Great pyramid night picture tips for a newb

[DarkHound]

Hello,

I'm planning to sneak up to the top of the Great Pyramid in Giza at night, and, of course, take some pictures. I'm looking for some tips in night photography. What I've read so far is pretty confusing...

I'm pretty much a newbie at photography, although I have some basic knowledge and learned a lot during a recent 2 month trip. I've just upgraded to a Digital Rebel.

Of course I'm going to bring a tripod (mini one). I'm not counting on much light at all (I'll be facing away from the city and I don't yet know if there will be a moon during my visit). It'll be much darker than typical "in the city" night shots.



ISO, shutterspeed and aperture

OK, I'm really confused....

Some ppl say I should use high ISO (400-800). Presumably, this is so that my camera is more sensitive and so I can decrease the amount of time I need for exposure. BUT, since I have a tripod, this shouldn't be a concern right??? Plus, I also read that higher ISO results in higher noise. I'm guessing that a lower ISO it makes the camera less sensitive to background/ground voltage that the CCD itself emits. On the other hand, long exposure has its own set of problems related to noise(see below).

As for aperture, I want good depth of field of view. This is because I'll be taking pics of the pyramids and the desert... a landscape picture. This means that I need a small hole... which also means I need a long, long exposure (probably over 30 seconds). But doesn't long exposure (especially at night with digital cameras) mean lots of noise?

Basically, it seems every parameter I can set screws something else up. I'm just wondering what's the optimal compromise in ISO, exposure and aperture for a situation like mine. And if there are any other factors that I should be aware of, please share!

I know I should go out and test it out myself... but I haven't received my camera yet. Plus, I'd like to start with some tips first.

Thanks a bunch.

[dwildone]

ISO, shutterspeed and aperture

Some ppl say I should use high ISO (400-800). Presumably, this is so that my camera is more sensitive and so I can decrease the amount of time I need for exposure. BUT, since I have a tripod, this shouldn't be a concern right??? Yes and no...this concept only works to a point. A frame shot with an ISO of 100 will have much less digial noise than the same subject shot with an ISO of 800. A tripod will decrease or limit the amount of camera shake that is visible in a long exposure, but it will do nothing for digital noise created by a long exposure.


Plus, I also read that higher ISO results in higher noise. I'm guessing that a lower ISO it makes the camera less sensitive to background/ground voltage that the CCD itself emits. On the other hand, long exposure has its own set of problems related to noise(see below).
The problem is, that extremely long shutter speeds also increase the amount of noise in a given frame.


As for aperture, I want good depth of field of view. This is because I'll be taking pics of the pyramids and the desert... a landscape picture. This means that I need a small hole... which also means I need a long, long exposure (probably over 30 seconds). But doesn't long exposure (especially at night with digital cameras) mean lots of noise?You are correct. A small aperature (large f-stop number) is needed to maximize the DOF in any shot. The downside to this is that small aperature leads to longer exposure times, and this relationship is only exagerated in low light settings.


Basically, it seems every parameter I can set screws something else up. I'm just wondering what's the optimal compromise in ISO, exposure and aperture for a situation like mine. And if there are any other factors that I should be aware of, please share!You are right- shutter speed, aperature and ISO are a trade off. I don't have much specific experience with long low light landscape exposures, so I can't offer much in the way of specific tips and/pr shutter speed/aperature combinations to start with. You are on the right track though- you seem to have a good basic understanding of the components of an accurate exposure. I would suspect that you would be best off to start with an ISO of at leat 400, and probably 800 as this will likely give you the best trade off for ISO vs shutter speed. There are probably a few people here who have more experience in this specific situation and they make be able to provide you with more specific tips. The only other advice that I can offer is to bracket your exposures and learn to use the histogram for each shot; sometimes it is hard to get a good feeling for the final image on that little LCD screen.

Good Luck! Let us know how they turn out.

[CyberDyneSystems]

All that matters is that you have the camera on a tripod and use a shutter relase or timer... ;)

[aam1234]

You have a digital camera, so you can experiment with different settings.

[jyrgen]

Since you be using tripod, you might also try to take several (underexposed) pictures and stack (multiply?) them in software, I believe that's what astrophotographers do, or, alternatively, take several well-exposed pictures and average them in software, which might help with the noise (I believe noise appears at different spots in different captures, and averages out). Sorry, mostly theoretical advice. I would start with low ISO and long shutter speeds.

As you said yourself, you should definitely test any proposed techniques before you leave. And let us know which ones work best ;)

[DarkHound]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Jyrgen, I never thought of that. Sounds interesting. I’ll try it.



From what I’ve read from articles around the net, it seems like the most commonly used aperture in night photography is F4.0 or F5.6. I’ll also use ISO100 to start and figure out my exposure from there. It should be around 7 minutes.

This is based on film cameras and I have a feeling I’ll get too much noise. But I’ll see…





As a reference for anyone interested, here are some links. Some of them lead to good, technical articles.



http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/dec/stories/nitephotos.html

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ekitathome/LunarLight/moonlight_gallery/technique/technique.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ekitathome/LunarLight/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/cokinfiltersystem/links/id20.htm

http://www.mkaz.com/photo/tools/moonlight.html

http://www.thenocturnes.com/resources.html

[Albike]

As Egypt is under martial law, think about taking a fast wide angle to record Egyptian prison cells, I hear they are dark and pokey! That's if they don't shoot you first.

[epeace]

those are great articles . . . im going to read them all . .