first night shoot

[knoxvilleD50]

these are just a few pictures. wasnt shooting for very long and i only went to two spots just to kinda try stuff out C&C more than welcomed

little orange due to the fact that knoxvilles sky is a light landfill.

 

[vbrandon91]

did you have your camera on a tripod?

i dont know if its just me or not but the last two look a bit blurred

the first one looks pretty neat

 

[knoxvilleD50]

ha yeah i had a tripod but it was so dark it was hard to focus the last two =/

 

[Crazydad]

The first one is cool, I like it.

On the other 2, I think even if they were in focus, the power lines pull your eyes away from the light.

But what do I know....

 

[manaheim]

oooo, night shots...

*cracks knuckles*

Ok, good start and good ideas. Night shots are fraught with technical challenges, so let me give you some tips.

First, white balance... night shots will tend to have horrible white balance issues caused by a variety of types and sources of light. #1 rule, always shoot in RAW for night shots and then correct for proper white balance later. All of these appear to be off... too orange, I think. Not 100% sure, but definitely not quite right.

Second, tripod and remote shutter release. These do look blurry, but as I look at them, I think it may be a focus problem. Just make sure you are using a tripod and a remote shutter release. In dire cases you can do the timed shutter, but it's a royal pain and doesn't work as well because you have to hit the camera and then give it long enough to stop shaking from your click... really slows you down and doesn't always work.

Third, manual focus... do not autofocus with night shots. I suspect this is the reason why your images are blurry, and I see you did use AF. You want to manually focus your camera to infinity... use hyperfocal focusing if possible, but at least focus to infinity. Note that some lenseswill not have infinity labeled, or it will be labeled improperly. You will need to experiment with yours to see, and you will want to do this BEFORE your shoot so you know where you need to be. Mark your lens if necessary.

Fourth, exposure time... it can be your enemy, it can be your friend. Mostly it can be your enemy. Night shots tend to be crazy with various lights, so you want to obviously set the exposure long enough to get your shot, but not so long as to be polluted. IMO the shot you have of the road is polluted... far too many cars passed by and it just mottles the scene.

Fifth, remember that night shots are all about light. Ironic, but true. If there isn't a lot of interesting light in your shot, the shot will be somewhat uninteresting.

EDIT: You also may want to play a bit with PP on these... sometimes you need to darken, or increase contrast, or or or... play around with that a bit. It might bring back some detail on the road shot.

Try that for a start.

BTW, if you're interested, let me know and I'll post some example night shots I've taken.

 

[MAGIC PHOTO]

the first picture
is very nice
really
is magic
nice shot

 

[Cybermg703]

yes #1 is awsome!

 

[rasheemo]

manaheim you are my hero

 

[knoxvilleD50]

well i did use a tripod i just dont have the remote shutter control so it still shook a little. and the sky was orange to begin with as you can see in the first picture( the are chronological for the sky's sake). but its also natural sky in knoxville too the second shots look over a few areas in a row of just shopping and food places. wasnts the best choice but i wanted to keep shooting and my gas light came on and it was close so ha what are you gonna do. mahaheim thanks for the input ill definitely think about al of that next time

 

[manaheim]

manaheim you are my hero

well i did use a tripod i just dont have the remote shutter control so it still shook a little. and the sky was orange to begin with as you can see in the first picture( the are chronological for the sky's sake). but its also natural sky in knoxville too the second shots look over a few areas in a row of just shopping and food places. wasnts the best choice but i wanted to keep shooting and my gas light came on and it was close so ha what are you gonna do. mahaheim thanks for the input ill definitely think about al of that next time

Did you use the self-timer? If you use a self-timer on a camera and set the delay to 5-10 seconds, it will allow the camera to settle in and stop shaking after you press the button and before it actually takes the shot. It's definitely not as good as a remote shutter release, but it will work in a pinch.

I understand your sky may have been orange, but from looking at other elements in the shot, I think you have it still too orange... noticably so.

 

[knoxvilleD50]

you cant use the self timer for long exposures it just does the quickest shutter speed it can. it was my first time out night shooting. and i was parked in some girls driveway and she had just come home ha and i was standing on a bridge with cars whizzing by at like 70mph so i was just trying to get the gist of it

 

[manaheim]

you cant use the self timer for long exposures it just does the quickest shutter speed it can. it was my first time out night shooting. and i was parked in some girls driveway and she had just come home ha and i was standing on a bridge with cars whizzing by at like 70mph so i was just trying to get the gist of it

You can use the self-timer for long exposures on every camera that I have used for night shots... that includes D80, D100, D200 and D300. I'd be fairly amazed if this was not possible on all cameras. Have you tried?

 

[Royal Photos]

I live in Knoxville too!

 

[knoxvilleD50]

you can use self timer it just doesnt stay open until you press the button again. it closes after it has sufficiently exposed the shot (or so it thinks)

 

[manaheim]

^^^ ah maybe thats the distinction. You can use a self-timer on a long TIMED shot, but not on a BULB shot.