Help with night shooting

[azzajay77]

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice re shooting backdrops at night. Below are a couple of photos i took tonight playing around with the settings on the camera. I'm totally new at this and although i'm fairly happy with how they turned out for a first attempt i'm sure they could be better.

Pentax K100D
70-300mm Sigma Lens
Exp 2 secs
F4.5
ISO400
No flash
Focal length 70mm



Exp 4 secs
F5.6
ISO200
No flash
Focal length 70mm



At this stage i'm altering settings guessing what they'll do to the photo being that i'm only new.

What settings would have improved these pics (If any)

Thanks in advance

[kencaleno]

horizon is not level. Here's my take on nightshots:

At twilight, that is from about 30-45 minutes after sunset, is the ideal time to capture night landscapes, just before the sky turns black. Here is where you find the “Sweet-spot”-the balance of natural ambient light and artificial lighting in city scenes. Best to arrive at your chosen venue about 30 minutes before sunset, then you can capture your sunset images first, then wait for the right time for the twilight shots.

A tripod, of course, is mandatory as exposures will be quite long. So, if you are able to lock up the mirror on your camera, this will help with avoidance of shake. If you have a remote control, terrific!-use this, too. If you don’t have either of these functions, just set self-timer for 10 seconds.
Aperture priority; bracket exposures, (1 stop over; One stop under) using shutter speed as the variable unit. Chimp your screen after each shot, to check progress.
White balance, of necessity, will be tungsten, of course, to reinforce the blue sky, and to help de-saturate the yellow artificial light, which can be overpowering. Experiment and try using Fluorescent White balance for brilliant color in the sky. Lowest ISO as usual-at least, at first! Aperture depends-F8 to F11 is the sharpest range for your lens, but you may need to forsake the threat of diffraction, and go for F16 or 22, if you are getting lens flare.

Regards, Ken

[azzajay77]

I tried to be more organised tonight and head about a bit earlier. Unfortunately not early enough. Can't believe how fast the sun set ... anyway imo here is my best shot of the night.



Exposure 6secs
F2.8
ISO 200

[azzajay77]

Anyone .... ?

[fletch]

Don't forget that being at night isn't enough to make a great photo. You need to think about all of the normal copositional elements of a landscape shot. Think about the composition, rule of thirds, foreground interest, a subject for the photo. Avoid having distracting elements, this can be particulalry difficult at night when bright lights tend to dominate.

I find the best way to learn is by looking at other great nigh shots, critique them in your mind, what makes them good, would you have done anything differently yourself, what were the settings used and what PP tricks have been used.

Here are some starter to look at on flickr:
Night Landcapes: night landscape - Flickr: Search
Cityscapes: night cityscape - Flickr: Search

Then get to you loaction in daylight so you can assess the scene and compose you shot. NIght shots are hard but rewarding when you get them right.

[samhail]

The second night shots are better than the first nights. Which means your getting better. Keep trying and experimenting.

[serametin]

there is a few rules about night photography. they are not hard rules, but most of the night photos are more or less using these rules.

1. use a tripod.
2. ISO: use the lowest available on the camera, ISO 50, ISO 80, ISO 100 etc
3. Shutter speed. 20-30secs
4. F stop F8-F11 or smaller

you can use shutter priority mode and set the shutter speed to 20-30secs.