Shooting during night or late evening. Techniques to play with darkness or compensate it.
36
votes
3answers
3k views
How do you photograph a lunar eclipse?
Tonight is the night of a lunar eclipse, and I'm curious, what kinds of tips do you guys have for photographing one? I'd like solutions for both consumer-grade equipment, as well as DSLRs, so that ...
21
votes
10answers
13k views
How to take great night shots?
I have Canon Rebel XS (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Autofocus Lens). I have been trying to take decent night photographs for a while. But it seems to take a lot of effort. Can we take good night shots ...
21
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I get good colors when taking pictures in the city at night?
I'm very interested in doing night time shootings.
I'm using Canon 5d3 with 85mm at f/1.2, and at iso 2000 I'm able to get exposure times around 1/150s-1/200s.
However, the lighting in my city ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
What tips and advice do you have for photographing the Aurora Borealis?
A friend has been kind enough to lend me a DSLR for a few months. It's my first foray into DSLR photography, or indeed any kind of photography beyond simply aiming my Canon IXUS at something and ...
17
votes
3answers
6k views
How to capture detail of craters on the moon?
How can I photograph the moon so that I see detail of the craters and mountains?
I have a Canon EOS 550D (T2i) and tried "No Flash", "P" as well as creative auto mode, but to no avail. Every time I ...
16
votes
2answers
814 views
How do the stars in this photo appear without star trails even at a long shutter speed?
I found an image of the night sky taken by James Sainty at http://500px.com/photo/11615131.
It has the following EXIF metadata:
Camera Canon 5D Mk II
Lens Canon 16-35mm L
Focal Length 16mm
Shutter ...
14
votes
6answers
808 views
How do I capture the milky way?
Can the milky way actually be photographed like this? I know the image is manipulated, and is probably a composite, but how do you capture such contrast in the milky way? Is an equitorially mounted ...
13
votes
3answers
960 views
Is this a reflection in my photo?
I can't quite figure out what exactly is appearing in my photo. I was thinking it could be a reflection but I really don't know. This is the full size image, then a crop at 100%. No Photoshop has ...
13
votes
6answers
1k views
Why did my nighttime shots of the moon create trailing spheres?
I used a tripod and remote shutter release. ISO:1600, F/3.5, Exp 46". I expected the flare and halo, but the ghosted spheres surprised me. Can you tell me what caused this and how to adjusting my ...
13
votes
2answers
572 views
What sort of adjustments should be applied to bring out the colors in this photograph of the aurora?
I recently had the opportunity to photograph the Aurora Borealis and while a limited number of my photographs where quite striking with almost no adjustments, a lot of them look like the following:
...
12
votes
8answers
3k views
Why aren't my night shots sharp even when I shot at ISO 100 on a tripod?
I recently purchased a tripod because I really want to do some night photography. I have tried practicing with street lamps, moon shots etc with my Canon 550D and 70-200 f/4L and most of them are shot ...
12
votes
5answers
3k views
How do you make a shot look like it was taken at night?
Okay, so I was watching a movie recently, and there was a night scene. The whole valley could be seen in light, and there were some stars as well, and the actors could be seen, but it just looked like ...
12
votes
3answers
695 views
Is it possible to make a single still photo from a video?
The idea comes from the fact that in astronomy (amatorial), it's common to take videos from a telescope with a webcam and convert them into a single, less noisier picture.
The principle is that of ...
11
votes
9answers
3k views
How do I take a portrait at night with detail in the background instead of just blackness?
I was trying to make a photo of my girlfriend around 9 pm with a D7000, Sigma 24-70 2.8, and SB-900. She was in the center of the frame, taking up about 20% of the frame. About 40% was taken up by ...
11
votes
3answers
513 views
Why are red lights in night / city scenes coming out as big red blobs?
I've noticed that in a lot of my night shots of cityscapes, red lights (e.g. neon signs on buildings, etc.) tend to come out as big red blobs:
The above was taken with my Canon 500D.
What can I do ...
