Night Shooting

[Bob 38]

As I have said before my knowledge of Photography is very limited. I would like to try taking night photos, one of the Moon (Weather permitting) & in the middle of town, to start off with.

I have two lenses 18-55 & 75-300, Canon EOS 400 D.

What would my setting be for taken a photo of the above? Is there anything special I should look out for? I have a tripod.

[Todd Lambert]

A tripod, remote shutter or use the timer, low iso, and bulb mode... pretty much all you need to get started.

Try 5 or 10 second exposures and chimp - to see if that's close to where you want it.. if not, adjust accordingly.

As for focal length, aperture, etc... shoot like you would in sunlight.. no difference there, for the most part.

Oh, and be sure to post your photos here! 8-)

[Scottes]

Get used to using your LCD's Histogram to get an idea of the correct exposure. It will take some experience, but you'll get used to it with a little testing and/or time spent analyzing shots and checking each shot's histogram.

The histogram will change with the number of lights in the scene, as well as the amount of black sky, so try different scenes.

It's best to bracket exposures until you get used to using your LCD screen and/or Histogram to judge exposure.


Taking night shots kinda requires a tripod. A remote shutter release, like the RS-80N3 or cheaper clones, is a great benefit to night shooting. If you don't have one, set the shutter to timer mode. When you press the shutter button, it will wait 10 seconds and then take the shot. You won't be touching the camera so it will be steady, and any shake you caused by hitting the shutter button will have gone away by the time the camera takes the pic.

Hint: If you can, enable Mirror Lock-Up. This should set the timer to 2 seconds instead of 10. Note that you have to hit the shutter button twice when MLU (mirror lock-up) is activated. The first press will lift the shutter, the second will start the timer countdown.

Sorry, I don't know the 400D, but check the manual concerning timer mode and MLU (mirror lock-up).



A very good trick for getting the right exposure at night is to set the ISO to the highest setting, and shoot wide open (largest shutter, ie; smallest f/ number). This will allow the fastest shot possible, and will quickly get you to the correct exposure settings. Then count the stops back to ISO 100 and f/8 or f/11 or whatever you wish.

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.



For shooting the moon and getting details of the craters, you may find that you have to set your exposure so quick that you will not pick up details on the ground. The moon is reflecting sunlight, and quite a bit of it. Yet not quite enough to light up things on earth. So you either get a blown-out, pure-white moon with ground details visible, or you get a detailed, properly-exposed moon but everything on the ground is black.

Hint: Find a nice setting that gives a good-looking silhouette against the sky. The black outline of the silhouette will look good with the moon properly exposed for detail.

Hint: Find a time when the moon is somewhat high in the sky right after sunset, when the sky is still bright. Then you might get enough light to see things on the ground. Check for a time when moonrise is an hour or two before sunset. If you want real accuracy, check for some astronomical charts to get the declination of the moon just after sunset.

You will probably find that your 300mm means the moon will be fairly small in the scene. Find a scene/silhouette that will make a small moon work in the image. It will be a bit of work, but it's a fantastic feeling when you figure it all out and get a great shot.

[DStanic]

If you have access to a computer before shooting the moon, you can check the MOON EXPOSURE CALCULATOR. (http://www.adidap.com/2006/12/06/moon-exposure-calculator/)

If you don't have it, use partial metering and aim at the moon. Adjust as nessesary to get detail of the moon craters etc. There are tons of threads on shooting the moon a quick search will yield lots of answers. At 300mm you will be able to get a basic shot of the moon, you will need to crop it and maybe apply some sharpening afterwards.

In the custom functions in the menu you will find mirror lockup, follow the advice as mentioned above and you will get good results.

[shomat]

If you don't feel like using a tripod, bump your ISO up to 800 or 1600. That will allow you to use a hand hold-able shutter speed in many situations.

[Bob 38]

Well here is my first night shot I know it out of focus etc but I'm chuffed as following what you told me is starting to pay off.

The only light was from the living room
TV 30
AV 9.0
ISO 100
Lens EF75-300f/4.5.6u:D

Any more advice will be wellcome

[Bob 38]

Sorry got to excited lost the photo fingers crossed this time

[Bob 38]

:oops::oops:

[Bob 38]

Sorry hope this works this time:oops::oops:

[lecatpuke]

Hmmm... is that a 100% crop and/or on a tripod?

[ScottME]

My guess is he didn't resize.

[Jon Foster]

This shot was taken with a 300D and a 18-55 non IS lens at about 40mm. The camera was mounted on a tripod. Details for the shot were f8, ISO 100 shutter speed 20 seconds. The shot was taken with a wireless remote but a wired remote would have done the same job. If you don't have a remote available, the self timer will work.

http://www.pbase.com/jfoster/image/89331627.jpg

Jon.

[lecatpuke]

^^ Nice!

[Random22]

Im fairly new to the dslr world so i tried my first test shot of the night sky. 30 sec exp.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2477/3919135584_c47f9055a3_o.jpg

takin with a 500d

[neilwood32]

One thing to watch when shooting the stars/moon, it to avoid too long a shutter speed.

You need a long shutter to get the amount of light in but make it too long and you will get star trails.

Unless of course that is what you wanted!