First Night Outing - C & C

[Lazy Photographer]

Last week there was this heritage lighting event in Toronto so I headed downtown with my point & shoot and tripod for some photos. Wasn't sure what to expect, since my camera has very limited manual controls. But I made the best of it. I locked the ISO to 80 and played with the shutter speed, mostly. In some cases I switched to night scenery mode.

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[bigtwinky]

Sounds like a fun outting! Good on you for trying something new.

Night photography is hard if you cant properly control your camera.

When you said you were playing with the shutter speed, what settings where you playing with?

You definatly had the right idea in locking down the ISO, however, the point of using a tripod is so that you can get long exposures...ie not worry about shutter speed.

Can you control the aperture of your camera? If so, thats a better way to go... lock ISO to 80, set aperture to f8 - f16 and find a fun subject.

Quick cc

1- I dont find the subject to be interesting. Well exposed.

2- Out of focus \ blurry. The branch in the upper left is distracting. The photo could be improved by getting closer to your subject, whatever it was supposed to be, and fill the frame more with it. Things that dont add to the image should not be inthe image.

3- probably my fave of the set. I like the colours and tones. I dont like the sky (or lack of). Great lines in the images, and a fun subject.

4 \ 5 - nice use of lines to lead the viewers eye. However, fromt he size of the picture, looks out of focus \ blurry. If you were using a tripod, should not be a reason for this. In #5, I find there is too much going on for my eye to be drawn in...the main thing i like is the upper part of the image, the bottom isnt as nice. While i get you were trying to capture lines and such, doing too much can hurt the image

6- is just screaming out for some human interest...someone reading, sleeping, tying their shoe.... not a bad capture, but im not a fan of the reflection in the window.

Night photos can be very hard, but you are definatly on the right path. But you are making it harder for yourself with a P&S camera

 

[taskoni]

3- probably my fave of the set. I like the colours and tones. I dont like the sky (or lack of). Great lines in the images, and a fun subject.

#3 - very nice shot!
I agree upon the sky note I quoted - it looks like those "day for night shot" I am forced to film sometimes under exposed and ready for sky replacement. On the other hand I can not do better, so...
Good work and best of luck to you!
Regards,
b.

 

[Weaving Wax]

Love #'s 3 and 6.

 

[Lazy Photographer]

Thanks everyone. As for the limitations of my p & s, the shutter speed ranges from -1/8 to -1, so I don't have much control there at all. No control over aperture. I have tried the fireworks setting and believe it or not it works in some cases.

As for #2, I have about half a dozen shots of that building and some are much closer and do work well. I just happened to like the colour of the sky in this one.

#3 is my fav' too.

Next year I'm hoping to upgrade to a DSLR (Nikon D90) or 4/3rds system camera. I'm having a terrible time deciding on image quality or portability. The smaller the camera the more likely I'll bring it out with me, but I know I'll get exceptional photos out of the D90. Hard to decide.

 

[bigtwinky]

As for #2, I have about half a dozen shots of that building and some are much closer and do work well. I just happened to like the colour of the sky in this one.

To each their own... if you like the image more than others, thats totally fine . I happy to read that you took the time to actually shoot different shots from different angles and focal lenghts. Too many people just snap and walk away. :thumbup:

Next year I'm hoping to upgrade to a DSLR (Nikon D90) or 4/3rds system camera. I'm having a terrible time deciding on image quality or portability. The smaller the camera the more likely I'll bring it out with me, but I know I'll get exceptional photos out of the D90. Hard to decide.

Depends on what you want to do with your photography. I would highly recommend a DSLR with a more versatile lens if you want portability. Something like a 24-105 or even an 18-200. I'm not a huge fan of the 18-200, but they offer the portability you seek as you only need that one lens....and maybe one more wide angle hehe.

 

[Provo]

Nice pictures

 

[Lazy Photographer]

Depends on what you want to do with your photography. I would highly recommend a DSLR with a more versatile lens if you want portability. Something like a 24-105 or even an 18-200. I'm not a huge fan of the 18-200, but they offer the portability you seek as you only need that one lens....and maybe one more wide angle hehe.

The one thing I really like about Nikon and Canon is their lens selection, over the 4/3rds systems. And their lenses tend to be much less money than those offered by the 4/3rds.

Assuming I end up with a D90, I'd probably go with a 35mm fast prime, a 10-24mm wide zoom, and an all around lens. I was thinking the 18-200, but I'm more concerned about good quality than reach. Is there a reason you don't like the Nikon 18-200? How about the Nikon 16-85mm? Is there something out there for reasonable money that can handle the 18-200 range and still deliver solid PQ?

Thanks again everyone for your comments.