been written about extensively, so no need to delve into the details here again.

Was your buddies camera using a flash and yours not?

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

Night Shots,
try to take them at dusk, The light quality is better.
Use a tripod to steady the camera during long exposures,
Fast ISO is not necessessery, if you can keep stil. But if not, Wide apperture, high ISO . There is not a setting on a 450 which will not record something after 15 seconds in any kind of light. So try the green square (Auto). If that fails you may have a problem with the camera.

 

[Ryan L]

some people learn better by trying things out. here is my suggestion, try manual mode or av. turn on live view, you will see what your sensor is going to capture in the screen. then change your exposure, shutter, and iso. still read up though!

 

[myfotoguy]

Welcome to TPF!

I second Peterson's book, also, check my exposure series link in my sig if you want some exposure basics.

Do you have a sample and settings you used that you could post? That might help us give you some ideas as to what went wrong.

 

[nuby]

Deleted all the pictures, basicly just a completly black screen. Set to: 10 sec. shutter, ap. 8.0, ISO 800.
I tried another series last night with better results using; 5-15 sec shutter, ap. 5,6 (lowest setting) and ISO 1600.
Those came out rather well, just a bit shaky since I lack a tripod.
Thanks for all the tips guys.

 

[bigtwinky]

If you dont have a tripod, use a table or some other flat surface, level the camera the best you can, then use the 2 second built in timer in the camera to trip the shutter.