C&C: Way out of my comfort zone on these nighttime skyline shots (pic heavy)

SquarePeg · Sep 18, 2016

The title says it all! Have never attempted a night shoot before. Never done an exposure merge or a panorama. Never been to a photo meet-up with this group. I've been wanting to try a Boston skyline shoot at night for a while - it's just difficult to find the right circumstances where a woman can feel safe out alone at night toting around expensive photo equipment. A photo meetup 15 minutes from my home with a group of 80 expected at a very public place (Hyatt Harborside) on a nice end of summer night was too good to pass up.

Night shooting is hard!! I have a whole new appreciation for the incredibly sharp and well exposed night shots I've seen posted on TPF in the 3+ years that I've been enjoying and learning from this site.

Please critique and offer any suggestions or tutorials that you think will be helpful.

1. My sharpest shot of the night. Could not get good focus on the Custom House clock tower with the Sigma 17-70 or the Tamron 70-300 despite the tripod and focusing in live view. It was super windy - next time I'll bring something to better weight my tripod. With this shot I used my 50mm and had a bit more success. Coincidentally, last shot of the night! Almost an afterthought while I mentally decided on what type of wine I'd be ordering at the Hyatt bar. 50mm, f/11, 10 s

Boston_6456_edited-2 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

2. One of my first shots of the night using the 17-70 At 70mm, stupidly still at f/4 from a nature shot earlier that day, 1/640 s

Boston_6374_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

3. Sigma again, still at f/4 (ugh), 70mm, 1/30

Boston_6400_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

4. Attempted an exposure merge even though the sharpness wasn't there, wanted to give it a try. I learned a lot editing these today.

Boston Exp Merge 6430-31 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

5. The dreaded panorama. I wanted to do a 4 shot vertical but my tripod is just not equipped for it. Next time!! I used 2 photos that were each a merge of 3 exposures then stitched them together. I know it sucks compositionally and is not that sharp but since I did all that work I thought I'd get some feedback on what to do differently next time. The sky had that very funky slanted cloud at the top that I would probably get rid of if this was a keeper.

Boston_6349-56 Pano by SharonCat..., on Flickr

If you've read this far, God bless you! And thanks!

OGsPhotography · Sep 18, 2016

Awesome. They are so dramatically different, must have been an amazing time. Good job.

tirediron · Sep 18, 2016

A nice set; I don't see anything to complain about!

ZombiesniperJr · Sep 18, 2016

Nice set

Destin · Sep 18, 2016

Nice set! And as far as being at f4 on the sunset shot, it doesn't matter for DOF at that point because you're focusing at infinity. You could shoot wide open at 1.8 on your 50 and get enough depth of field.

I agree you'd like to be stopped down some to get a longer shutter speed and your lenses sweet spot for sharpness, but I wouldn't lose sleep over that photo being at f4.. it's still a wonderful shot!

SquarePeg · Sep 19, 2016

Thanks all for your comments. I think night shooting might be a bit addictive, I'm already planning what I'll bring and what to do differently next time I go there. And because it's adjacent to the hotel which has outdoor seating right behind the walkway, I think it's a very safe location. Also a great excuse to have a drink at the Harborside Grill since they validate parking!

smoke665 · Sep 19, 2016

What a wonderful learning experience you've had. The others are good, but number 1 is a standout!

SquarePeg · Sep 19, 2016

smoke665 said:
What a wonderful learning experience you've had. The others are good, but number 1 is a standout!

So true about the learning experience and I made several new photo friends that I'm already making plans with for another shoot. I really encourage anyone who is looking to expand with this hobby to check out meetup.com for photo meet up groups in your area. It was a lot of fun and very inspiring.

pgriz · Sep 19, 2016

The trick about shooting skylines is that you need to catch them at that moment at dusk when the sky still has some colour in it, and there's enough light to illuminate the buildings, while at the same time dark enough that the lights are all on. It's usually a window of no more than 10 minutes or so. I learned that trick from a professional photographer, who shared that little insight. It makes amazing sense when you think about it, but until he pointed it out, I never really figured it out, and had hit-and-miss results with skylines. Same idea for shooting the "full" moon - you need to catch it one or two days before "full", to be able to show the foreground with detail in it. Very nice images, by the way.

vintagesnaps · Sep 19, 2016

Not bad, this can be tricky. Keep practicing and maybe jot down the settings so later you can think about what worked best. Offhand on one I thought that sounds like the shutter speed was too fast, and on another, maybe too slow (maybe not with a tripod, I don't use one, I just figured out over the years how to brace myself etc.). Those seem to be the ones that the exposure was off. The one done with a longer exposure with the 50mm seems better, and if that gives you time to peruse the drinks menu, even better!

And if outdoor seating means you can have a glass of wine while you're taking pictures, win-win!!

SquarePeg · Sep 19, 2016

The wind was really strong. When I focused in Live View I could see that the lens was moving quite a bit. I tried to use my camera bag to weight the tripod down but without the body and lens in there it wasn't heavy enough. I stood beside the tripod to block as much of the wind as I could.

pgriz · Sep 19, 2016

A really useful tool for planning your evening (or morning) skyline photography is the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris (A shot planned with TPE). It has lots of good stuff including sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, times of twilight, etc. If you've ever wondered when to see the sun setting directly down Cambridge street when you're standing at Cardinal Cushing Park, it's September 16, at 6:31 pm (ie, last Friday). It's a good way to plan ahead and think where you need to be in order to get the sun at a certain location (casting a shadow on a building, for instance), or to get the moonrise. I've used the app to figure out where to locate myself to get a scenic enough moonrise, with appropriate foreground, and get there at the right time to get the right amount of dusk.

SquarePeg · Sep 19, 2016

pgriz said:
A really useful tool for planning your evening (or morning) skyline photography is the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris (A shot planned with TPE). It has lots of good stuff including sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, times of twilight, etc. If you've ever wondered when to see the sun setting directly down Cambridge street when you're standing at Cardinal Cushing Park, it's September 16, at 6:31 pm (ie, last Friday). It's a good way to plan ahead and think where you need to be in order to get the sun at a certain location (casting a shadow on a building, for instance), or to get the moonrise. I've used the app to figure out where to locate myself to get a scenic enough moonrise, with appropriate foreground, and get there at the right time to get the right amount of dusk.

That app sounds pretty cool, I'll have to try it. Thanks!

NancyMoranG · Sep 22, 2016

I'd be proud with any of those!
Let me know if there is another meeting soon, maybe I can get there from canal?

PersistentNomad · Sep 22, 2016

pgriz said:
the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris

This is amazing. Thanks a bazillion!

As for your shots, I actually can't stand the 2nd because the city looks like its dead. Not dead as in "not busy," actual dead with cold grey skin and that's not Boston. But, otherwise, I think for your first time out and with the conditions you described, you did really well and it sounds like you already know where your flaws were and where you want to improve. So keep at it!