Beginner needs advice!

thatsabigz · Dec 5, 2013

Hi everyone! This is my first post here. I am a beginner to photography using a Nikon D60 with an 18-55mm lens. My question is I am going to a Christmas Light Show this evening and I want to take some pictures from a very slow moving car. So my question is what should all the important settings be in order to get clear pictures of the lights while it's dark outside. Still learning ISO, aperture, and shutter speed while trying to break away from the dreaded "auto" mode. Please help! Thanks in advance!

-H

robbins.photo · Dec 5, 2013

Clear pictures, from a moving platform, shot in bad lighting conditions. Ok, well that's a pretty tall order really. Is the lens at least equipped with VR?

thatsabigz · Dec 5, 2013

Haha yeah I realize for my first real shot at taking pictures this probably isn't the best. But yes the lens does have VR!

robbins.photo · Dec 5, 2013

thatsabigz said:
Haha yeah I realize for my first real shot at taking pictures this probably isn't the best. But yes the lens does have VR!

Ok, on the lens you should hopefully see a switch that is marked normal and active under VR - when you shoot from a moving platform or vehicle set this to active. This will help compensate at least somewhat for the vehicle being in motion. Probably your best bet is going to be to open your aperture as wide as you can (I'm guessing that will probably be 4.5) and boost your ISO as much as you can before the noise starts getting bad. The top ISO setting you're going to be able to use before the noise gets really bad will vary from camera to camera. I've found that with my nikon D5100 I can get very useable shots all the way up to ISO 6400, but it will depend on the camera.

Other than that just take some test shots and adjust the best you can.

KmH · Dec 5, 2013

IIRC, the Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens doesn't have an Active VR mode.

I believe Nikon Active VR mode is only available on telephoto lenses.

JustJazzie · Dec 5, 2013

What about going in a different direction?

It's going to be quite difficult to get crisp clear pictures under those circumstances, and you may go home disappointed. However, if you embrace the camera shake you can get some fun, abstract shots. Of corse, you could shoot some of both!

This set was shot in a moving car a few christmas's ago using a long exposure while I twisted the camera in different directions.
Canon xsi body
F/9
Shutter speeds between .5 and 2.5 seconds
ISO 1600

http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0094009/photos/33723628@N02/sets/72157638381145564/

amolitor · Dec 5, 2013

Fool around with the camera and figure out what the highest ISO setting is that you're willing to put up with for this. The higher the ISO number, the grainier, muddier, and generally less attractive your pictures will be. Find the highest number that is acceptable to you.

Set your camera to that ISO.

Set the camera to aperture priority, A mode, and open the aperture up as wide as it'll go. Probably around 4.0. The camera will now set the shutter speed for you.

Set the exposure compensation to about -0.7 or -1.0. This will make the camera decide to shoot pictures "pretty dark" so they'll look a lot more like night time.

Set the AF mode to single point and practice with it a little bit, so you can put the point of focus where you want it.

Find a setting for your lens zoom that's pretty darn wide, but not all the way zoomed out. That lens isn't great zoomed out all the way, but you're probably going to want to shoot wide-angle. So go "mostly" wide but not "all the way" wide.

Now start shooting. If you notice that the shutter speeds the camera is picking out are pretty high, say, 1/100 or faster, drop the ISO by one notch for better image quality. You can shoot down to 1/50 or so with this configuration.

Shoot a LOT OF PICTURES. Focus on things that are nearer, CLICK, focus on something a little farther away, CLICK, a little farther, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. You're going to get a lot of bad shots, due to the motion of the car and probably the relatively slow shutter speed. So take lots of extras. Vary the focus by focusing on this, and then on that. Some of the choices will have "the good stuff" out of focus, but you'll have others where it's in-focus, if you're varying focusing nearer with farther.

Keep an eye on the shutter speed the camera is picking for you, if it drops consistently below 1/50 or so, push the ISO up a notch.

Now go look up everything I said, what it does, and figure out why I suggested it

robbins.photo · Dec 5, 2013

KmH said:
IIRC, the Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens doesn't have an Active VR mode.

I believe Nikon Active VR mode is only available on telephoto lenses.

You might be right on that one Kmh - I do have an 18-55 in the bag, I think I've used it twice.. actually now that I think about it I think I've used it once. I've got the 70-300 mm on the camera most of the time.

thatsabigz · Dec 5, 2013

Thanks so much for everyone's help!! I'll let you know how it turns out

hirejn · Dec 5, 2013

I would say don't expect much of the situation unless you're willing to get out and set up a tripod. You can't get around the laws of light. Low light is low light. Obviously I don't know exactly how the lights will meter. Maybe you'll be able to get away with ISO 800 or 400 at the widest aperture, but at what shutter speed I don't know. I would guess you're looking at ISO of at least 1600 with slow shutter speeds. On the D60 that will create a lot of noise. I wouldn't do auto, but I would set the ISO at 800, do aperture priority, and crank the aperture to the lowest number. Then look at the shutter speed. If it's below 1/60, you won't get a sharp shot. I would want 1/125 to 1/250 for a crawling vehicle. To raise the shutter speed, raise the ISO. If you have to go over 1600, you won't get a usable shot. I would shoot RAW but I'm guessing white balance would be daylight or auto.

Designer · Dec 5, 2013

KmH said:
IIRC, the Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens doesn't have an Active VR mode.

I believe Nikon Active VR mode is only available on telephoto lenses.

Mine has it.

Designer · Dec 5, 2013

thatsabigz said:
Thanks so much for everyone's help!! I'll let you know how it turns out

My experience with this type of shooting has always turned out to be very disappointing.

So I will simply wish you good luck!

amolitor · Dec 5, 2013

Note that "Active VR" is different from "VR". The 18-55 has VR but not, I guess, Active VR.

vintagesnaps · Dec 5, 2013

Pull the car over and stop! Seriously, there's a reason people learn to hold their camera still when they're taking pictures; a small movement can give you blur in your photos. If you can stop somewhere for a moment have your camera set and ready so you can get a couple of photos quick if that's all you have time to do. If there's nowhere to pull over, I agree with others' comments - I wouldn't expect much.