Shooting lit areas in darkness?

[vivalavieboheme]

Ok, so all I have as of now is a POS - I mean, *cough* point and shoot. I'm adopting my dad's DSLR the next time I head home on Thanksgiving break (since I'm studying print journalism and want some photo experience too), but this might apply for that too. In the past, when I've taken pictures of lights (whether city lights, streetlights, lit-up buildings, etc) it's usually nighttime, which is when the lights stand out the most. However, usually my pictures turn out really grainy, with the lines and contours of whatever I'm photographing being sort of blurred/muddied. For example, when in Cancun two summers ago, I decided to photograph one of the pools at my resort because it is lit from within the pool, making it look cool from my room a few stories up. But in the picture, it just looks like a blue blob. How do I get my night pictures with light in them to look clean, crisp, and noise-free?

In other words, how do you get your photos to turn out like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yury-prokopenko/4236819124/

Thanks!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Does your camera have a manual mode, and do you have a tripod?

I usually leave the shutter open and a tight f-stop and my pics come out "ok", I'm not big into learning the nightscape shots-

 

[vivalavieboheme]

Yes, it does have a manual mode, and I do have a tripod. But I don't know if you can adjust the f-stop even with that mode.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

It may adjust it automatically. Google "Night shots with cam model XXXXXX" and you should fine help

 

[Big Mike]

Ok, so all I have as of now is a POS - I mean, *cough* point and shoot. I'm adopting my dad's DSLR the next time I head home on Thanksgiving break (since I'm studying print journalism and want some photo experience too), but this might apply for that too. In the past, when I've taken pictures of lights (whether city lights, streetlights, lit-up buildings, etc) it's usually nighttime, which is when the lights stand out the most. However, usually my pictures turn out really grainy, with the lines and contours of whatever I'm photographing being sort of blurred/muddied. For example, when in Cancun two summers ago, I decided to photograph one of the pools at my resort because it is lit from within the pool, making it look cool from my room a few stories up. But in the picture, it just looks like a blue blob. How do I get my night pictures with light in them to look clean, crisp, and noise-free?

In other words, how do you get your photos to turn out like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yury-prokopenko/4236819124/

Thanks!

Graininess is a result of high ISO and under exposure. Also, better cameras are better at producing less noise. So to avoid noise, shoot with a lower ISO, don't underexpose and use a better camera.

As for bluriness...that is often caused by too slow of a shutter speed while either the camera or the subject is moving. When shooting in low light situations, it's hard or impossible to avoid having to use slow shutter speeds...so the trick is to make sure that your camera is perfectly still when it fires. So put it on a tripod and don't press the shutter button to take the photo. Use the self timer mode or a remote.

 

[Dao]

According to dpreview, the DMC-FP1

[TABLE="class: specification"]
[TR]
[TD="class: label"]Aperture priority
[/TD]
[TD="class: value"] No
[/TD]
[TD="class: help"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: label"] Shutter priority [/TD]
[TD="class: value"] No
[/TD]
[TD="class: help"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: label"] Manual exposure mode [/TD]
[TD="class: value"] No
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


So I think it is a little tough to do with your camera.

 

[bigtwinky]

I made a blog post about this a while ago (almost year). Information should still be relevant, please note that spelling mistakes are totally on purpose

Pierre Bourgault - Photographer: Tips for shooting at night