Night Art

[Battou]

Due to my work scedual, Most of my wondering shots are done at night on my days off and or in the house. I suppose in the house does not count in this particular application but any who....


For some odd reason I have been having issues during scanning my night shots, my CanoScan 2710 makes them look worse than 3200 ISO digi Snaps, just plain noisey and it's not the grain of the film, it's digital noise from the scanner.

 

[dklod]

Neon is insanely bright. You can shoot it when the sun JUST went down and itll look like it did to your eye @12 midnight. The ratio is too great.

If your trying to get a long exposure cityscape or building with neon and you need the whole scene to be exposed your gonna need to shoot earlier, OR bring your own lights and light up everything else in the scene to a decent level.

Or just concentrate on the neon without anything else in the photo it can be a good subject itself.

another way would be to wrap the neon in like limo style window tint that has no color cast. That would help a lot, I dont know if it gets hot or not.. lol

From what you have said the only thing left is to lower the exposure and increase the ISO maybe but I get very noisy images at high ISO's or I'll just have to live with it until I can get my hands on an SLR that can handle high ISO settings.

 

[Battou]

From what you have said the only thing left is to lower the exposure and increase the ISO maybe but I get very noisy images at high ISO's or I'll just have to live with it until I can get my hands on an SLR that can handle high ISO settings.

Not entirely, raising the ISO will have a similar effect only noiser, Change the shoot time.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Thorhammer, I will be back in LA as of late June, for several months.

A: let's get together for some night shooting.

B: I'm thinking of doing some customized classes at Julia Dean - I'm going to put together my own curriculum (flash work, studio set-ups, etc.) I'll let you know when it's final, and you can join me if you want to.

 

[THORHAMMER]

Thorhammer, I will be back in LA as of late June, for several months.

A: let's get together for some night shooting.

B: I'm thinking of doing some customized classes at Julia Dean - I'm going to put together my own curriculum (flash work, studio set-ups, etc.) I'll let you know when it's final, and you can join me if you want to.

thanks !

freakin sweet Iron.. I look forward to seeing you again..

 

[Big Bully]

What camera do you have ?

I have a Nikon coolpix, and at one time was borrowing a Fugi S2000? I think.

 

[fightheheathens]

just wanted to reply....
the only time i ever have been mugged/beat up, was in downtown Berkeley Ca in the middle of the day in an upper class neighbor hood.

i live in oakland (not really the safest place in the world) and as long as you have your wits about you and a friend or two, know your way around town and dont go looking for trouble (think flipping people off, or otherwise generally intruding into other peoples affairs) i have found that on average you will be fine.

so my point is dont be afraid of shooting stuff at night, just take a friend or two with you and be smart some of my favorite stuff i have shot came from shooting downtown SF late at night when all the characters come out. I just make sure i never go alone and i dont ask for trouble

 

[THORHAMMER]

I have a Nikon coolpix, and at one time was borrowing a Fugi S2000? I think.

I tried to find specs on the fuji, cant find that particular model #

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/view-all

On the coolpix , also dont know the model, but if they have manual mode you can try the lowest iso setting and open up the aperature as far as it will go. F??? ie F2.8 or F6.3 etc.. The larger the number on that camera the better for night shots, Im assuming it only has 2 or 3 Fstop selections.

See how long you can shoot for in manual mode, if 15 or 30 seconds, your probably in luck.

Use the timer, and start experimenting.

 

[Big Bully]

I tried to find specs on the fuji, cant find that particular model #

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/view-all

On the coolpix , also dont know the model, but if they have manual mode you can try the lowest iso setting and open up the aperature as far as it will go. F??? ie F2.8 or F6.3 etc.. The larger the number on that camera the better for night shots, Im assuming it only has 2 or 3 Fstop selections.

See how long you can shoot for in manual mode, if 15 or 30 seconds, your probably in luck.

Use the timer, and start experimenting.

Hmm I am going to have to play around with my coolpix. I am relativly new to the digital era and so I am just going to have to see what I can figure out.

 

[iluvphotography]

I really enjoy night photography specially when I travel. The best experience that I had was in Venice at 3:00am. During the day Venice is like Disney Land it's so crowded that you don't even feel like you are in Venice... You can't even see Realto Bridge because it's full of people... At 3:00am you get to see the true Venice..It felt like we were in 17th century I got my best shots of Venice at 3:00am while my poor husband was following me around carrying my tripod!!
Again same thing in Rome. I took beautiful shots of Colessume with the half moon beside it at 2:00am.. There was no one around.. When I travel I am usually up all night taking shots...
I wish I knew how to post pictures here so that I could post some samples but it looks like I can only post a photo if it has a URL address!!
I don't have my shots uploaded to a website:-(

I have one question though... My pictures sometimes look too orange/yello when I take them at night how do I avoid that?

 

[craig]

Try using Tungsten white balance.

Love & Bass

 

[dklod]

Hmm I am going to have to play around with my coolpix. I am relativly new to the digital era and so I am just going to have to see what I can figure out.

Night mode would be your only other option if it does not have manual settings. If the max shutter is 2-3 seconds, you will need a well lit place. I struggled for years trying to take night shots on a camera that had no where near enough exposure time. Those shots of the OKC memorial are probably the best I got.

 

[whistule]

Any night shooters on film? Any example pics - B&W particularly. I imagoine must be much more difficult with film not having tried it myself.

 

[fightheheathens]

i never had a problem shooting at night with film...just need to know what you are doing
some examples
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/wewillfighttheheathens/2-3.jpg
(that was shot at 1/8s f1.4 at 800 iso...i had to lean against a poll and later push my 200 speed film to 800 in developing)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v47/wewillfighttheheathens/?action=view&current=7-1.jpg


i do alot of night portraits and i only use film. I guess since thats they way i learned it doesnt seem like much of a problem to me. I just know my camera and the way film works well enough to know what im going to get. I must add though, my light meter doesnt work well in low light so most of the time i am guessing at exposure. the result of this is a lot of PP work in the dark room. when i print off these portraits i often go through 6-7 test strips and then 5 or so prints before i get what i want....

 

[Lyncca]

id really like to spend more time shooting at night, but im terrified to go out alone. I'm a young woman with a large fear of being raped or mugged (i think these are normal fears) and so i rarely venture out after the sun's down. the few times i did it, though, i really enjoyed it.

I joined a local photography group that is VERY active. I have been fortunate enough to be able to go on one night shoot with them already (several more are scheduled) that otherwise, I NEVER would have been caught in during the day, much less night! The other time I made my husband go escort me

To answer the OP, I have found that I like night photography more than all others so far, but I do have to be careful, so I have avoided the industrial type stuff so far at night, but I have shot quite a few mills and stuff during the day.