Photography @ Night? (Landscapes?) 1

[RK.D]

Hello,

I am an amateur photographer just trying to learn the ropes. I just wanted to know how to take night shots with my SLR.

I am trying to use the following settings:

1'' , f9 and ISO of 100-800

But the shots I get are still Blur or has lots of noise. I have been trying a lot and I gave up. I will try to post my pics here but, I really need help with Landscape photography in the night.

This is my camera. Please help!


1) Cannon Rebel T3i.

These are my lens:
1) 18-55mm Kit lens
2) 50-250mm
3) 75-300mm lens.

 

[pgriz]

Try this member's helpful post: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...aheim-s-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html

You don't mention having a tripod. That's the thing you need to do night shots. Plus a few more tricks that Manaheim describes.

I generally use the lowest ISO (I have a T1i, and shoot at ISO 100), keep the camera on a tripod, use all the vibration-reducing tricks (mirror lockup, remote shutter release, NO IS) manual focus, usually with live-view, and manual shooting mode. Depending on the amount of lights in the photo, exposure can range from 1 sec to 30 sec. Aperture is usually set to give me the DOF I want. I also use Canon's option of Long exposure noise reduction (C.Fn-4, pg. 253 of your manual). I usually do NOT use C.Fn-5, as the noise reduction is applied to the jpg file, and I prefer to shoot RAW (for editing).

 

[manaheim]

^ I was just gonna suggest he look up that thread. My god that Manaheim guy is wicked pissah helpful.

 

[pgriz]

Good thing you're humble.

 

[manaheim]

Mom always said to do what you're good at. I'm super awesome at being humble, so I go that route a lot.

 

[Tony S]

Once for each leg.... tripod, tripod, tripod

 

[RK.D]

Try this member's helpful post: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...aheim-s-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html

You don't mention having a tripod. That's the thing you need to do night shots. Plus a few more tricks that Manaheim describes.

I generally use the lowest ISO (I have a T1i, and shoot at ISO 100), keep the camera on a tripod, use all the vibration-reducing tricks (mirror lockup, remote shutter release, NO IS) manual focus, usually with live-view, and manual shooting mode. Depending on the amount of lights in the photo, exposure can range from 1 sec to 30 sec. Aperture is usually set to give me the DOF I want. I also use Canon's option of Long exposure noise reduction (C.Fn-4, pg. 253 of your manual). I usually do NOT use C.Fn-5, as the noise reduction is applied to the jpg file, and I prefer to shoot RAW (for editing).

I have already read the tutorial.

Can anyone Englighten me? I've got couple of questions.

1/ Should I use more "F" (Aperture) or less Aperture? Generally if i use f3.5 it will be brighter but I know that smallest f number does not get everything in the background. please enlighten me regarding this.

2/ I use Cannon Rebel T3i as mentioned and I don't see Infinite focus on ANY of my three lens. How can I determine that?

3/

I also use Canon's option of Long exposure noise reduction (C.Fn-4, pg. 253 of your manual)

Can you please obliterate regarding this? I get a lot of noise with the photographs?

4/ You have said that you use 100 ISO, but doesn't that get you very very dark pictures? (High ISO = More light at the cost of Noise?). If so when should we use high ISO? Please enlighten me.

Thanks!

 

[pgriz]

1) Generally, when you hand-hold, you want a wide aperture (low f/number) to get as much light as possible and therefore a shorter shutter speed duration. But when you have the camera on a tripod, your shutter speed can be quite long, so the aperture can be set depending on the depth-of-field you need. As well, as has been pointed out by several posters already, most lenses are sharper somewhere in the middle of the aperture range. This means that you can set the aperture to 1) get the correct DOF you need, and 2) to get a sharper image.
In your case the widest aperture you can get is f/3.5, but the lens will not be sharpest at this value. Better to close the aperture down to f/8 or f/11, and adjust your exposure time accordingly. As for depth-of-field, at f/8, the hyperfocal distance using 50mm focal length is 54 ft., meaning that if you focus on an object at 54 feet, everything from about 25 ft. to infinity will be in focus. This would cover pretty much anything you want to photograph at night.

2) Unfortunately, much to my surprise, your lenses do not have either the distance scale on the barrel, nor any mark indicating the infinity position (I checked the user manuals for the lenses). The best that you can do, is set your mode to Av, set your camera to display Live-view, turn off BOTH the autofocus (AF) and image stabilization (IS), and manually focus (using the 5x or 10x liveview magnifier) on some distant target. If it is more or less 50 ft. away, then you will have adequate DOF for sharp focus from about 25 feet to infinity.

3) When shooting long exposures, it is common to get “hot pixels” which are individual pixels that are fully on, and other non-linear effects. By enabling thie option C.Fn-4, you are instructing the camera to take two shots – one with the shutter open (this records the image), and another exposure called a dark frame, with the shutter closed. The camera then subtracts the artifacts in the dark frame from the first exposure, giving you a cleaner looking image.

Noise is a function of the amount of gain (amplifier) of the signal being read from the sensor array. You see the gain as an increase in ISO, but what is happening is that the amplifier increases both the signal AND the noise. As well, the individual pixels don’t all responds exactly the same, so some pixels will have a stronger response, and some weaker. This inconsistency from pixel to pixel is what you see as noise. The way to minimize “noise” is to increase the signal – which is the amount of light each pixel collects. And that is done by lengthening the exposure, allowing each sensor pixel to accumulate more photons before the signal is read out.

4) Proper exposure is determined by the total amount of light, which is controlled partly by the aperture, and partly by the shutter speed. So when the light is low, you need to keep the shutter open for a long time to accumulate enough light to create a strong-enough signal. When your camera is on a tripod, and therefore unmoving, you can keep the shutter open up to 30 seconds using the shutter timer, and longer if you use a remote shutter release and the BULB setting in manual mode.

High ISO is needed when you cannot use the tripod, and therefore must keep the shutter speed short enough to prevent camera shake blur and/or subject motion blur. When hand-holding, your longest shutter speed should be 1/30 sec or more, even with a bright lens, and the only way to get a usable image is either to boost the ISO, or to use supplemental light (flash).

 

[andrewkurcan]

0. If you're shooting landscapes at night, use a tripod. Ok? Ok. A general rule for hand holding is 1/focal length, with the bottom threshold being around 1/30. Therefore, 60mm = 1/60, etc.

1. Your aperture will completely depend on what effect you're looking for... just as it does all the time. Larger opening = shorter exposures, less DoF. Smaller opening = longer exposures, more DoF. A nice f8 will give you "as you see it", but will require the use of a tripod (as has been said).

2. The lower the ISO, the less noise - very helpful for longer exposures. That being said, you'll still find that you need to do some noise reduction of some kind. The joy of digital.

3. Get a wired remote. They're cheap (mine was $0.75) and help in the "no shaking the camera" department. Alternatively, set the auto timer for around 10 sec - that'll let the body settle before the shot.

4. Let's see some photos

 

[ryanparker]

The number one rule of night scenes is stability. A heavy, sturdy tripod is a great start. If you have a cheap flimsy tripod, invest a few bucks in sand bags and stabilize it like you’re ready for hurricane season. A cable release (or “remote switch&#8221 is highly recommended, since pressing the button to take the picture is often the main source of camera shake and, ultimately, blur. If you don’t have a remote switch for your camera, put your camera in timer mode so the shutter will release a few seconds after you press the button. Canon wised up and added a 2 second timer mode on their newer cameras for this purpose so you don’t have to wait the full ten seconds every time you want a stable release.
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