First Attempt At Night Shots

[Skippy]

Not completely happy with these, I noticed the noise levels were quite visible, but I am really happy that even though they are noisey I am sure if I keep working at this I could do better.....so as a first attempt I am smiling :D
Skippy (Australia)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Ozzie_Skip/Canon%2020D%20dgrin/IMG_3683Ed_filtered.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Ozzie_Skip/Canon%2020D%20dgrin/IMG_3633EdS_filtered.jpg

[4labs]

:clap :clap :clap Wonderful! I would certainly be happy with these..

[Skippy]

:clap :clap :clap Wonderful! I would certainly be happy with these..
I'm not sure what setting your suppose to be in when doing night shots, so I left the camera in Aperature Priority......boosted up the ISO and fired away.

How do you reduce the noise in night shot images when your taking them, do you know ?? :dunno

It's only the noise I'm not pleased with :D Skippy (Australia)

[BigAl]

I can't help you with your question, but I can say I do like the second pic.

regards
alan

[Skippy]

I can't help you with your question, but I can say I do like the second pic.

regards alan

Some of the lines in the sky is caused by incoming fog, and reflection of the city lights on it..........it is a very pretty place indeed, just outside of Melbourne.

Thanks for looking......... Skippy (Australia)

[devbobo]

I'm not sure what setting your suppose to be in when doing night shots, so I left the camera in Aperature Priority......boosted up the ISO and fired away.

How do you reduce the noise in night shot images when your taking them, do you know ?? :dunno

It's only the noise I'm not pleased with :D Skippy (Australia) Hey Skippy,

They look great for your first attempt. Perhaps you could try shooting in manual with the same aperture setting and use a few different shutter speeds and see what turns out better.

Also, you might be interested in trying out the Incandescent WB setting, using this setting the photos take on a more blue hue.

To reduce noise, you take several exposures and then stack them in post. It works really well, here's a couple I was taken in Melbourne a few months ago..
http://introversion.smugmug.com/gallery/410982

Look up Luben's post history, he's the master at nightshots or check out his website http://www.solev.net

Cheers,

David

[Andy]

skip

some good tips here on dgrin, try the words "tutorial night" in the search engine, you'll find a bunch. here's one i did up on post processing (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2055&highlight=tutorial+night)

one thing - at shoot - keep your iso on 100! of course, you'll need a tripod. whether you us m or av settings, no matter - whatever you're comfy with. usually, a bit (sometimes a lot) of negative ec is in order.

try mlu as well

cheers and a good effort her :thumb

[Skippy]

Hey Skippy,

They look great for your first attempt. Perhaps you could try shooting in manual with the same aperture setting and use a few different shutter speeds and see what turns out better.

Also, you might be interested in trying out the Incandescent WB setting, using this setting the photos take on a more blue hue.

To reduce noise, you take several exposures and then stack them in post. It works really well, here's a couple I was taken in Melbourne a few months ago..
http://introversion.smugmug.com/gallery/410982

Look up Luben's post history, he's the master at nightshots or check out his website http://www.solev.net (http://www.solev.net/)

Cheers, David
Thank you very much David, I have seen Lubins work many times, and he is quite a master at Photography....... I will try doing multiple stacks and see how that goes, and take your advice on using Manual settings.
Thank you for your reply............ Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

skip

some good tips here on dgrin, try the words "tutorial night" in the search engine, you'll find a bunch. here's one i did up on post processing (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2055&highlight=tutorial+night)

one thing - at shoot - keep your iso on 100! of course, you'll need a tripod. whether you us m or av settings, no matter - whatever you're comfy with. usually, a bit (sometimes a lot) of negative ec is in order.

try mlu as well .. cheers and a good effort her :thumb
Thanks Andy I will give your method a try too :D
I really like this forum Andy, the people here are so helpful..... :D
Thanks for the tip..........Skippy (Australia)

[rahmonster]

very very nice Skippy:D:D:D

[4labs]

Skippy I also highly recommend a book by Lee Frost called Night and Low Light photography. I just read it it's very helpful.

[Prezwoodz]

I really like the shots. They look very smooth and great nighttime shots.

There is one thing that kind of takes away from it for me though. That is the large area you have for your border and the choppy letters there. I think you should cut your border down probably by half or so and smooth the letters out so they look less pixelated. Dont want people to stare at your border instead of your picture !

[Nikolai]

If those are your *first* attempts, I could only image what you 10th will be..:clap
Great work, lassie!:thumb
Cheers!:1drink

[Dee]

If those are your *first* attempts, I could only image what you 10th will be..:clap
Great work, lassie!:thumb
Cheers!:1drink


I'm with Nikolai here! If those were my first attempts I'd be jumping up and down with joy!

I especially like the second one, probably because there's more color. But you don't have blown out areas and your exposure looks great!

Noise? well, that's always a problem. But I get noise in broad daylight! :rofl

You know, it seems like I've known you such a long time through that other forum, I forgot you are relatively new here! Yes, everyone is very helpful, no matter what cam you have.

If you read the tutorials and Andy's references, and that book 4Labs mentioned, and fix the "choppy type" -- (had to chuckle at that, since I'm a graphic designer in my other life) you'll be an expert in no time at all.

