C&C city lights at night

[beepclick]

I went up on the roof and tried some more night shots. More frustration. I studied some of the earlier recommendations here, such as f/8, ISO200, shutter as needed. I tried the Landscape mode, and some different settings in Av mode. I honestly can’t see that changing the settings made much difference.

Part of the problem was the shooting environment. It’s very windy and chilly tonight, my hands got kind of numb, and it’s pitch black on the roof. In order to consult the manual and change settings, I had to go back in, take the camera/tripod down the stairs (it’s too dark to read on the upper floors) and then change the settings.

I did learn a couple things, I think. The 50mm f/1.8 is probably not the lens for these shots, but I had to try it. And, these were the first shots I’ve taken with an exposure longer than 1 second, and I can see how some of the shadow detail is picked up with the longer exposure. I also learned that you need to plan for long exposures. For instance, the building on the far left edge of the frame, with the orange/yellow lights, was reflecting off the tallest, squarish building in the center of the frame. I hate those orange lights (which actually change to blue/purple, too) and purposely left that building out, but it the lights from it showed up in the reflection.

I realize shots like this present certain challenges, and as someone with 2 weeks dslr experience, I might be better off shooting outdoors in the sunlight. But I want to be able to take good shots of this view, and figure I might as well start now.

I am posting some of the shots with exif. I didn’t even attempt to clean up in photoshop or DPP. I did shoot in RAW except for a couple Auto Mode shots.

So many of you here are so knowledgeable (I have read many, many threads here), I would welcome any comments about what’s wrong with my settings, the shortcomings of the equipment I have, or how to get one of these into acceptable condition with processing.

The last image I’ll post was just for fun – I’ve seen those great shots with the automobile headlights streaking down the highway, and I just wanted to try a bulb exposure.

This one shot with the 50mm 1/8. I must say though, even though I just got the 50mm yesterday, it does seem to have a nice way with colors. I think I had magenta overexposed on this one, though.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0294-800.jpg



The rest of these shot with the 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 II USM. Camera is 400d. In another forum, someone had suggested Manual Mode, f/8, ISO200 shutter around 2 seconds. That’s this one.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0297-800.jpg


Then I tried a longer exposure, . I couldn’t tell at the time, in the darkness on the roof, but this turned out to be an “ah ha” moment in terms of seeing the details picked up by longer exposure. Didn’t realize I had the lens wide open.
ISO 400, Exposure comp+1/3, Av 8.0, focal length 28mm

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0301-800.jpg


After several shots, my hands were really cold and I didn’t want to go back in and walk downstairs to read the manual, so I switched to the ‘amateur’ side of the dial and took this one. Landscape mode, Tv 6”, Av 5.6, ISO 400, focal length 65mm
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0302-800.jpg


Switched back to Av mode and bumped ;the ISO down to 200. Tv 10”, Av 4.0, focal length 55mm

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0306-800.jpg



Then I took some 30” exposures. Tv 30”, Av 8.0, ISO200, focal lenth 55mm The dreaded orange reflection in the center building is now blue
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0309-800.jpg


And finally, I got my bulb exposure with the blurred headlights, Really blown all over the place, but I got my blurred headlights, so that’s a first
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0310-800.jpg



So, there you have it. My newbieness totally exposed. I can read the forums and manuals, but I don’t think there’s any substitute for learning directly from the experts. So, I would welcome any input on how to get my settings corrected to nail this scene. I live in this building and hope to take many shots of the downtown skyline. With the changing seasons, storms, sunrises and sunsets, etc., this view of downtown has many personalities, and I really would like to be able to capture them.


Someday you’re going to see a thread in here with the title “I Got It!” – but not today

[beepclick]

I had to see if I couldn't sharpen on of these up. This is the best I could do.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/vectorcafe/Canon%20XT/0305-DPP-done.jpg

[Naturalist]

I think you need to drop your ISO. When I was shooting MPLS a few years back I used Kodachrome 25 slide film and was able to get respectable shots with 30 seconds @ f/4. What your exposures, see what happens on the LCD, then compensate. When pointing at street lights, like the last image, your really gonna have to pay attention to exposure then as well.

Good start - now show us more!

[Bill Boehme]

Very nice. What you need to do on your very long exposures where you want the headlight streaks is to close the aperture way down -- as a guess, I would say to start with f/22 and be prepared to go to an even smaller aperture. Since you are doing manual exposures, there isx no need to set exposure compensation -- it probably isn't doing anything anyway. When the camera is computing an exposure, that is when it takes the EC value into account in the calculation.

[beepclick]

Thanks, Doug and Bill for the helpful comments. I will have your suggestions at hand for the next night shooting session.