Night Photos - C&C

[mitko007]

Hi all,
sorry for my previous post but i some how messed things up and i lost the EXIF info so i decided to post my pictures once again.

Im quite new in photography and my pictures are far away for perfect but im hoping with your help i could improve...

The pictures were taken without a Tripod and therefore i was limited in positioning my camera at the exactly desired place.

I know that some of my pics have some noise. One of the problems i have is that on my Camera's LCD the pics look nice. Afterwards when i take a look of then on my computer i see that they are not so clear !??!

 

[tirediron]

The composition and ideas behind these images look good, insofar as you were obviously limited by what was around you, however, when you're shooting at night, you have to use a tripod! The softness of the lights in many of the images is an unfortunate detractor from the overall effect. I think too, that there may have been better locations from which to shoot. You have some really interesting perspectives caused by your 'look down' attitude.

(Oh, and in future, pls number your images to make critique easier)

Just my $00.02 worth - your milage may vary.

~John

 

[mitko007]

The composition and ideas behind these images look good, insofar as you were obviously limited by what was around you, however, when you're shooting at night, you have to use a tripod! The softness of the lights in many of the images is an unfortunate detractor from the overall effect. I think too, that there may have been better locations from which to shoot. You have some really interesting perspectives caused by your 'look down' attitude.

(Oh, and in future, pls number your images to make critique easier)

Just my $00.02 worth - your milage may vary.

~John

Thanks for the comments.
Yes i was limitied from the people that were going around and from the fact that i didn't have a Tripod and there eren't many places where i could position my camera. I tried some shots with longer shutter speeds but i think they where quite overexposed. What Shutter Speeds are usual for such conditions ?

 

[LaFoto]

Well, I don't know what camera you work with. But taking night photos without the use of a tripod will not give you the results you desire.
No wonder the photos look good when presented as small as they are on the display. Any photo can look good when it is only tiny. Whether it really IS good (technically) will only show once you see it larger.

So, apart from the fact that if you want to keep taking photos at night you will have to invest in a tripod, I also see that you chose to take your pictures with a wide open aperture, to let in as much light as possible, reducing the exposure time. I am not surprised to see you went that path, since you did not have the necessary tripod. But for the future, best decide to a) firmly fasten the camera, b) choose a smaller aperture (somewhere in the middle of what you have, and if it is a compact digital camera which ends at f8, then choose that), and c) let the camera expose for all the time that is required when shooting with such small aperture. It will be long. Longer than you can ever handhold or hold while resting the camera on something.

I would also suggest that for next time, once you have observed all the things I mentioned, you set the camera on timer, so it can start its exposure without you touching it in the moment when exposure begins.

The reason for the use of a LOW ISO, SMALL aperture, and long exposure times, is that light sources will not look as much like big, bright blobs only as they do here, but they become more defined and might even get a bit of a star effect (which you can influence by how small your aperture is). Photos here , here and here might show you what I mean.