Low Light C&C please

[DaC]

My first try in very low light with a D300. I was shooting using camp fire light after dark hand held. I will post a few pictures rather than post a link to a bunch of tiresome pictures.

1.
http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/544788163_nzjsf-L.jpg
camera info for 1) f2.8, 1/3 sec, ISO 2000, WB Auto, Aperture priority. JPEG only.


2.
http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/545473050_vfZVm-L.jpg
Camera info... f2.8, 1/5 sec, ISO 3200, WB auto, aperture priority, auto WB (RAW adjusted in PP). Some cropping and adjustments to light in PP.

Last shot, my daughter and with our friends:
http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/545492364_h6SPN-L.jpg
Camera info... f2.8, 1/15s, ISO 3200, aperture priority, auto WB (RAW adjusted in PP)

I can not remember if I used spot or spot matrix metering. The second and third pictures were taken the next night and the fire was generally not bright enough to use a lower ISO. Picture #2 is not as nice at full size due to noise (understandable given the high ISO). I have access to Capture NX for post production and Adoby CS3 on another computer (will not run with Vista). If you suggest reducing noise please suggest program. Overall I am happy with the photos just because I would have never tried this with my D70.


Thanks in advance for you time and any suggestions - short of telling me to give the camera to someone that can use it. (~;
John

[bakerphotography]

Actually I would say the noise isn't so bad given the camera settings indicated. With a campfire source, I'm not how much better you could get...even with nice NR programs like NoiseNinja, etc...
I like #3 the best, given that the posing lends itself to a campfire circle,whereas with 1 & 2 if you didn't know you might wonder.
Biggest problem I have with campfire shots is shooting through the heat distortions.

[DaC]

Actually I would say the noise isn't so bad given the camera settings indicated. With a campfire source, I'm not how much better you could get...even with nice NR programs like NoiseNinja, etc...
I like #3 the best, given that the posing lends itself to a campfire circle,whereas with 1 & 2 if you didn't know you might wonder.
Biggest problem I have with campfire shots is shooting through the heat distortions.

I did not expect a reply so quickly. Thanks.

[Scott_Quier]

I'm really liking the last one. Love the atmosphere! :thumb

I think I might clone out the square on your daughter's head and, maybe, crop out the house in the background. These "fixes" would make it a very much more focused image.

[whiterice]

I'm really liking the last one. Love the atmosphere! :thumb

I think I might clone out the square on your daughter's head and, maybe, crop out the house in the background. These "fixes" would make it a very much more focused image.

:agree Absolutely, 100% agree. #3 is a great shot, even better with a few little changes. Good catch.

[rwells]

I find camp fire shots very challenging to pull off. For me, one of the main things to include in camp fire shots is, well, the camp fire.

It gives context to what's going on. What everyone is looking at & why the photo's have that color cast.

Give it a try on your next shoot :thumb

[DaC]

I find camp fire shots very challenging to pull off. For me, one of the main things to include in camp fire shots is, well, the camp fire.

It gives context to what's going on. What everyone is looking at & why the photo's have that color cast.

Give it a try on your next shoot :thumb

Thanks. I tried to resist the urge to post to many pictures. I wanted to post pictures that I was not ashamed of but at the same time had things I wanted to fix. Noise - which may require more camera than I can afford - and post processing. A few shots of and around the fire:


http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/544857305_MeRFi-L.jpg

http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/545491803_YUDZR-L.jpg


This one just after sunset but before dark. The subject is the fire - I focused on log - and shot at f5 to attempt to get more depth of field so both would be in focus. I should have focused on the back of the fire pit or used a higher f stop. Again I was hand holding for these shots so camera shake is coming into play. Thanks for all the help everyone. Keep it coming I am learning a lot.
http://dac.smugmug.com/photos/545575455_LJyhD-L.jpg

[Chris_ND]

Not to bad!! I shot my d300 in a very low light at a Graduation this weekend and it was horrible... =/

My iso varied from 1600 - 2500 and I had massive noise. Thank god for Light Room and NoiseNinja.

It looks like you did a pretty good job considering the equipment you used. Oh well, we'll suffer until we can justify buying a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR Lens.

=) Good job!