Night photography & focus

gman

gman

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Graham
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Ok my night photography appears to leave a lot to be desired after spending the entire evening snapping away.

The big problem I'm having is focusing in that auto focus isn't locking on. Using manual focus I'm shooting then checking the view finder and zooming in and it looks good but on my return home it's not nearly as sharp as expected.

Using a remote release but not mirror lock. Quite long exposures but was careful to minimise any tripod shake. Also tried zooming in with the lens and focusing then zooming out. Tried using onboard flash to strobe for a lock then switching to manual focus at the locked focus and turning off flash. No luck here either.

The subject was a seaplane sitting docked about 50 yards in the water at night with minimum lighting. I'll post it up as soon as.

Are there any tricks or mathematical ways of achieving a sharp shot in the dark?


Cheers
G
 
Aperture priority. Small aperture f8 or less. Manual focus just short of infinity. Tripod mounted obviously. Cable or timer release.

But a seaplane bobbing about on water isn't the ideal subject for a long exposure.
 
I know it might be cheating a little, but this is where I would find a good use for a 5,000,000 candle watt torch. Use it to focus on auto, then switch the lens to manual focus before turning the torch off to click your shutter.
 
I think Mister E has hit the nail on the head, a floating sea plane, even on the calmest of waters, is unlikely to stay in focus on longer shutter speeds, your only hope for this is much higher ISO settings so you can use a much quicker shutter speed to 'freeze' the movement and hence focus, but if its really dark even that may not help.

As for more tips, working on the basis that most lenses are at their optimum between f8 and f11, I try and stick to an aperture between those [unless going for even longer shutter speeds in areas with some ambient light where smaller apertures are demanded, or swirling misty water, and so on], leave the camera set manually usually so I can try several shutter speeds, apart from autofocus. If the camera is stuggling then manual focus is the only way to go for me [one yearns for the old split focus screen on these occasions] and as Jo says, a torch can be very handy, even though I ALWAYS forget to take one! :bonk:
 
Cheers for the ideas. Fortunately it wasn't moving much but the torch is a good idea. I keep forgetting about ISO lol Although last night I used a high ISO in such darkness the noise was terrible!

Here's the shot, taken at 11pm in pitch black believe it or not!


Cheers
Graham

sea%20plane%20for%20web.jpg
 
Have to agree, seems sharp enough really. You might want to try lowering the exposure time a little as you can't really tell its night :)
 
If I'd got this result under those circumstances I wouldn't be disappointed.
 
The original shot was very orange and looks like a sunset in Africa! This one has had the levels and white balance corrected etc. Was the best of about 8 shots but thanks for the comments :)
 
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