Night Shots - Washed Out Spots

[rmerina]

Hi everyone - I have just recently started to get a bit more serious about photography. After spending less than one of a few months solo in a hotel in Utah I decided to go 'shopping' and ended up buying an SLR. I bought an Olympus E-520 and while I know its not the Porsche of cameras it will do just fine for my (in)abilities!

Anyways - so far I have been learning and am finally starting to be able to dial my settings in somewhere close to where they make good shots. I have been learning a lot w/ using LR2 and CS4 which definitely helps.

I recently bough a tripod and remote shutter release in an effort to try and start sharpening up my photos as well as do some night-shots.

I went out the other night and took several shots of the bridges here (I am an engineer and I live in Portland - which is the 'bridge' city) when it was full dark outside. I am really happy with the results and am pretty proud of the fact that they came out so well. The composition isnt the best but it is coming around.

My question is about some bridge spots I seem to be getting around the lights. I have posted a few of these pictures to get some feedback. Basically they have these bright spots in them that look terrible. I know that in pic #3 the ISO is way high.

I would really appreciate any tips from people and maybe some info on why these show up and what can I do about them? Feel free to edit them - if you want the RAW (either ORF or DNG) lemme know and I will send it.

BTW the meta is on all these.

 

[c0ps]

Seems like your unhappy with number 3, Why? With a little TLC you can get this.

:lmao:

 

[Samanax]

Do you have the shot info for these pictures? There is no exif in these. Want to know what ISO you shot these at.

For long exposure night shots I have the ISO set to 100.

 

[rmerina]

Yes I agree that does look better!

I guess what I am really asking is for a C&C as well as some tips as to what I could do to make this a better shot from other peoples opinion. I just want to know what people think.

I am also curious about the halo's that i got above and around the lights - I thought it was fog at first but it was a clear dry warm night.

--Rick

 

[rmerina]

Do you have the shot info for these pictures? There is no exif in these. Want to know what ISO you shot these at.

For long exposure night shots I have the ISO set to 100.

If you just put '/meta' (without the quotations) after the links on the flickr page it will pull it up.

But... Photos #1 and #2 were ISO 200. #3 was ISO 400 and #4 was ISO 100. I was more or less messing around with the ISO setting but I agree - definitely need ISO 100.

--Rick

 

[Samanax]

If you just put '/meta' (without the quotations) after the links on the flickr page it will pull it up.

There are no links to your Flickr page. I have Opanda IExif installed on my computer and it's not seeing any exif info in your images.

But... Photos #1 and #2 were ISO 200. #3 was ISO 400 and #4 was ISO 100. I was more or less messing around with the ISO setting but I agree - definitely need ISO 100.

For long exposures on a tripod you always want to use the lower ISO your camera is capable of to keep noise to a minimum. Image #4 appears to be pretty clean but #1, 2 and 3 have noise in them and that may explain the 'spots' you're getting around the lights.

How long were these exposures and what aperture were you using? The longer the exposure the more noise you'll get at higher ISO settings. It looks like you're using a fairly tight aperture (by the flare pattern around the lights) so I'm guessing the shutter speeds were pretty slow.

 

[rmerina]

There are no links to your Flickr page. I have Opanda IExif installed on my computer and it's not seeing any exif info in your images.
For long exposures on a tripod you always want to use the lower ISO your camera is capable of to keep noise to a minimum. Image #4 appears to be pretty clean but #1, 2 and 3 have noise in them and that may explain the 'spots' you're getting around the lights.

How long were these exposures and what aperture were you using? The longer the exposure the more noise you'll get at higher ISO settings. It looks like you're using a fairly tight aperture (by the flare pattern around the lights) so I'm guessing the shutter speeds were pretty slow.

#1: Flickr: More detail about Portland Bridge Shots @ Night
#2: Flickr: More detail about Portland Bridge Shots @ Night
#3: Flickr: More detail about Portland Bridge Shots @ Night
#4: Flickr: More detail about Portland Bridge Shots @ Night

These were all shot with f/20 or f/22.

#4 is clean yes - and with some minimal PS modifying it will clean up really nice.

I think that my camera was wanting to do a 60sec+ exposure but unless I use bulb mode it wont do it. Should I try shooting again with bulb mode set to ~2min @ ISO 100 f/22?

Any comments on composition?

--Rick