11
votes
3answers
652 views
'Painting with light' photography: locations and techniques
Tunnels being naturally dark may not be the most intuitive choice for a place to take pictures. But I love the 'painting with light' work that artists such as 'Twin Cities Brightest' are putting out ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
What settings should I use to photograph aurora borealis with a wide angle f/4 lens?
I've tried my first night photography of the stars last week. Most articles I've seen were recommending a fast lens, fully opened, @ ISO 800 and about 20 - 30s exposure, etc. Unfortunately, my only ...
10
votes
2answers
469 views
How to stop a high F number from appearing blurry?
I have been out taking some evening photos (just after sunset) and I have noticed that in a number of instances the higher f numbers ( 14+ ) are appearing more blurred than the lower f numbers ( < ...
9
votes
3answers
218 views
How sharp of an image should I expect at night?
I'm a beginner with my first camera (sony nex6 mirrorless). I was trying my first few night shots Using the kit lens but I wasn't able to find a way to take sharp images. I've done the following:
...
9
votes
4answers
986 views
What times and settings should I use for taking pictures of stars at night and falling stars?
The season of the falling stars started and I want to try to achieve some picture of stars and falling one too.
I see a lot of picture with a immense number of stars but they are still. Now I'm ...
9
votes
3answers
428 views
Night photography of fish in a stream
Yes, that's right. A friend has asked me to go "spot-lighting" with him, to photography some of the fauna in a local stream. Not too hard during the day, but most of them don't come out until night.
...
8
votes
6answers
397 views
How can I improve shots in the dark, when tripod or flash are not available?
About once a year, at my school we have this event called "Humans versus Zombies", whereby there are these "missons" that occur in the dark at night. I've been trying to capture what goes on there:
...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
What settings do I need to take a night cityscape with blue sky like Eric Rolph?
I was wowed when I looked at this image on google maps for the Prudential Tower observatory. Then I start digging into the photographer (Eric Rolph -flickr) and I found he had some stunning pics ...
8
votes
3answers
293 views
Which setup should I choose for taking pictures of Trick-or-Treaters tonight?
I've dug up my dad's old Pentax K1000 SE, along with his old lenses, and picked up some 400 film. I'm wondering which of these lenses I should go with to get the best shots tonight (outdoors, no ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
Why are my night photographs always blurry?
I was shooting the lighting of the city that is visible at the top of the trees if you shoot landscape.
No matter what I do, the image is blurry. What have i done:
ISO 100
Manual focus towards ...
7
votes
3answers
374 views
What type of equipment does one need for taking night shots of moving objects with minimal blur?
What type of equipment does one need for taking shots at night, of moving targets? Not specific lenses or anything, but what attributes would such a lens need to have?
O. Winston Link has some great ...
7
votes
4answers
502 views
How to get “rays” in night photos?
In this night picture, the lamp has characteristic "rays".
How is it possible to get similar effect? Is it related to aperture, or shutter speed, or lens type?
7
votes
4answers
243 views
Using photoshop for night exposures with very high contrast
I am trying to obtain this effect during nightly shots:
1) A first capture with short exposure, potentially with very high ISO, to capture the stars as points. I'll later clean the noise.
2) A second ...
6
votes
3answers
384 views
Photography in Darkness
I have a Nikon d3100. I recently shot a 16th birthday party. It's my 4the or 5th party and I've noticed the young people like it very dark. So much so, looking through the lens is like having your ...
6
votes
3answers
195 views
What variable maximizes color in astrophotography?
I'm doing some research in astrophotography before my trip to Yellowstone and I'm most interested in pulling the color of the galaxies. I will be using a Canon 7D.
What should I be focusing on in ...
6
votes
1answer
592 views
Can I combine two photos to get a good image of a non-full moon?
Is there a good combo of longer exposure and shorter exposure that I can use to get two photos of the moon that I can then combine to show the sun-lit side and the earth-lit side together so I have ...
6
votes
1answer
228 views
Is camera damage causing these severe diagonal lines from concentrated light sources?
Since a week or so, I have severe diagonal stripes around light-sources in my night-time photographs on my Canon Powershot A650. In the past, I had some (I guess due to Fraunhofer diffraction, see ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
How can I get correct focus on the moon or stars with my DSLR? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to nail focus for DSLR astrophotography?