[Skippy]

very very nice Skippy:D:D:D
Gaaaaaaaawd it was cold out that night, lucky we had tripods cause we were both shaking and shivering as we stood waiting taking shots.

It was fine at Williamstown, but not in Geelong, much colder by the time we got back to Geelong..........Take Care......... Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

Skippy I also highly recommend a book by Lee Frost called Night and Low Light photography. I just read it it's very helpful.
I'll check that one out and see if I can get it while I'm in America, thank you for the info........Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

I really like the shots. They look very smooth and great nighttime shots.

There is one thing that kind of takes away from it for me though. That is the large area you have for your border and the choppy letters there. I think you should cut your border down probably by half or so and smooth the letters out so they look less pixelated. Dont want people to stare at your border instead of your picture !
I need to find a better font...... I still prefer a large boarder, but I know they can do with some work as you said :D thank you for your comment.
Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

If those are your *first* attempts, I could only image what you 10th will be..:clap
Great work, lassie!:thumb
Cheers!:1drink
We went to Williamstown not really knowing what we would see there, and I was surprised that the city of Melbourne was further away than I thought it would be..........and silly me I didn't take any zoom lenses with me.

Next time we're going to go to South Bank the lights will be much brighter there and more colorful........where we were shooting was so dark the only real light was the actual city...... least I learnt a few things, and especially when you post on the forum you learn even more :D thats what I like :D

Thanks for looking........ Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

I'm with Nikolai here! If those were my first attempts I'd be jumping up and down with joy!

I especially like the second one, probably because there's more color. But you don't have blown out areas and your exposure looks great!

Noise? well, that's always a problem. But I get noise in broad daylight! :rofl

You know, it seems like I've known you such a long time through that other forum, I forgot you are relatively new here! Yes, everyone is very helpful, no matter what cam you have.

If you read the tutorials and Andy's references, and that book 4Labs mentioned, and fix the "choppy type" -- (had to chuckle at that, since I'm a graphic designer in my other life) you'll be an expert in no time at all.
Thanks very much Dee......I love the Canon Gear I really do, I've been having so much fun learning how to use it, and even making mistakes has been great too, because the mistakes are often quite acceptable :D

I am enjoying the learning curve, and need to learn more, presentation is another thing I need to learn......ahhhhhhhh but it's fun all the same :rofl

Take Care Dee....this is a great forum to belong to ....... Skippy (Australia)

[Higgmeister]

Those are some very nice shots for first tries. I just hope my first nightshot tries with my 20D will be half as good (just got it on Friday). For the size you posted, I'm not seeing much of any noise; looks smooth on this 21" CRT. What settings did you use. I read where you pushed up the ISO, but I'm interested in shutter speed and lens.
I particularly like your comp on #1.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

[TassieD]

Not completely happy with these, I noticed the noise levels were quite visible, but I am really happy that even though they are noisey I am sure if I keep working at this I could do better.....so as a first attempt I am smiling :D
Skippy (Australia)


Outstanding Skippy, I'm with Andy and the others, leave the camera at ISO 100 and shoot from there.

Look forward to seeing more.

Dave

[Angelo]

If those are your *first* attempts, I could only image what you 10th will be..:clap
Great work, lassie!:thumb
Cheers!:1drink
:agree

[Skippy]

Those are some very nice shots for first tries. I just hope my first nightshot tries with my 20D will be half as good (just got it on Friday). For the size you posted, I'm not seeing much of any noise; looks smooth on this 21" CRT. What settings did you use. I read where you pushed up the ISO, but I'm interested in shutter speed and lens.
I particularly like your comp on #1.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris
I gotta tell ya Chris I am loving learning about this gear and its capabilities :D
The image you like is of the town where I was born its right on the bay, and it was really really dark, and actually gave off those brown tonings.

We'd already been in Williamstown for a few hours, so by the time we got back to Geelong I had the 100mm back on the camera at this stage, so I left it on.

I was using the Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro at the time
Here's the EXIF info ........... glad you liked it :D the Canon 100mm Macro is a really nice lens to use...... Skippy (Australia)

Original date/time: 2005:06:05 21:09:38
Exposure time: 25/1
Shutter speed: 25.00
F-stop: 29.0
ISO speed: 800
Focal length: 100.0000
Flash: Not fired
Exposure mode: Auto
White balance: Auto
Orientation: Top-left
Aperture: 9.7160
Exposure bias: 0.0000
Metering mode: Pattern
Exposure program: Aperture priority

[Skippy]

Outstanding Skippy, I'm with Andy and the others, leave the camera at ISO 100 and shoot from there.

Look forward to seeing more. Dave
We're gonna have to try it again, we had a great time, even though we stuffed up :rofl ran into three ladies using SLR's and trying to tell us we needed to use a Star Filter :rofl so I showed them a shot I'd just taken and they said ohhhhhhhh so you've already got a star filter on it :rolleyes funny how everyone loves to tell you how to take photos they instant they see you with a Digital Camera :rofl ..........yup we had a great time down by the bay.

Thanks for looking David........I can't wait to try this all over again.
Skippy (Australia)

[Skippy]

:agreeHi there Angelo :D

I have so much to learn, but I am loving trying to figure it all out :D
The technical side of Photography tends to go over my head a bit, but that doesn't stop me from trying :D .......... Skippy (Australia)