First decent night shots - comments welcome.

[AbPho]

Went for a four hour drive to a trailer park not too far from Parry Sound in Ontario Canada.

I took these pictures on a very clear night. Most were 30 second exposure with a 10mm lens wide open. I really like these results.

Thanks.

1) 25sec f3.5 iso1600 by flashlight
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3511/4031012464_346b9e7a2f_o.jpg

2) 30sec f3.5 iso1600 by porch light
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/4006450938_d13665dd69_o.jpg

3) 30sec f3.5 iso1600 by camp fire light
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/4006452196_9df6b59a00_o.jpg

4) 30sec f3.5 iso1600 by camp fire light
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2488/4005688907_0c8d2cd0d8_o.jpg

5) 30sec f3.5 iso1600 by camp fire light
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/4031014596_566810f1ea_o.jpg

[Todd Lambert]

Love #2 and #3.

Great skies!

[jmx]

Yeah, 2 and 3 look great! Whats with the insanely distracting copyright watermark? I don't mean this to sound offensive, but do you really think people are going to steal your photos?

[trailblazer87]

I like 3 and 4, they remind of the sky while camping in the mountains.

[Celestron]

Yeah, 2 and 3 look great! Whats with the insanely distracting copyright watermark? I don't mean this to sound offensive, but do you really think people are going to steal your photos?


I agree nice , except the water marks :( .

[daniboy]

The watermarks beeing so bright attract and distract the viewers eye and reducing the pleasure of looking at else beautiful photographs. Its basic rule of composition.

I really like the idea to include some foreground, so if you make the watermarks see thru it would be some great photos.

[Pricey]

Very nice indeed. What am I doing wrong? I do 30/s as well but nothing like this. I get blurred images.

[MintMark]

These are at 10mm, so very wide angle. The wider the view the longer you can go without star trailing. Also, any other factors like wind, vibration, movement of the trees will cause blur. It could come down to quality of the tripod and mounting... the heavier the better (so I've read). Also a remote shutter release. And the lens. And the aperture (best setting depends on the lens)

Actually, it could be all sorts of things!

[Celestron]

Very nice indeed. What am I doing wrong? I do 30/s as well but nothing like this. I get blurred images.


I don't know how they do it but you need to check and see if your lens needs to be corrected on focus . Post a topic in the Lens section here about focus being off and there are some good ppl that will give to plenty of info what to do .

[e02937]

these are awesome!

[NaKiD EyE]

Very nice indeed. What am I doing wrong? I do 30/s as well but nothing like this. I get blurred images.

are you using a tripod and setting the focus manually? also try using a remote or timer to release the shutter vs. pressing the button as it can cause the camera to move.

[NaKiD EyE]

3) 30sec f3.5 iso1600 by camp fire light
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/4006452196_9df6b59a00_o.jpg

my favorite. great job. love the contrast between the trees and the sky... not to mention the colors.

[ameerat42]

Hi XboxWeasel. I like the shots. Very good for non-tracked exposures. I would only say that I find the foliage of the trees somewhat distracting. I tried to Photoshop the first one to enhance the sky and reduce the effect of the trees, but to little avail. Only a suggestion: could you increase the depth of exposure of the sky with a tracking mount? And then, introduce a subtle, separate illumination of the trees near the end? Or are the trees lit with stray suburban light anyway? I live in well light-polluted Sydney suburbs, so I'd have a hard time trying my own suggestion. Cheers, Am...

[Pricey]

are you using a tripod and setting the focus manually? also try using a remote or timer to release the shutter vs. pressing the button as it can cause the camera to move.

Yeah, I do everything there. See my first attempt topic. But these definitely add something by looking through the trees.

[AbPho]

Thanks for all the replies.

In the first image I used a flashlight to illuminate the trees. Without it the silhouettes did not look very appealing. The tress in picture #2 were illuminated by a nearby porch light. The trees in the last two were illuminated from a camp fire.

The copyright is ugly, but I post these pictures in a lot of places. I use it mainly to say "HEY THESE ARE MINE!". Such low resolution pictures are typically not worth stealing. Storing multiple different pictures was getting to be a pain in the butt. :eek:

Pricey...like mentioned, the wider a lens the longer you can keep it open before you start noticing streaks. For focusing I manually set the lens to infinity. If you look closely you will notice that in some of the pictures the starts are more in focus. I would have to guess that if you can take good pictures during the day you should be able to get decent pictures at night. Maybe the higher ISO or longer exposure times are creating a lot of noise making the image look out of focus.

Thanks again for all the replies. :)