I don't know if D5100 is right camera for this kind of stuff, but I would like to shoot night sky covering moon, stars and ...
5
votes
3answers
940 views
Why are there white dots on my night time photo?
Could you please explain why I am getting white semi-transparent dots for night photography with flash on?
Original image here.
5
votes
4answers
358 views
Why do my photos show blocky gradients, even in RAW?
I am learning to use my new DSLR, a Sony a57 with 18-55mm kit lens. I was shooting last night at sundown, and after exporting the RAW images to Lightroom, was surprised to see the gradient as showing ...
5
votes
4answers
634 views
How do I shoot massive bonfire in order to produce an HDR image?
I am looking for advice on how to shoot a massive bonfire to produce an HDR image. My school has a massive bonfire every year for homecoming — it is 30+ ft. tall. I have been shooting and HDRing my ...
5
votes
1answer
133 views
What post processing should be done to my photographs of the aurora borealis to improve colours and impact?
I have included links to 2 RAW images ( I've also put the JPEG images up) that I took in Iceland last month where I was very fortunate to see the northern lights on two different nights. The ...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
How do I choose between an SLR or an expensive P&S?
I am planning to buy a new camera and am all confused. I am an amateur photographer who likes to click good photographs. I try to make the most of my Nikon CoolPix camera and have some decent ...
4
votes
6answers
1k views
How do I avoid so much noise in this HDR image?
I rarely attempt HDR shots at night, and maybe that is my flaw with this shot, but I was wondering why this image produces so much noise after HDR conversion.
Of course after Photomatix I was going ...
4
votes
1answer
637 views
How to photograph star trails AND city lights?
I don't get how this picture was taken: http://500px.com/photo/5956842
I know this is a blended shot and that the city lights are brought out in post but my questions is, why don't the city lights ...
4
votes
3answers
310 views
How to improve the colour of night time sky?
I am looking for some advice on how to improve the colour of the sky during night time photography. At the minute I take most of my photographs in central london and the sky colour can vary by a large ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I find infinity focus on a kit lens with no markers?
I have a kit lens which has no markers. What would be a recommended way to find infinity focus on this lens?
I plan to shoot objects at night -- not necessarily stars or the moon. So, adjusting the ...
4
votes
3answers
270 views
Is it better to take Black and White photos during daylight hours or evening?
Is it better to take photos for intended black and white images during the daylight hours or in the evening? I really like landscapes that have a good contrast when it comes to the clouds and skyline ...
4
votes
1answer
360 views
What can be used to “fight” light pollution in astrophotography?
I just read an answer to a question regarding astrophotography and I wonder what filters (and other stuff that helps) I can use for astrophotography for reducing the "effect" of light pollution.
I ...
4
votes
4answers
859 views
What's the best way to take cityscape photos on a night boat cruise?
I'm going on a boat cruise tonight in London. What's the best way to take photos of the riverbanks from the boat at night?
My kit includes:
Nikon D7000
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8
Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6
...
4
votes
1answer
494 views
Which compact camera to shoot stars, moon and hopefully planets and sun?
I need a new camera! My Canon IXUS is now very old. What I want to be able to do is take photos of the night sky (stars, moon, planets) and the sun. Well, ideally! I have been looking at a bridge ...
3
votes
3answers
870 views
Long exposures without turning night into day
When taking Night Photography you will use long exposures. Sometimes these exposures can be very long. My question is this:
How can I take long exposures without turning a night scene into a scene ...
3
votes
4answers
208 views
How to take a picture with subject in focus but with a circular light-trace effect around it?
How to keep the Girls sharp combined with the lighttrace effect?
Thank you very much!
3
votes
2answers
236 views
How can I create light trails without a blurry subject?
I would like to achieve this effect using my Nikon P510:
http://youssefalfadl.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/zo.jpg
Are there any suggestions or tips that would help me do that?
3
votes
1answer
738 views
How to get really clean almost HDR images in night time (see example)
Browsing through Behance network. I was wondering how this guy got such clean (no noise, no gosting apart for the clouds) Night shots and some of them almost look like night time HDR. I'm thinking ...
