Night time pictures of Denver

[Russ Leavitt]

Just got a Canon A630 and am experimenting with taking some night pictures of the Denver skyline. I have a tripod but really am somewhat clueless about where to start with the settings. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Russ:)

[Scottes]

I'm not familiar with the A630, but I do a lot of night shooting. So I hope my tips will work on the A630, but it might take some reading of the manual. A tripod is a must, I feel, and so is bracketing until you get used to things. A remote cable release is extremely handy, but using the camera's Timer feature will also work.


With my 20D, I will set the camera to use only the center focus point, and then I will aim that point at a light which is at the correct distance. I half-press the shutter to cause it to lock focus. I'll then flip the lens from Auto-Focus to Manual-Focus so that it won't re-focus as I recompose and shoot.


I'll then set the Exposure Compensation to -2/3, and set Auto Exposure Bracketing to +/- 2/3. So I'll take 3 exposures, one at -1-1/3 EC, one at -2/3 EC, and another at 0 EC. This really does depend on the amount of light in the scene - these numbers would be for a "generic" late night city shot where the primary lighting is from distant streetlights, buildings windows, etc. A scene just after sunset will have more light in the sky, as would a night shot close to a bright street light. Adjust at will.

In fact, for your first night shoot, it's not a bad to try as many as 5 expsoures all set 1/2 or 2/3 of a stop apart. Also try dark scenes as well as bright scenes. You'll be sure to get some good exposures this way, and you'll learn a LOT. Be sure to check the exposure setting of you good exposures when you get home! Compare the scene brightness to the +/- EC setting on the good exposure.


When taking the shot, a remote release is best. If you don't have one use the auto-timer feature (if you have it). On my 20D this is normally 10 seconds, but I can also enable Mirror Lock-Up, which reduces the timerto 2 seconds. Very nice for the impatient photographer (like me). But did what you can to ensure that the camera doesn't move when you hit the shutter.

However, long shots - maybe 10 seconds or longer - probably won't even be affected by a little camera shake when you hit the shutter, as long as you're careful. If I'm lazy I might not even grab my remote release for longer shots - I'll just carefully press the shutter and carefully let go. If you shake the camera a little it will stabilize quickly and the short amount of motion won't register on a long shot. (Use this tip at your own risk, or just play with it to see how steady you are.)


I hope this helps, and I hope you camera has some of these features. Good luck!
(And don't forget to bracket!!)

[PhotosGuy]

Some of the best "night shots" are taken while there's still some light in the sky, so start early.