Tips for Shooting at Night

scrag68

scrag68

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Craig
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I want to take a few shots at night of a church that is in a dark area, can you give me some advise on how to get the best results.

Do i need to take AF off or can i leave it on and also i have a circular polarizer uv filter on my lens should i take this off at night?

thanks in advance. :thumbs:
 
A CP is not going to do much good at night - probably so take it off. As for AF - it really depends just how dark it is and whether your camera can find the focus - otherwise turn it off and go manual.

Then you would probably want to go with AV priority to get the DOF you want and let the shutter do the rest - but you are going to need a tripod of course.

Good luck :)
 
I'd always shoot this stuff in Manual exposure. Remember to underexpose the shot a little too, as much as 2 full stops might be needed otherwise your camera will try to make the night scene into a daytime one by exposing for 18% gray.
 
scrag68 said:
I want to take a few shots at night of a church that is in a dark area, can you give me some advise on how to get the best results.

Do i need to take AF off or can i leave it on and also i have a circular polarizer uv filter on my lens should i take this off at night?

thanks in advance. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

You say you have a 'circular polariser uv filter' on your lens? Do you mean you have 2 filters on? To be honest, take it/them off, the CPL won't really have any effect, and the UV can increase flare from the light sources.

You probably should turn AF off, otherwise it'll just keep hunting for focus. However, if you take a torch with you, shine it on the church, then half-press the shutter to focus. THEN switch to manual focus (you know it's focused in the right place anyway now). Turn off your torch, and release the shutter using either a remote release, or a self-timer to make sure you don't shake the camera.

Do all of this with a tripod of course!

Chris
 
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