basic help needed for a night shot

evilonion

evilonion

Messages
802
Name
Dave Peacock
Edit My Images
Yes
would someone be able to give me a few settings to get me started with a night shot please?

I tried shooting down at the beach tonight... has some street lamps and boat lights etc so not pitch dark.

Took a few shots which came out quite nice and bright at 20 secs exposure...
however.

everyshot is either too grainy due to high iso, blurry due to focus being out, or ended up too dark because my settings were wrong.

I tried almost everything, iso 800, 1600, 2000 etc.. tried 15 secs, 20 secs, 30 secs, and A from f8 to f20
I just couldnt get any shots right.

what would be a rough guide to get me started?
and how do i work out my focus point? i had the infinity curve on the lens set to the white line/dot on the lens, i also tried forcusing on a pole and then shooting at f20 but that didnt work either lol.

The shots i took with remote flash etc came out fine, really happy with those... just long exposure i seem to really suck at!
 
Keep things logical, start off with an ISO of 100 (keeps the noise level down), set your aperture to F4 and then adjust your shutter speed accordingly to get the brightness your after. Working on the settings you gave above, I'd go for shutter a speed of 30 seconds to start. As for focussing, if you have a point light source in your shot (street lamp or neon sign) switch to manual focus and adjust the lens yourself until the light looks sharp in the viewfinder. If your going to use the auto focus, then point the focus area at the light source, let the camera do its thing and then switch the lens to manual, so you can recompose your shot without losing focus lock. This method works well most of the time, but it can take some practice. Hope this helps as a starter....
 
One other thing, if you are using a lens with image stabalisation, turn this feature off. Some IS systems mess things up when used on a tripod and give you a blurred image, similar to being out of focus.
 
I'd start with ISO 100 and f8.0. Try an exposure of 60 seconds and adjust it until you get the results you want, but leave the ISO and aperture alone.
 
my d300 only goes up to 30 secs.
says 30 secs, bulb then x250 or something similar to that...

Thanks for the advice, will keep my iso low.
I was going for a high aperture as i figured f8 etc would end up giving dof in a landscape picture?

First time shooting landscapes at night, completely different learning curve to people! :)
 
As a starting point, I would:

Use lowest ISO, noise reduction on, f/8, focus on infinity, and pick a long shutter speed. White balance on tungsten. See what that looks like, then adjust the shutter speed in 'stops' until it looks right. Stops are a halving or doubling of exposure, so if you start with 1 sec, then go to 2 secs, then 4, 8, 16 and so on.

Just a guess, but the blurring is maybe more likely camera shake than mis-focusing. You need a very solid tripod and zero vibration (wind, traffic, whatever) for really sharp long exposures.

If you need more depth of field, then check out hyperfocal distance focusing. There are a couple of recent/current threads on that if you search.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top