The challenge this week was Night. I chose this topic since I had a photo shoot planned with the group Explore.Capture.Repeat on Friday evening. Despite being a morning person, and nowhere close to being a night owl, I have really been enjoying our evening shoots! I also picked up a few cool night photography techniques from the fearless leader of our group, Kristin Repsher 🙂
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”18″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_horizontal_filmstrip” image_crop=”0″ image_pan=”1″ show_playback_controls=”1″ show_captions=”0″ caption_class=”caption_overlay_bottom” caption_height=”70″ aspect_ratio=”1.5″ width=”100″ width_unit=”%” transition=”fade” transition_speed=”1″ slideshow_speed=”5″ border_size=”0″ border_color=”#ffffff” override_thumbnail_settings=”1″ thumbnail_width=”120″ thumbnail_height=”90″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ ngg_triggers_display=”always” is_ecommerce_enabled=”0″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]
A few tips for these types of shots:
-bring a tripod! It allows you to have a long shutter speed without the camera shake you would get from hand holding your camera for that long.
-I use the manual mode on my camera for these types of shots. It allows you to control shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
-I used a really long shutter speed once the sun set. Generally around 30-45 seconds with ISO 100,and f/16. The long shutter speed blurs the water and gives it a glass-like appearance. It also really enhances the coloured reflections from the buildings.
-I just figured out how to create starbursts on lights a few months ago, so of course I had to try and capture some of those lol. If you would like to get starbursts on the lights in your night photos, try using an f-stop of f/16 or smaller.
-If you don’t need starbursts in your photo, go with a larger aperture. Generally around the sweet spot of your lens is best (where you will get the sharpest photo). For many lens, that is around f/8 – f/11. You would also need to shorten the shutter speed since you would be using a larger aperture.
-Some lens produce better starbursts. I find I get better starbursts on my Nikkor 24-70 mm 2.8 lens on my Nikon D610 camera compared to my Sony 18-200 mm lens on the Sony Nex5N camera.
-use a remote in order to avoid touching the camera while it is taking the shot. This helps prevents blurring of the photo.
-to get shots longer than 30 seconds requires using the bulb setting. Using a timer on your phone to keep track of the exposure time helps too.
Have Fun!
leave a comment