Night Photography:1 - Cityscapes.

[RichardTaylor]

Night Photography:1 Cityscapes.

In response to a tutorial request.

This tute will be covering long exposure cityscapes.

(1) When to shoot.
For me the best time to shoot is in the "blue hour", that time just after sunset but before the sky turns black.
I like the fact the sky is not boring black but beautiful deep blue, may have some interest and makes a nice contrast with building lights.

(1.1) During the blue hour (at 5:50PM looking east on a winters day)

Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 8
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(1.2) A bit after near the same location as above but 20 minutes latter, looking south west.

Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 8
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2) Pre requisites
- be familiar with your camera and its operation. You may be making adjustments in the dark.
- Be able to read and understand the histogram. The pic on the back of your camera is not a good guide for a correctly exposed image.

(3) Equipment.
Any camera that allows manual long exposure and focussing will be fine.
A stable support, tripod, for the camera is an absolute necessity.
A remote for your camera is a lot easier than using the self timer. Touching the camera may cause vibrations which may blur the image.
Take a torch - this will help a lot when working in the dark.
Make sure you have plenty of battery power for your camera.

(4) Setting up your camera.
(4a) Check your camera lens/manual to see if image stabilisation should be turned off when the camera is tripod mounted.
(4b) Manual focus.
(4c) Manual exposure.
(4d) Lowest possible ISO - this is to keep noise to a minimum.
(4e) Remove any filters from the lens and use a lens hood. This will help reduce flare.
(4f) Camera on tripod and remote plugged in.
(4g) I shoot raw to give me more control when PPing the image.
(4h) I use just the centre focus point only active.
(4j) I meter the whole scene however the light meter can be fooled very easily in these conditions so use it just as a guide.
I usually start with an exposure around 10 second @ F8 & ISO 100

(5) shooting.
Focussing may be a problem. Live view may make it easier and try to focus on something that provides some contrast. Not all my cameras have live view so what I do is just partially depress the shutter and rack the lens back & forth while watching the focus indicators in the viewfinder.

I will then take a photograph and then check the histogram.
I will adjust my exposure if needed, and then re shoot.

Bracket your exposures, by at least one stop, it will give you more choices when PPing.
If the light is changing, or the moon rising etc, I will continue shooting, bracketing exposures until the light has gone.
If the light is not changing I will only take a few photographs with a range of exposures (+- up to 3 F stops) to allow possible use of HDR or merging images when PPing.

Some examples.
(5.1) Looking east shortly after sunset (8:34 PM in summer). The moon is rising and helping to light up the clouds.

Camera Canon EOS 5D + Canon 24-105 F4 IS L lens
Exposure 3.2
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 45 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(5.2) Well after the "blue Hour". The clouds are being lit up by the city lights. 9:15 PM on a summers night.

Camera Canon EOS 40D + Tokina 12-24 lens
Exposure 15
Aperture f/14.0
Focal Length 12 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

Security; always be aware of your surroundings and take care when shooting.

Part 2 - City Streets is here.
Night Photography:2 - In the street.

Thanks for looking.
Feel free to ask questions and feedback would be appreciated.

Richard

[PapaJim]

A very nice tutorial. I'm going to do a deep study on this material and try it all out. I'd suggest using red LED lights instead of a white torch to preserve ones night vision. Amateur Astronimers have such lights that clip-on to ones cap.

Jim

[RichardTaylor]

Thanks very much for the suggestion and feedback..

[Michael_2010]

Richard - in several of your street shots taken at night you mention that they were hand-held. What is the trick to doing that? Also, how do you control reflections in store fronts? In some cases those might be desirable and in others it might not work well at all.

Right now I am planning to drive across the bay tonight to a very nice little town that just lit up their Christmas lights for the season. I want to get some shots of the lights along the streets and also the displays in some of the storefronts. I would rather not drag a tripod around. I'll pull it out for some select shots, but mainly I just want to roam around tonight looking for photographic opportunities.
_____________________________

I got off into the wrong tutorial. Sorry about that.

