Night help

[shardsofxapril]

ok so i finally got ahold of a tripod and tried out this night shots, more or less trying to get light trails from passing cars over a bridge...well the pictures turned out to be dull and/or speckled. mind you there is no digital camera here, manual film camera. and yes I did use higher speed film (800 to be exact)
so if anyone can give me hints or tips itwould be greatly appreciated :thumbup:

 

[Dweller]

can you give some details on what settings you were using?

Maybe post an example?

 

[Digital Matt]

I wouldn't use 800 film first off. You aren't trying to freeze motion. You are intentionally trying to blur it. 100 or 200 speed film is probably good. You'll want exposures anywhere from 6-30 seconds or even beyond.

 

[shardsofxapril]

well I had 800 film and took photos at varying exposure times and even tried manual exposure time (where the shutter stays open for the amount of time i hold the button)
ummm nothing much else that i could tell you as far as settings

i thought higherspeed film was best for night time shots?

 

[Digital Matt]

Highspeed film if you want to hand hold the camera and shoot moving targets and freeze the action. If you are shooting a still scene, get yourself a tripod and a cable release, and use low ISO, because you'll get less grain. Night photography is really a lot of trial and error, but it helps to start from a good base of the right film and a good range of exposure times.

 

[shardsofxapril]

^alright thanks alot
I'll have to see if i can dig up a cable release if not ill check the local photography shop
ll try 400 next time and see what happens with that i that doesnt work then lower

thanks alot

 

[Digital Matt]

I would go lower than 400. I'd use 100 or 200.

 

[neeyo]

Again, if you use 400 speed film for your night shots, you're just going to get negs full of grain.

 

[DIRT]

personally I use 100 speed for night shots and you may want to invest in a light meter if you are serious about the night. stop the lens down a bunch and use a bulb setting. again, night shots are much easier with a meter reading to start with. then after the initial shot, bracket the hell out of it. (i bracket 2 stops +/- the reading). but, bracket with the f/stops not the shutter speeds or else youmight be looking at 16 minute exposures or more.

 

[Unimaxium]

Higher speed film will let you use shorter exposure times, but if you're using a tripod the exposure time won't really matter. 800 film, especially when exposed for a long time, I would expect to produce considerable grain. I have used 100 speed film (Fuji Reala) to do night shots before and they came out great. Some of the shots even had nice car headlight trails in them.
Night shots, even at 800 speed, will have long enough exposure times so that you cannot get crisp shots without a tripod. The general rule of thumb that I have heard is that the slowest hand-holdable shutter speed that you can generally use without creating considerable blurring is 1 divided by the focal length of your lens. For example, with a 50mm lens, you shouldn't really use anything slower than 1/50th of a second without some kind of additional support. And even with a tripod, to keep your shots steady, either a cable release or a self-timer in the camera will be useful. Even when on a tripod, the simple vibration caused by you pushing down on the shutter button will cause enough camera shake to create some noticeable motion blurring. Even small movements of the camera during exposure time can cause more blurring than you might think.

I hope some of these tips help.