buildings at night tips?

[chopper5654]

i am leaving to go on vacation in a few weeks. i wanted to ask for tips on night shooting. i have yet to shoot in darkness. but, i have some capitol buildings in a few cities i will pass through.....i only get one chance. and, a couple will be in the middle of the night.

so, i did a lot of searching on the web and found some decent stuff. but, wondered if you guys didnt also have some little pearls you wouldnt mind sharing.

thanks in advance.

[johnj2803]

one thing you'll need is a tripod :D

then if your lens has IS, turn it off.

set your iso to 100.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3650082361_074474f9af.jpg

hth

[SAB_Click]

The magic time is after the sun has gone down when the sky turns dark blue before it turns black. It doesn't stay that way for very long so work quickly. Doesn't help you in the middle of the night I know. ;)

This sort of look:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3570255467_785ae589df_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2433/3571563294_768bc0a271_o.jpg

#2 is taken with camera on a beanbag on the ground not a tripod.

[netog]

Using a full size tripod can be hard if you are walking only with a bag. I suggest a monopod and/or a table tripod.
I use a table tripod to support over chairs, posts, walls, trees... It is easier to carry on a walking.

[chopper5654]

tripod....check. i planned on long exposures. the tripod will help with my first forrays into sunset photography and beach scenes, too. this will be a great trip to help me capture some opportunities i have always wanted to shoot, but havent been able to being from the midwest. (not that i cant get sunset shots here)

thanks for the tips, so far. the "turning IS off" is a good one. i assume because the little motor will cause some vibration on long exposures?

please keep 'em coming, and i love the example shots, too.

[rgs-]

thanks for the tips, so far. the "turning IS off" is a good one. i assume because the little motor will cause some vibration on long exposures?

correct:cool:

[Todd Lambert]

Be sure to use MLU (Mirror Lock Up) - this will help reduce vibration from the mirror slap.

I often start with the largest aperture I have (2.8) - just so I can figure out where the level of light is. Then I stop down, usually within 5.6 and 11 - and adjust my exposure times accordingly. I usually use ISO 100 to prevent noise.

Not sure if your camera has it, but you may also want to see use noise reduction mode which will double your exposure times, but keep your images clear of noise.

Most times when I shoot under city lights, I shoot with a Tungsten WB setting which helps to remove the yellow cast from sodium chloride lamps. Doing this tends to give you a more blue cast, but I like that - my look tends to be more bluish tones on my images anyways, and on night shots it looks nice.

Use a remote, or self timer - essential.

Look at Staples or Office Depot - they often have curved wrist supports that are essential small bean bags. These are great, especially the curved ones, since they're small, and with the curved section, it works great for supporting the lens. These are great to use in lieu of a tripod in the right circumstances - park benches, walls, etc..

Bring a small flashlight - very handy for seeing what you're doing and in some cases they're vital for figuring out manual focus.

Anyways, go slow (as slow as you can) an enjoy - night shots are my favorite.

[chopper5654]

todd, if i had only read your post before test shooting tonight.....lol....while you were posting apparently.

none of my images came out sharp. shake was terrible because i didnt use MLU or timed release. so, i figured that would be a pretty obvious tip. so obvious, people probably didnt mention it because they felt it was standard.

i took the flashlight because i got outside and couldnt see a damned thing....lol.

i noticed the warmer cast, once i got the exposures right. but, i like warm shots. so, i may play with both and see which i like better.

i will definitely have too much fun with the chances i get. however, we will be in a time pinch to get to the Outer Banks in 16 hours....with 3 kids in the car. (so much so, we might have to stop for the night anyway.)

appreciate the tips. i plan on a couple of nights to practice before we leave since this is literally a one-time-opportunity, and it will last about 10 minutes for each of the two planned stops. no room for error here....lol. i think i like that kind of deadline the best, actually.

[SAB_Click]

Here's a little present for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcpwOTSNFI8

[chopper5654]

great present. i appreciate it. bryan has several quickie tutorials that are pretty good on youtube.

hopefully, i can get out this weekend and post some "test shots." mainly to check for exposure. they may be of my house, or if i can get to one, a church. just something that is a little lit up at night. so, they wont be phenomenal photos, but they should do the trick for some beginning practice.

