Blue Hour

[bpretorius]

Ok - here goes my first photo post since I joined

Yesterday was a nice sunny winter's day in London, and I have increasingly been interested in Blue Hour Photography, so I packed up my camera and took a few shots - my favourite one (and I think the best one) is attached.



Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L

EXIF data:
Exposure mode: Manual
Focal Length: 28mm
Aperture: f11
Shutter speed: 30sec
ISO: 400
White balance: Auto
No flash

This was also my first attempt to have my camera in complete manual mode - I normally tend to use AV mode.

Post production I have only changed the levels and curves slightly, and some very minor vibrancy enhancement.

Although I am quite pleased with the over all result, there are a few things that's bothering me:

1) I wanted the light reflection on the water to blur but they seem too bright - and if I reduced the shutter speed the over all image was too dark. I would've possibly wanted the water to be a bit cloudy and dreamy by using Bulb mode, but then I could not get the other components right and the image was horribly overexposed.

2) I don't know if it is just me but the main object (the factory) just does not look as sharp as I would want it - but I am not sure how to take the shot different to achieve I really sharp image? I did a few shots with manual and autofocus, and having it set at infinity seems to have delivered the best result.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this.

Thanks,
Bernard

PS The green line is the Greenwich Mean Line, and there was no way to get it out of the shot

[Krusty79]

Too bad you can't get rid of the green line, as it's really distracting. I think it's a good shot, still. The only other issue I have with it besides the green line is the soft focus. If you are using a tripod and your images are still fuzzy, you could try using a remote shutter release and/or the mirror lockup feature.

If it's windy, some tripods have a hook at the bottom of the center column where you can attach a weight.

[RichardTaylor]

Just a couple of questions re the sharpening..

(1) did you shoot RAW and sharpen when PPing?

(2) Was IS turned off.

(3) Did you have any filters on the lens (if so remove them unless absolutely needed)

(4) Did you use a remote release (or the self timer)?

I probably would have used manual focus with one of the distant lights as a "target"...

The green line may be able to be cloned out when pping..

Re the exposure.
To control the dynamic range either

(1) Use a ND grad filter to darken part of the scene.

or

(2)Shoot multiple exposures at least a stop apart and combine them when PPing.


Overall it's a good start.

[tlpphoto]

You might also try redoing the shot at ISO 100. I have found I seem to have better dynamic range at the lowest ISO levels.

[bpretorius]

Thanks for all the comments - I will go out and try the shot again once the grey skies of London allow me...

To respond to the comments:

Krusty - having soft focus is probably the area where I am struggling the most in my photography. This shot was taken with a tripod and a remote shutter release and it was not windy. I have seen other people with 7D's taking really sharp photos, but mine never seems to come out that way - not sure what I am doing wrong.

Richard - here's the answers to your questions:

(1) I did shoot RAW, but don't think I sharpened PP - mainly because I am still on the PP learning curve. I don't understand how to use the unsharp/sharpen masks in photoshop (I have tried so many times) and if I use the sharpening in the Camera RAW plugin I never really notice any difference apart from my image going grainy

(2) IS was turned on

(3) I had a UV filter on the lens. I will remember to take this off.

(4) Yes I did use a remote shutter release

(5) Thanks for the tips re exposure.

Tim - I did consider going down to ISO100 and using bulb mode to get a longer exposure time (ISO100 with 30sec was way too dark) but how do you know how long to keep the shutter open for? I was worried to try with as I was losing light really quickly. I will give it a shot as soon as the grey clouds lift again.

[RichardTaylor]

For sharpening web size pics (1280x1024 to 1920x1080) (and it is the last thing I do) try using
Unsharp Mask
Amount:100 to 125 (this will get you in the ball park & adjust to suit)
Radius: 1.3
Threshold 3

I do it on a seperate layer and use blend mode Luminance to reduce noise.


This is from the Scott Kelby CS4 book.

[tlpphoto]

Originally Posted by bpretorius

Tim - I did consider going down to ISO100 and using bulb mode to get a longer exposure time (ISO100 with 30sec was way too dark) but how do you know how long to keep the shutter open for? I was worried to try with as I was losing light really quickly. I will give it a shot as soon as the grey clouds lift again.

Easy, each time you halve the ISO, you double the exposure time. Your shot was 30 seconds at ISO 400. You will get the same exposure with 1 min at ISO 200 or 2 min at ISO 100.

Another option would be to change your aperture. ISO 100, T = 1 min, F/8 would have given you the same exposure as your ISO 400, T = 30 seconds, F/11. Here I reduced the ISO 2 stops (400 --> 200 --> 100), so I increased my shutter time 1 stop (30 sec --> 1 min) and opened my aperture one stop (F/11 --> F/8). Sounds confusing, but once you learn to "count" in stops along the exposure triangle, it makes determining your exposure just like 1, 2, 3...

Hope this helps.

[abanakas]

Try turning off IS when using a tripod. Usually causes more harm than good.

Image Stabilization on Tripods

Alex Banakas
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