Taking photos of artificial lights at night

[michele_pho]

Hello,
I am new here and also newbie in photography. But I found out that I really like taking photos at night of which I was told that it is not easy at all. ...
Anyway, I am looking for any suggestion about this as I don't really understand if what I don't like of my photo depends on my technique (which is clearly poor) or depends also on limitations of my gears. I need help here to understand this because I have no idea what my camera can do or not.

down below are 3 shoots. To me the lights look blurried / out of focus. (apologies for the dirty sensor) At the moment I don't do any post-processing. Can I do something to improve those photos during the shooting? Or maybe is post-processing really necessary for this kind of photos also considering my camera?
These jpg are produced on camera. I have also a raw file but as I told before I am not using it at the moment.

Thanks in advance.

Michele M

Explore Michele M’s 3 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

sony a6100 - apsc
DUB1
ISO100 f/18 15" (85mm->127mm f1.8-22) D-R off

DUB3
ISO100 f/22 30" (85mm->127mm. f1.8-22) D-R off

LON_2025
ISO125 f/16 6" (35mm->52mm. f1.8-22) D-R off

 

[snowbear111]

Welcome aboard.
Your photos are not showing up. It looks like the link from Flickr is not correct.

 

[michele_pho]

Welcome aboard.
Your photos are not showing up. It looks like the link from Flickr is not correct.

hello,
thanks. I see it. I don't know why. I copy and paste the sharing link on flickr. Is that correct? Or maybe do I have to embed it as footer?

 

[michele_pho]

Is this working?

Michele M

Explore Michele M’s 3 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[snowbear111]

Yes, that's better.

I don't see any issues with the focus or movement. Are you using a filter?

 

[michele_pho]

Hello,
no I use just what I wrote above. No filters at all. I just try to understand if that it is the best result I can achieve or I can do better, like exposure and the lights/lamps in the photos.

 

[snowbear111]

I still say the focus is fine. Are you zooming in extremely close or viewing on a very large screen?

Maybe open the aperture a bit more. Try f/11 and f/8. Don’t be afraid to increase the ISO a couple stops. As long as your exposure is good you shouldn’t see much noise.

Also: for some reason your posts are being queued for moderator approval, so please be patient when you try to see your posts.

 

[michele_pho]

Hello,

I don't understand if my message are visible to everybody. What about the bridge handrail? If I zoom on it looks like there is noise. I really try to understand what is fine and not. Maybe what is noise and out of focus for me is instead something different.
Regards.

 

[snowbear111]

In Flickr, share and select the BB Code tab, copy the link for the desired image size, then paste directly into your pist. No need for the TPF Image fearure.

I wonder if you are "pixel peeping" and zooming to extreme, rather than normal viewing resolution.

 

[Rickbb61]

Try higher ISO, that camera will go to 3200 or 5120 on low light settings. Start at 800 and work your way up.

Are you using auto focus? Shooting water can be tricky for auto focus.

 

[michele_pho]

Hello,
how much can I magnify the photo? I don't think I do it too much. I just have a 14" macbook screen.
I used both manual and automatic focus. Same result. As "focus area" I used "center". I locked the focus on the area of interest (the bridge) and recompose the scene (make sense this?). Actually the bridge was already in the middle.....

The water to me looks the only thing fine but I am here to understand as I am fresher on this. I need to understand when a artificial light is well exposed or not...
To me the lights looks like Blown-out. If I open f-value more this problem gets worse, doesn't it? I use iso100 just because I put my camera on the handrail of the opposite bridge.

What do you mean with "normal viewing resolution"? I am really a beginner.......
I have many display "presets" on my macbook. Now I have P3 600nits but I see there is also P3 Photography...
...
Thank you all..

 

[Rickbb61]

Does this happen in all photos or just low light night shots?

 

[michele_pho]

Hello,
so do you think there is actually a problem in those photos here above? I don't know to be honest. I don't have the experience to say it...To me the lights don't look okay but somebody else here above said they're fine. I also thought that that could be a limitation of my entry-level camera.

 

[michele_pho]

DUB1 by Michele M, on Flickr
DUB3 by Michele M, on Flickr

LOND by Michele M, on Flickr

1024x683 is the maximun size I can select on Flickr. Why?

 

[Rickbb61]

I don’t know about flicker but the forum does have a size limit.

The second post of pics look much better to me.