Nightscene, technical question

[Autumn]

We are shortly going on a cruise, starting from Sydney.

Often when the ship in anchored in the evening, before sail away, the lights of the harbours/ ports give very good views. I would like to try to capture this.

Even when there is apparently no movement on the ship, there is obviously some.

Is it possible to capture a sharp nightscene from a ship?

How would I go about it and what settings do you suggest?

I have a Canon G3 Powershot.

I will have a tripod

[sdommin]

If its a relatively calm night, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Large ships won't move that quickly while docked unless there's a strong wind or choppy seas, even then you can probably get a decent shot or two just by shear luck. Set your camera on Manual. Use f3.5 or f4 with focus set manually to infinity. Start at a shutter speed of 1/2 second. Take a look at your result - if it's too dark increase to 1 second. Keep increasing the shutter speed until you get a photo you like. When you do, take a few more at those settings in case the ship moved a little and you didn't notice it on your LCD. To actually trip your shutter, use the remote control or the self-timer. Don't press the shutter button with your finger because you'll probably shake the camera a bit.

[Autumn]

If its a relatively calm night, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Large ships won't move that quickly while docked unless there's a strong wind or choppy seas, even then you can probably get a decent shot or two just by shear luck. Set your camera on Manual. Use f3.5 or f4 with focus set manually to infinity. Start at a shutter speed of 1/2 second. Take a look at your result - if it's too dark increase to 1 second. Keep increasing the shutter speed until you get a photo you like. When you do, take a few more at those settings in case the ship moved a little and you didn't notice it on your LCD. To actually trip your shutter, use the remote control or the self-timer. Don't press the shutter button with your finger because you'll probably shake the camera a bit.
Thanks Scott. I've printed this to take with me. :)

[Pekka]

Also, it is very important when you take the shot. Best time is just after the sun has set - depending on weather and location you might have 5-30 minutes to shoot so that when you have about .5 - 3.5 sec. exposure and you still get some color to the sky. If the sky is totally black the shot will be flatter. Optimally shoot RAW and finetune the mood with WB afterwards. See http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/list.php?exhibition=2 for some night shots there I took with G1. You can also see the camera settings there.

click thumbs for gallery page

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/G1_photos/thumbs/katajanokka_street_panorama.jpg (http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=285)

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/G1_photos/thumbs/173-7347_IMG.jpg (http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=284)

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/G1_photos/thumbs/159-5922_CRW_1.jpg (http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=272)

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/G1_photos/thumbs/162-6282_CRW.jpg (http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=275)

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/G1_photos/thumbs/118-1862_CRW_1.jpg (http://www.photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=235)

[Autumn]

What a wonderful gallery Pekka. Thanks for sending me the links. Unfortunately, the thumbs didn't open up, but I managed to find your gallery from my e mail link and found the exploded views of the thumbs.

Your photographs are awesome. It cheers me up no end to see the variety and quality. The panoramics are something else.

A lot of people are moving over to the dslrs but I still feel I have a lot to learn with my G3. I don't want to be carrying heavy bags around with me. I do have the teleconverter and the wide angle lens.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the trouble to link me. I will look again tomorrow and write down some of your settings. Past my bedtime now. Good night.