Night Photography

[tevo]

I'd like to get a thread going on general advice for "walk around night photography". What I mean by this, as an example, would be walking around a downtown environment at night, and getting good pictures of people, streets w/ streetlights, stuff like that. What would be the best lens / lens type for this? Can you get good results without flash? What settings are ideal? Any tips / advice are welcome. I just find myself "in the dark" (heh) when it comes to shooting at night - shooting parties, etc. I know there is the mode on my D7000 for it, but I want to understand what the camera is doing - i.e be able to walk into any given situation at night with my camera, a lens, and a flash, and be able to set it up properly. I can't be the only one!

 

[ann]

Wouldn't use flash, but a tripod and longer exposures are usually necessary.

I understand the D7000 is very good with high ISO and not much noise, so you might try there for hand held shots. Go to ISO of 6400 and see what happens. Start at 1/30 at 2.8 and check the histogram.

Lighting at night is just as different from place to place as during the day. SO it is hard to just give you a specific "number". WB is going to be tricky, as a long of night light is tungsen with all sorts of other types thrown in for "fun". So shooting RAW can be helpful for correcting temperature.

 

[molested_cow]

Mine's D700. I usually have my 50mm on, snap at F2.8~4 @ ISO 1250. Hand held, no flash. Also, US cities downtowns are usually dead boring. You should go to some kind of funfair or night market.

 

[pgriz]

Manaheim covered this in http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...naheims-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html. Well written, well received.

 

[cgipson1]

Wouldn't use flash, but a tripod and longer exposures are usually necessary.

I understand the D7000 is very good with high ISO and not much noise, so you might try there for hand held shots. Go to ISO of 6400 and see what happens. Start at 1/30 at 2.8 and check the histogram.

Lighting at night is just as different from place to place as during the day. SO it is hard to just give you a specific "number". WB is going to be tricky, as a long of night light is tungsen with all sorts of other types thrown in for "fun". So shooting RAW can be helpful for correcting temperature.

He mentioned shooting parties, and people downtown... you really want him to use a tripod and long exposures for that?

 

[cgipson1]

Manaheim covered this in http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...naheims-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html. Well written, well received.

good post.. I was going to try to find that for Tevo.. good info!

 

[photographyxfactor]

Try shooting with higher ISO settings. It will introduce additional noise but would you rather have a sharply focused photograph with some noise or an OOF photograph with no noise? I would bump my ISO to 1600 and then adjust my SS faster.

 

[Mrgiggls]

Mine's D700. I usually have my 50mm on, snap at F2.8~4 @ ISO 1250. Hand held, no flash. Also, US cities downtowns are usually dead boring. You should go to some kind of funfair or night market.

Come hang out in Austin for a while

 

[printsnpaints]

I read through that guide and it was informative and hilarious all at the same time. I don't thik I'll ever forget Lesson # 4. Don't make embarrassing poses and faces if you're not totally sure the flash is off!

 

[Xos]

OP check out urban exploration. I have been going underground into storm drains and have found some really cool stuff.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Get a lens that will hit f1.8 or f1.4. Then jack up the ISO to 1600-6400. Dont worry about noise. You can fix that later.

 

[RedStickChick]

I always have a tripod with me. I shoot night scenery a lot. I usually shoot around ISO 1600-2000, long exposure, f/2.8. I don't have as much experience shooting low light parties or functions with people in them (I don't like having people in my photos as much).

Here's an example: