night shots..tonight...help needed asap

hannakournikova

hannakournikova

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Name
Chris
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hi all, heading out tonight with a friend to take some snaps.
im going with Sony A200, twin lens kit and a tripod.
we are thinking of taking pics of usual stuff, church, bridges, roads, and want to experiement. but are there any base settings i should be starting from and should the 18-70mm lens be fit for the job?
 
The 18-70 will be fine - use the lens that allows you to get the shot.

Night shots are often trial and error to determine the correct exposure. Personally I use AV mode, set the aperture how I wish and let the camera sort out the shutter speed.
First shot I then take a look and see how the exposure is, and adjust accordingly using exposure compensation. If I'm being picky I will spot meter the highlights but generally only when I really have to.

What you want to try and avoid are blown highlights. Also recommend you shoot raw as the white balance can be a sod to get right in camera when there is a good chance you will have different light sources on the building(s).

Graveyards are great, it is very easy to get hung up on shooting the church/chapel that you miss the best bits, the headstones. Do a mix and see what works.

If you camera has a setting for long exposure noise reduction use it. Oh, and if you can ser mirror lock up and a 2 second self timer do it - makes for a steadier image on the tripod.

Otherwise - have fun and hope you get some good shots.
 
Have just come back from taking some night shots of Southend Pier, giving my 5D Mk II a nice test, but very limited compositional options today..

Erm, definately need a shutter release cable as a minimum, plus a bubble level to keep horizons level and try to expose a little for the highlights by spot metering (if the a200) has that facility.
 
Filters on the front of your camera will probably make flare from spot lights/street lights worse so best take them off. Appertures at F11 or smaller will produce that starry look, if that's what you're after. Turn on "long exposure noise reduction" if your camera has is but be aware that the camera will take twice as long to capture the image as the exposure you choose (e.g. a 15 sec exposure will take 30 secs with noise reduction). If you don't have a cable release use the self timer.
 
I would say make sure you have a tripod, bubble spirit level and a cable release as these will help enormously. Then set aperture priority mode, select the aperture you require, make sure you set the lowest iso you can to keep best quality in the image and fire a few shots off, check the exposure on the histogram and adjust as required.

Be sure to post up some samples for critique and advice.
 
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