Fairground photography

[bagofscraps]

I'm off to the fair on Monday night, to have a go at some long exposure night-time photography.

I've had a look around the web for tips on exposure, but everywhere I look seems to be very different - especially for aperture (ranging from f8 to f36).

So, have you had a go? Could you share what you've done? What tips would you give for exposure?

[wckeep]

i got this shot with an aperture of 22. the shutter had to be very long though, 10 seconds to be exact. just remember that whatever you set your aperture for adjust the shutter to allow sufficient light in. and i have heard that you should always use an iso of as low as possible.

did i also mention a tripod

[bagofscraps]

Wow! That's good! And thanks for the tips.

[dakwegmo]

I just looked through some of my photos of carnival rides, and the bulk seem to have been shot at f22, but range anywhere from f8 to f22. Part of the reason it's so hard to give exact settings is because there are so many variables that come into play. What I usually end up doing is shooting in full manual, metering for the shot, then finding equivalent exposures to get the desired effect. For example, if the shot is properly exposed at f11 for 1 second, but only captures a short arc of the ride, then try it at 2 or 4 seconds, at f16 or f22, respectively.


Here are a couple of examples of two shots of the same ride.
http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=211 f20/1.6 seconds
http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=212 f14/1 seconds

There's actually a third of a stop difference in the shutter speed of these two shots, but as you can see, it doesn't effect exposure too much here.
http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=209 f22/2.5 seconds
http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=210 f22/3 seconds

[bagofscraps]

Wow! Those are just amazing!

So, I guess what I need to remember is ...

• tripod
• low ISO
• work out correct exposure first, then fiddle with settings

Thank you!

[dakwegmo]

With a VR lens, a steady hand, and a good bit of luck you can skip the tripod. All of the images above were shot handheld. I got my first tripod for my birthday, six weeks after these shots were made.

Shooting just after sunset provides for some great shots, because there's still some initeresting detail in the sky, but you still get the cool light effects.
http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=394 (f22/1sec with a tripod)

[smokingredmoon]

Originally Posted by bagofscraps

Wow! Those are just amazing!

So, I guess what I need to remember is ...

• tripod
• low ISO
• work out correct exposure first, then fiddle with settings

Thank you!

Are you allowed to bring a tripod to fairgrounds? I would assume it would be very crowded and get in the way of people.

[Chip]

If you're feeling adventurous, how about trying a few handheld nighitme shots?

I've been playing around with this a bit lately, and based on my ever-so-limited experience, it seems to me that if you:

1) bump the ISO higher than where you feel comfortable;

2) get a proper exposure (shooting wide-open or close to it helps); and

3) hold the camera steady (maybe leaning against a post, resting your arms on a barrricae, etc), you can get a pretty good shot this way.

It helps to remember that darker areas will show more noise than lighter areas. So, if you can get a shot with a large percentage of non-shadow areas, that will help. Also, turning your in-camera noise reduction onto "high" also seems to help.

Sure, you won't get the nice blur that you would from a 10-second exposure with the camera on a tri-pod, but shooting hand-held affords more flexibility.

What's the worst that can happen? Hitting the delete button twice is easy.

Good luck. I'd be happy to see your work after the fair.