Night shots

[grazysub]

How can I improve the quality of nightshots.

Is it better to shoot a raw file, or a longer shutter time?

[JRadier]

Jeroen,

There is nothing moving to cause (nice) lightstreaks so a longer shuttertime only increases the chance of camerashake. I use ISO100 and F/8 for nightshots (of course if the subject is not moving) combined with mirror lockup (so the mirror does not create vibrations) and timer (so you don't have to touch the camera when the photo is taken. I do shoot RAW (wich in this case makes it very easy to change the whitebalance and make the aircraft white again (personal preference, I don't mind the yellow, some people do) plus it gives me more control, but there are more things to mess up as well.

Jurgen

[Derf]

1. Shoot RAW for white balance (I do not do this)
2. Lowest ISO possible (within reason)
3. If mirror locup...USE!
4. Noise reduction
5. Lens hood or learn to block the light
6. Remote
( I also usle mutible exposures of the same image for a hy dynamic range)


The hard part is taking a picture and getting what you want
Here is what I do with my Rebel XT to make a long exposure....

My way is not correct....but this works for me

Bump up your ISO all the way up....we will use 400ISO
Open up your lens...lets say f-3.5

lets say your camera want to take the picture at 5 seconds

Bump the ISO down to 200 and change the camera to 10 seconds
then 100 20 seconds (Double for EACH STEP)

then go from f 3.5 skip4.0 and stop at 4.5 double the time to 40 seconds

then go from f 4.5 skip 5.0 and stop at 5.6 double the time to 80 seconds

See the pattern? Take a quick shot at High ISO wide apature and you can figure the rest out...

if you take a shot this ISO 100 at F-22, I would get 560 seconds or over 9 minutes!!! I would set my watch to 8 and underexpose just a bit....the F/22 will get you a nice star type pattern on the lights.

THE BEST advice of all.... Turn off your lights in the room and have
almost no light in the room....PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.... Know
what you are doing when you go by using the above posts for a few
hours...then go out in your front yard, or back yard.... To not try to
take a great picture...just take A PICTURE at night and point the
camera towards the light, away from the light, 90 degrees from the
light....PLAY, HAVE FUN, LOTS OF FUN! It is amazing the first night
shot you nail and then you will put 50 miles on your car in a night
just Playing. It is fun, treat it as such....