[chopper5654]

here is what i came back with tonight, and i think i can adjust for the exposures. however, sharpness is an issue. i have a tripod, i used MLU, i used the 2 sec timer, and i still got blurred shots. the longer exposures are more blurred than the shorter ones. however, i cant complain about some of them at all. i assume holding the tripod can cause your pulse to shake just enough? roadways being traveled on? of course, bridges vibrate when trucks pass underneath.

straight from the camera...no pp or cropping. i am more concerned with exposure and shake right now...

1)iso 200, f/4, 1/2

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5363/img3016medium.jpg

2)iso 200, f/5.6, 4/5

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4558/img3019medium.jpg

3)iso 200, f/8, 1"

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/435/img3022medium.jpg

4)iso 200, f/22, 15"

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8591/img3023medium.jpg

5)iso 100, f/11, 5"

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/359/img3044medium.jpg

6)iso 100, f/11, 3.2"

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/7213/img3045medium.jpg


{EDIT} OMG, i just realized i didnt turn off the IS. duh. would that explain the longer the exposure, the softer the image?? you cant see me, but i am banging my head on the table right now...lol.

[Todd Lambert]

Yes, that's probably what would contribute to some of the softness - unless you have a lens that auto-detects tripods or not. But, I wouldn't even trust that if you're lens has that capability.

Nice looking shots though... looks like you got the exposure pretty well.

[johnj2803]

one more thing when shooting buildings. increase your f number (decrease aperture) around 6-8. to get a sharper image :D

[chopper5654]

one more thing when shooting buildings. increase your f number (decrease aperture) around 6-8. to get a sharper image :D

right. thats why i was confused by the others i saw shooting on such large apertures....like 3.5 and 2.8. i couldnt understand how so much of the shot was in focus....but, again, those were small images.

however, with me, the smaller the aperture, the longer the shutter was open....allowing my IS to put a little shakey in the frame, i guess.

so, i have to keep telling myself to turn it off, and lock-up the mirror. those are mistakes a person will make about one time. and, its good i am practicing now because that trip will be one opportunity only for the buildings. (gee, have i mentioned that?? lol.)

thanks again for the comments and looking. i am learning a lot right now. this has been a huge help.

[Scottes]

Mirror lock-up is rarely needed at night, since it has no effect when the shutter speed is longer than 1 second.

However, it is damned handy to set because enabling it changes the default 10-second shutter release timer to 2 seconds. So if you don't have a cable release, then use MLU and timer mode.

As others said, smaller apertures like f/16 will generally help sharpness and increase depth of field.

As others said, disable IS when using a tripod - unless you have a tripod-capable IS system like a 500mm f/4 L.


Exposure can be difficult because so much of a scene is dark if not black, and a few small but very bright lights can throw off any averaging. With all of this going on, the camera's automatic metering is often untrustable. But test shots can take too long, given that night shots produce 15 or 30 seconds exposures and such.

So I will often set the aperture very wide, the ISO very high, and snap off some handheld images. I then chimp the histogram to check exposure. Then I count off the stops back to ISO 100, and count off more to get to the aperture I want.

For example, let's say that I shoot handheld and get a proper exposure at ISO 3200, f/4, and 1/60th second. But I want ISO 100 for the least noise, and f/16 for a large depth of field. So I set the camera to Manual mode and count off the stops:
Changing ISO from 3200 to 1600 to 800 to 400 to 200 to 100 is 5 stops.
And changing aperture from f/4 to f/5.6 to f/8 to f/11 to f/16 is 4 more stops.
So I'll need to change shutter speed by 9 stops.
So I'll go from 1/60 to 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s - a 9-stop change.

ISO 3200, f/4, 1/60th will give the same exposure as ISO 100, f/16, 8 seconds.

