Boston Cityscape

[3bayjunkie]

First attempt at a night time cityscape. what did i do wrong here? Never tried night time photography before.



Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Autofocus Lens
Shutter Speed: 30 sec
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
F-Stop: f/22
ISO Speed: 800
Focal Length: 18.0 mm

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Not really sure but I looked at a bunch of night shots of Boston on Flickr and checked the EXIF of the ones that had it and they all seem to have used a MUCH lower F stop. Look at the exif on this one: Dean's favorite stand up spot - Boston at night | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (it's not mine so I'm putting a link to it instead of posting the photo here). The F stop on that one is 4.5. I think you could have used a lower F stop and then reduced your exposure time as well.

Ultimately I think what did you in was the distance with that lens. I think you needed to be closer or used a bigger zoom lens.

Of the two you posted, I like the second one best.

[RichardTaylor]

They are much better pics than my first attempts.

(1) Try shooting in the "blue hour".
That's between sunset and the sky going black.
You solve the problem of large areas of boring black and city lights make a good contrast with the deep blue/purple skies.

(2) For a starting point (in the blue hour) with exposure I usually think "10"
shutter speed 10 seconds and aperture ~F10 = ISO 100
This means noise will be much less of a problem, and your exposure will be in the ball park..


(3) Shoot RAW - so you can can correct the white balance when PPing.
Are those boat hulls really brownish yellow or are they white?

(4) Even though you are shooting at night the normal guidelines still apply regarding content including "rule of thirds.
What is your subject? Is there anything in the picture that doesn't contribute?
Are you filling the frame with the subject.

In the pics above I feel they could do with a lot of cropping to focus attention on the subject.
The other problem in pic #1 is that you have lens flare. You may be able to reduce it by removing any filters on the front of the lens and/or usein a lens hood or shading the front of the lens with your body.

You may this DPS tutorial on shooting city 'scapes at night helpful.
Night Photography:1 - Cityscapes.

[3bayjunkie]

I used F/22 because i wanted everything in focus. if i used f.4.5 i think the boats would have been out of focus or the buildings... thanks though. ill keep practicing.

[RichardTaylor]

See this and plug the numbers in. Take note of the hyperfocal distance.

Online Depth of Field Calculator

At F4.5 and 18mm every thing is acceptably sharp from around 6 feet to infinity.

[3bayjunkie]

thanks for the tips. this was after i was comming back from a twilight beach photoshoot. we had a few drinks and i was using my mother in-laws camera she let me borrow. she doesn't have any fancy lens hoods or anything, i bought a cheap tripod for the trip and let her keep it. it was dark when we got back and I was leaving for Iraq in the morning. so i really didn't have control over what time of day i took the photo. next time I'll plan it out better.

I was on vacation, so i wasn't really spending a lot of time setting up shots.

PS the boats were lit by a yellow light. not a white balance issue. I left it like that on purpose also is it just me or is there a gallexy of stars reflected in the first photo.

[RichardTaylor]

I can't see them on my monitor, however with long exposures you can sometimes see them in the sky and if the water was perfectly still you may see the reflections in the water.

[3bayjunkie]

I just have been having a hard time getting crisp photos with this cannon xti and 18-55mm lens. it is just frustrating. i had a tripod and everything. Luckily ill have my Nikon D7000 and 18-200mm lens soon. Then I can share with you all some photos from Iraq. How fun

[fugo]

Hi,

The simplest and best improvement you could do here is force ISO 100. High ISO means more noise which means a less clear, crisp image. It really makes a huge difference!

For most lenses, f/5 to f/8 gives the maximum sharpness - above this diffraction starts to soften the image. f/22 should only really be used in this situation to extend the exposure time where you want to have car light streaks or smooth water.

I quite like the composition myself, and although it lacks a 'subject' it works for me with the reflections. However, i'd like to see it less cropped so the horizon is using the bottom 'rule of thirds' line (if you aren't familar with rule of thirds its well worth a google, great basic composition tool). It also looks to me as if the horizon is slightly off balance - not a big deal but people who are used to grumping about photos will spot it straight away!

As RichardTaylor mentioned you should be aiming for the 'blue hour' for this kind of shot.. it would make both the sky and water more interesting, though I know we can't always shoot exactly when we want to

It takes a while to learn how to take long exposure shots well, but keep experimenting and they'll be stunning before too long. My 'normal' settings for this kind of shot is to force iso 100, use aperature mode to force an f/8 aperature and a cheap chinese-copy remote off ebay so i don't have to touch the camera to take the shot.

good luck and come back to the forum with your next shots!

[fugo]

apologies, one last tip - enter live view and move the square to somewhere high contrast (ie a bright boat mast against the dark sky. then press the button that zooms when you are in image review mode (the focus point button) to zoom in on that region. this makes it easiest to set the focus manually as auto-focus is often a bit rubbish on dark scenes.