My first try at Night Stream

[mitsugirly]

I tried to do a couple of sunset pics...not the best scenery, but shot at the front of my house. The cars parked are a little distracting...but I tried to find that "blue hour"

I aimed a few at a normal level and a few up toward the sky...both got different effects.

I mixed the order up on downloading these. The last one was the first shot and the first one was shot toward the end when it was getting darker.

My battery exhausted (crap!) before I could try the "blue hour" with the cars going by. So...I'm recharging it so I can head outside again tonight.

 

[SlimPaul]

The second one is very nice, but I don't quite like the square look of it. Did you crop it or it's the way your camera takes pictures? It would look much better as a panorama Also try setting a slower shutter speed to brighten the image up.

Here's a little suggestion, but of course you could do way more with the original.

 

[mitsugirly]

The second one is very nice, but I don't quite like the square look of it. Did you crop it or it's the way your camera takes pictures?

I cropped it because everyone said the tree in my front yard took away from the picture and was annoying...so I was trying to crop it out. Plus where the sun was at and the way that I had to take the pictures...I didn't like the apartments across the street in the picture. We live in a really nice neighborhood and they decided to build apartments right across the street from us and made it part of the addition. They are nice apartments, but still the home owners association tried to fight them putting them back here in our neighborhood...they lost the fight. So, that was most of what you seen in the picture I took. There was no getting around it because of where the sun was at, unless I got in the car and drove some where...which I didn't feel like doing.

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, tried the night streaming again tonight...from the side of the yard out back. I'm really not sure if I'm improving or not. I tried different settings...but they all seem to have the orangish look to them until I edit them.

I'm having a major problem getting the red lights from the cars in the pictures. No matter which way I take it, the red lights are not as prominent as I would like them to be. I'm not sure what's going on. The white lights seem to be drowning them out.

Let me know your thoughts on these:

IDK, is this one a little too dark?

 

[SlimPaul]

It's a little too dark (#2). How long was the exposure? Can you post the exif data?
I'm not sure about the red light problem. I know that headlights are much stronger than taillights. I tried enhancing the red in Aperture but it blows out the whole image.
We need a pro's advice

 

[mitsugirly]

The first one says: aperture: F5.6 Shutter speed: 30 sec F number: F16.0 ISO 200


Second: Aperture: F5.6 Shutter speed: 30 sec F numberL F32 ISO 400

The only other difference that I noticed on them is the 1st one had an exposure correction of +2 and the 2nd didn't have a correction. I tried doing several on the ISO 400 because I like the way the lights look like a starburst.

All the one's I did the other night also had an ISO of 400, but some had an exposure correction of -2 (they were all set on auto tho)

 

[Katier]

I quite like the second. It's darker but looks right at the same time. I think if I was really working with it I'd have worked someway of lighting the left hand buildings a little. BUT I think the light level and exposure overall is spot on. The first looks not so atmospheric.

Your red problem isn't helped by the fact your cars are on the wrong side of the road!!! If they were on the correct side of the road you'd have them near the camera and thus more visible.

 

[mitsugirly]

Just so everyone knows....

The reason the house's to the left have a bluish tint to them, there was a cop that had their lights on from pulling someone over and since they've changed their lights to those really bright LED's, it really lit up the houses. I thought it would make a great picture. (That's what the purplish/blue/red light is in the 2nd picture)

 

[Sw1tchFX]

That's kind of creepy!!!

 

[manaheim]

The orangish is normal and likely unavoidable.

I think you're at a point where your subject is going to limit how much you can learn about this. It's time to pack up your stuff and go into an area with more to shoot. The simple fact is photography is about capturing light, and you have precious few actual sources of light in these shots.

 

[SlimPaul]

That's kind of creepy!!!

That's what I thought!

 

[Michael P. Harker]

The technique you are beginning to use is more difficult when your lens axis is at or near the visual plane of the car lights, because the light enters the lens elements at too direct of an angle, causing flare and loss of detail and color saturation. You can elimante those problems and get better composition by shooting from a higher reference point - like an observation platform or a parking garage - that lets you shoot down towards the scene.

I have found that between 4-8 stories gives you an excellent angle. Time exposures for these kind of images seem to work really well at F/22 for between 30 and 90 seconds - the white headlights will overexpose quickly, but red tail lights, traffic signal lights, ambient light on snow and neon lights on business displays will give you an interesting potpourri of color.

Give it a try next time you go out and decide whether it helps you achieve what you want.

Michael

 

[mitsugirly]

I totally agree. I've been trying to rack my brain as to where there is an overpass that I would safely be able to pull over and take some shots sitting over the freeway. I know in order to achieve the red lights the way I want it, that seems to be the only way I can get them in the picture without the white lights glaring them out.

The lowest I've seem to be able to go on my camera at night has been 30 seconds. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong. I scroll the button untril I can't go any farther and it says 30".

 

[manaheim]

The technique you are beginning to use is more difficult when your lens axis is at or near the visual plane of the car lights, because the light enters the lens elements at too direct of an angle, causing flare and loss of detail and color saturation. You can elimante those problems and get better composition by shooting from a higher reference point - like an observation platform or a parking garage - that lets you shoot down towards the scene.

I have found that between 4-8 stories gives you an excellent angle. Time exposures for these kind of images seem to work really well at F/22 for between 30 and 90 seconds - the white headlights will overexpose quickly, but red tail lights, traffic signal lights, ambient light on snow and neon lights on business displays will give you an interesting potpourri of color.

Give it a try next time you go out and decide whether it helps you achieve what you want.

Michael

Oh niiiiiiiiiiice tip. That hadn't occurred to me.

I totally agree. I've been trying to rack my brain as to where there is an overpass that I would safely be able to pull over and take some shots sitting over the freeway. I know in order to achieve the red lights the way I want it, that seems to be the only way I can get them in the picture without the white lights glaring them out.

The lowest I've seem to be able to go on my camera at night has been 30 seconds. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong. I scroll the button untril I can't go any farther and it says 30".

30"=30 seconds

A lot of cameras will go to "bulb" after that, which means the shutter will stay open as long as you hold the shutter button down. For any night photography a remote shutter release is a VERY good idea... for bulb, it's critical.

 

[mitsugirly]

Image Data Converter...then i would pressume you have a Sony...i have the same program on my comp...for some reason PS cannot open RAW files from my Sony also...i got Lightroom 2 and that works out good...and use that now instead of the Image Data Converter.

Just so you know...yes it can. You can use the RAW files in PS. You need the plug in.