[RichardTaylor]

This is from the city streets at night tute.

"If I am using an image stabilised lens it will be on.
I tend to shoot at fairly wide angles.
Normally I will set the camera aperture wide open with a fairly high ISO (800+) and take what ever shutter speed I can get (preferably = or faster then 1/15 second).
If I find that I have plenty of light the I will increase the shutter speed and then think about shooting at a smaller aperture and/or decreasing the ISO (especially if I am at a very high ISO (3200?))
Now days will usually be shooting in aperture priority (possibly with a bit of exposure compensation dialed in) or manual mode, manual focus if the camera has trouble focussing, and in RAW."

If shooting at very high ISO be prepared to use noise reduction when PPing.
Also try shooting in the blue hour as that will give you just a little more light..

I find I can get a lot of keepers when shooting at 1/15 or faster with an IS (VR) lens. Without a IS lens make that 1/25 or greater when using a 24mm non IS lens on a full frame camera.

(1) You may find a mono pod helps. One was used in this pic.

Camera Canon EOS 5D + 24-105 F4L IS lens
Exposure 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off

As far as reflections go I havn't really given it a lot of serious consideration and if they have been extreme whilst shooting I just havn't taken the photograph.. I'm not sure if a polariser would work and if it did you may find your exposure times increasing. The other alternative, if you have somebody with you is to place them so they block the worst of the reflections.
Also try shooting from a position where the reflections are minimised.
The last and least desirable action would be to clone them out when PPing.

(2) They were not a real problem when shooting in this small Vermont town whilst on vacation. (Hand held)

Camera Canon EOS 5D + 24-105 F4L IS lens
Exposure 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture f/5
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Flash did not fire

(3) But they are a bit of a problem this shot recently in a big city.
I think cloning them out would be very easy in this case.
Notice there is a lot of light to work with here.

Camera Canon EOS 5D + Canon 24mm F2.8 lens.
Exposure 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture f/9.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

You may like to run some experiments at home to see what shutter speeds you can shoot at and still get satisfactory results.

Looking forward to seeing your photographs

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Richard, I've just revisted this tutorial as I'm hoping to make it to the summit of The Mount before dawn tomorrow morning for some cityscape shots across the harbour plus some sunrise shots when that happens. Here's the daytime shots to give you an idea of distance
Views from the top

From your thread and a couple of other saved EXIF data I've come across am I correct in thinking that the general settings will be; long exposure, medium aperture say f/8-f/11 & low ISO? Because the distances are quite far should my aperture be smaller, I'm thinking f/16-f/20? Is there anything else I should take note of? I've got all your tips from above noted ie, torch, image stabilization off, brackett exposure etc. I'm worried I've missed something and after the climb my mind will be jelly as well as my legs so I want to be prepared tonight.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[RichardTaylor]

Unless you have something in the foreground you need to focus on I would be shooting around F8-F11 and definately the lowest ISO possible (to keep the noise down).

Also turn in camera noise reduction off (if it has it). This will halve the time your camera is tied up (per exposure). Remove any unnecessary filters to help reduce flare, and use a lens hood.

From the pics of the location a ND grad filter may come in handy to help balance the sky with the foreground/ocean. I have been using one more often on some relatively recent dawn shoots.

Here are some examples useing a 3 stop soft ND grad.
(1)


Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture f/9.0
Focal Length 40 mm
ISO Speed 50

(2) Even when there is not a colour around it still helps.

Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 6
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 50

(3) If there is not a lot of cloud around it still helps.


Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 4
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 50

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Hope the weather is good for you tomoorow, with lots of colour and some nice clouds.

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Hmmm........thanks very much Richard for the tips and the quick reply. I had taken my lens hood off as per something I read while checking everything out but I've now put it back on! I doubt very much if mine are going to look anything like yours, those are beautiful! And I have no ND grad