[chopper5654]

thanks, scottes. i havent had to do a 8 or 9 stop change, yet. but, i am prepared to, if necessary. hopefully, the government buildings, like capitols, are lit up well enough, i dont need to do much calculating.

i was doing that some with my "testers" above. when i got close to the correct exposure, i was tweaking even further by counting clicks, which are 1/3 stops on my rebel. it was easy to click 9 times one way, and 9 times the other way. however, the LCD was a bit hard to tell if i nailed the exposure. so, i left nothing to chance and started manually bracketing, too. it zeroed in pretty quickly from there.

thanks again.

[JCH77Yanks]

Make sure you watch out for street lights that can give a lot of unwanted flare into the lens.

[Scottes]

however, the LCD was a bit hard to tell if i nailed the exposure.

Don't use the LCD so much as the Histogram. If the histogram is displaying everything pushed over to the right, and there are no incorrect "blinkies" on the LCD indicating blowouts, then you have a good exposure. (Streetlights and such may cause blinkies - this is expected.) Overall, the image may be too bright, but a raw converter can lower the exposure to bring it down to what you think is the proper exposure.

This is assuming the 450D shows a histogram and you can enable the "blinkies" (alas, I just can't remember the proper name of this feature...)

so, i left nothing to chance and started manually bracketing, too. it zeroed in pretty quickly from there.
Always a good thing to do.

[chopper5654]

Make sure you watch out for street lights that can give a lot of unwanted flare into the lens.

i noticed this when i first was outside shooting my house. the porch light fried a huge spot on the shot. when i adjusted, the rest went too dark.

is there a way to adjust for this, if it does happen? the only thing i can think of that i cant crop out would be big flood lights.

[JCH77Yanks]

i noticed this when i first was outside shooting my house. the porch light fried a huge spot on the shot. when i adjusted, the rest went too dark.

is there a way to adjust for this, if it does happen? the only thing i can think of that i cant crop out would be big flood lights.

I guess if you couldn't avoid it while shooting, you could try to clone it out or paint over it using the adjustment brush in Lightroom, or something equivalent in photoshop.

[chopper5654]

scottes,
i didnt think the histogram would be all that accurate since i should have some whites clipped and a lot of darks clipped? i wouldnt know how to read a histogram where this occurs without looking at the LCD to see if i was close to correct. honestly, that is why i tried to get something that looked good in the histogram and bracketed from there.

yanks,
i am hoping a gov't building will be lit up with several lights allowing for a more even "cast." and, generally, i dont think the lights shine outwards....like a porch light. those two things will likely save me. if not, i will just shoot a tighter crop of the dome, or something, to get the lights out of the pic. of course, ideally, i am trying for the whole building, then, plan to branch into a couple of more "detailed" shots.

[Scottes]

scottes,
i didnt think the histogram would be all that accurate since i should have some whites clipped and a lot of darks clipped? i wouldnt know how to read a histogram where this occurs without looking at the LCD to see if i was close to correct. honestly, that is why i tried to get something that looked good in the histogram and bracketed from there.
You'll get used to it after a while. As always, bracketing is a good idea.

[chopper5654]

here are a couple of the "better" fireworks shots from tonight. again, the longer i keep the shutter open, the worse the shake gets. the evidence is in the squiggles from the fireworks, the green courthouse building, and the logo of the Hyatt. it was NOT that windy on the building's 8th floor i was shooting from. the surface winds have been under 5 mph all day. the breeze on the rooftop was no more than 10 mph at its strongest.

i think my tripod sucks. its a $30 Walmart job. could that be the major culprit? the only other thing i can come up with is the rooftop was made of rocks and pavers laid directly on the rocks. if anyone moved w/in a couple feet of me, i can see this imparting some form of shake, but this is getting ridiculous. i figured a tripod could hold 10 mph winds and foot traffic stable....even with a 55-250mm lens on it instead of the 18-55.

i had MLU engaged. i used the 2 sec timer. i turned IS off. i even used MF. but, the posting to imageshack and to here really made these 100% worse looking. here are the two i got...

1)iso 400, f/8, 4 sec, 116mm, tungsten WB, and a good deal of pp to get even this far
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4791/img3103amedium.jpg

2)iso 200, f/10, 5 sec, 100mm, tungsten WB, and more pp
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7075/img3115amedium.jpg